Standard Five Color Domain Deck Guide - July 2023 Update

Easily one of DoggertQBones' favorite Standard decks, find out the Five Color Domain lists you should be playing and how to sideboard with it!

Table of Contents

Hello everyone and welcome to our Deck Guide of Standard Five Color Domain!

I'll be getting a bit granular with the sections that need it, so if you're looking for something in particular, feel free to skip around with the Table of Contents up top!

Best of Three

Five Color Domainby MTG StormStandard - RampBest of 3
5 mythic
37 rare
8 uncommon
10 common
26
0
0
1
6
2
4
3
8
4
4
5
4
6
8
7

Mainboard

(60)
Creature (13)
4
Topiary Stomper
0
4
Archangel of Wrath
0
1
Vorinclex
0
4
Atraxa, Grand Unifier
0
Instant (2)
2
Fateful Absence
0
Sorcery (7)
3
Sunfall
0
4
Herd Migration
0
Enchantment (8)
4
Ossification
0
4
Leyline Binding
0
Land (26)
1
Boseiju, Who Endures
0
4
Forest
0
1
Island
0
4
Jetmir's Garden
0
3
Mirrex
0
1
Mountain
0
3
Plains
0
4
Spara's Headquarters
0
1
Swamp
0
4
Ziatora's Proving Ground
0
Other (4)
4
Invasion of Zendikar
0

Sideboard

(15)
4
Lithomantic Barrage
0
4
Knockout Blow
0
2
Obstinate Baloth
0
2
The Wandering Emperor
0
1
Sunfall
0
2
Tyrranax Rex
0
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Deck Breakdown

atraxa, grand unifier

The Four Ofs

Topiary Stomper Archangel of Wrath Atraxa, Grand Unifier

Herd Migration Ossification Leyline Binding

Invasion of Zendikar // Awakened Skyclave Invasion of Zendikar // Awakened Skyclave

While this is a relatively new list, just getting a good result or two on MTGO, it seems that many of the four ofs are already relatively locked in.

Unlike the older versions of Domain which leveraged the trilands heavily, this version of the deck looks to use a bunch of basics to great effect. Topiary Stomper definitely loves to see a lot of basics as this acts as your first form of ramp and color fixing for the deck. Then, a new addition from March of the Machine, Invasion of Zendikar // Awakened Skyclave is our Explosive Vegetation variant that works incredibly well with Topiary Stomper. The curve of Stomper on turn three into Invasion on turn four, attack Invasion with Stomper is one I've already done many times and is as powerful as it sounds.

While the number has been bouncing between three and four, Archangel of Wrath is a big draw to this deck as being a great stabilization tool, some interaction, and helps you recoup some life you've likely lost in the early game. When Esper Legends was the most popular deck, Archangel felt just fine as it's solid against them, but definitely not that exciting. However, with the recent uptick in Mono Red, this card has definitely excelled making it a better main deck inclusion now. Furthermore, something I failed to account for before is one of this deck's issues is that it can sometimes lack proactive options in the mid game, prior to casting your big bombs, so having something to do is really nice.

Further taking advantage of the basic mana base, Ossification is one of the better removal spells around being able to take out anything early in the game. Similarly, Leyline Binding fulfills a similar role, and is the main reason for going five color in the first place.

All the cards previously mentioned are more or less the support cards, the cards that this deck's foundation is built on. While those are great, when you're playing a five color deck, you're here for the bombs!

Herd Migration, on the other hand, is half fixing half bomb. A lot of the time you're going to be using it for its two mana mode to find a land and gain three life, but the games you can get five 3/3s on board are going to be really hard for nearly any deck to beat. Finally, the threat that needs no introduction, is Atraxa, Grand Unifier. Atraxa is obviously nuts in a deck that can pretty easily hard cast it and having a bunch of different permanent types to get is a nice feature of this list.

The Rest

Sunfall Fateful Absence

Vorinclex // The Grand Evolution Vorinclex // The Grand Evolution

As it stands, there really aren't flex slots in the deck, just six additional cards that don't seem to make up the core of the deck!

Sunfall is the newest wrath on the block which exiles the board and gives you a creature in return which is obviously great in a deck that's going to be falling behind often. This definitely excels against creature centric decks that aren't that fast, something like Esper Legends. While this does excellently there, it is way less effective against decks that are much scrappier like Mono Red as this can feel too slow a lot of the time. While still solid there, it's definitely not great, and with a big uptick in Mono Red and a downtrend in Legends, this hasn't felt as good recently. Despite that, I'm still quite happy with three copies, but going to two wouldn't be crazy, but your game one win percentage against Esper would drop precipitously with each copy cut.

With the banning of Reckoner Bankbuster, the deck needed a new card to fill that hole. It definitely needed to be cheap as this deck can not afford anything more expensive, so I tried out a few different options. The most promising option initially was Azusa's Many Journeys // Likeness of the Seeker as land ramp is what the deck wants more than anything, but after enough testing, it didn't feel good enough. There were too many games it was a two mana do nothing, and even games it did ramp, it didn't feel that helpful. So I opted for interaction instead, and while Planar Disruption was legitimately close to getting into the deck, I went with Fateful Absence instead as the instant speed matters and if the opponent is taking time off to crack a Clue, we're happy to see it.


Best of One

Five Color Domainby MTG StormStandard - RampBest of 3
4 mythic
33 rare
12 uncommon
11 common
26
0
0
1
8
2
4
3
8
4
2
5
4
6
8
7

Mainboard

(60)
Creature (12)
4
Topiary Stomper
0
4
Archangel of Wrath
0
4
Atraxa, Grand Unifier
0
Sorcery (10)
4
Sunset Revelry
0
2
Sunfall
0
4
Herd Migration
0
Enchantment (8)
4
Ossification
0
4
Leyline Binding
0
Land (26)
1
Boseiju, Who Endures
0
4
Forest
0
1
Island
0
4
Jetmir's Garden
0
2
Mirrex
0
2
Mountain
0
3
Plains
0
4
Spara's Headquarters
0
1
Swamp
0
4
Ziatora's Proving Ground
0
Other (4)
4
Invasion of Zendikar
0
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I don't recommend this deck in Bo1 as Mono Red is a tough matchup and that's the de facto most popular deck right now. Despite that, I do still see a decent amount of Domain so it may be better than I'm giving it credit for.


Mulliganing

While mulliganing isn't particularly complicated with this deck, you do need to have nerves of steel a lot of the time. You have to accept, that by playing this deck, you're going to have to keep hands that don't have any action until turn three, and even then, it may be a Topiary Stomper which doesn't immediately impact the board either. You can't always keep those hands of course, but that is the reality of playing a deck with such a high curve.

The second thing you need to be mindful of that's easy to forget is your colors. Make sure that in any prospective keep that you have the colors to cast your early spells. You don't need all your colors immediately, but anything you're planning on casting early does need to be accounted for.


Matchups and Sideboard Guide

tyrranax rex phyrexia all will be one mtg art

Vs Esper Legends

INOUT
+4 Lithomantic Barrage-2 Topiary Stomper
+2 The Wandering Emperor-1 Atraxa, Grand Unifier
+1 Sunfall-4 Invasion of Zendikar // Awakened Skyclave

This is going to operate as a pretty typical aggro vs control-adjacent matchup, but with a few notable differences.

While Legends is aggressive, their speed is much more like a midrange deck, and to make matters better for you, especially with the new lists slowing down even more to add interaction.

While this matchup used to be a complete race, the recent dynamic of it has changed completely, again, largely by the virtue of how the new lists are constructed. In the post board games, rather than looking to simply race you, they turn into a de facto midrange deck packed with counterspells which is obviously scary when trying to resolve seven drops. Does that mean the matchup is worse now than it's been? Believe it or not, no, because despite this development, I firmly believe that nearly every Legends pilot navigates this matchup incorrectly in the post board games.

Legends correctly assesses that Domain turns into a control deck in the post board games, we obviously don't really have another option in that capacity. So to that end and since counterspells are naturally so good against the strategy, they slow their deck down and focus on playing a few creatures at a time and holding up countermagic to stop our big plays. This seems like it would be an extremely effective strategy, and in a vacuum, it is so I can't blame anyone for adopting this strategy. So why would I claim this isn't the way to navigate this matchup? Well it's all because of a single card that nobody considers with this plan in mind and how it completely flips this matchup on its head, and furthermore, may not only be the most underrated card in this deck, but in Standard as a whole!

Mirrex

This card is messed up. It doesn't look like it would be, but you'd be shocked at how good it is once you play it enough. This may be an exaggeration, but if memory serves correctly, I've won nearly every match I've played against Esper Legends because of Mirrex.

The way games tend to go is that your hand is mostly going to be removal and lands while Esper is going to be a threat or two, interaction, and lands. In the beginning of the game, they tend to run out a few threats and Domain is generally good at killing those. Then it tends to be a staring contest for a few turns as Domain is looking to play lands while Esper is looking for both threats and lands so they can land a threat and protect it (presumably with countermagic). However, what tends to happen is that you keep trading back threats and and removal and nothing much is getting done - until you draw a Mirrex. Then, the clock begins. Mirrex kills surprisingly quickly as once you make a few Mites, the opponent is going to be dead in a turn or two. What this then leads to is the opponent playing threats just to block, and then you have a few options from there. If they keep holding up countermagic and sandbagging threats, you can simply create more and more Mites over the course of several turns until an alpha kills them. On the other hand, if they tap out, that gives you free reign to either deploy bombs of your own or simply hit them with a Sunfall and put them back into the same position a few turns from now. This strategy is stupid easy and incredibly effective, leaving opponent's confused on what went wrong and you with the win more often than not.

Vs Mono Red Aggro

INOUT
+4 Knockout Blow-4 Topiary Stomper
+2 Obstinate Baloth-4 Invasion of Zendikar // Awakened Skyclave
+2 The Wandering Emperor

We go from a very good matchup to a not so good matchup. Mono Red is tough as they can have extremely fast draws, so against a deck with a clunky curve and so many tap lands, that can be a big issue. Furthermore, they're really good at pushing damage in one turn cycle so it's not like they need to set something up, untap with it, and then attack as nearly all their threats have haste. To that end, sorcery speed removal is way worse here than the instant speed options meaning we're very reliant on them either not having a great curve or us having enough early interaction to stop them.

With that in mind, prioritize your life total over everything. Since they can convert cards into direct damage, every point of life you can save can functionally blank those cards as if their burn can't kill you, they don't actually do anything. Use your wrath effects very aggressively, especially to help set up a big turn, and look to use removal whenever you have a good opportunity to. You will have to take some turns off in order to ramp, but try to save that when you can clear some board pressure away.

To the specific options, I'm currently on Knockout Blow as my anti-Red card of choice after trying Sunset Revelry. While Revelry did do a good Timely Reinforcements impression, I found that it was too low impact, and while you gain less life, killing a creature every time is way better. You can experiment with this as you like, and while the matchup still isn't good, this is the best I've been able to get it.

Vs Orzhov Midrange

INOUT
+4 Lithomantic Barrage-4 Ossification
+1 The Wandering Emperor-4 Leyline Binding
+1 Sunfall
+2 Tyrannex Rex

Here we have a simple case - their game plan is mostly going to be playing grindy cards and have interaction that doesn't work well against you. Your game plan is to play cards that are so powerful, they don't care about card advantage and take over from there. So yeah, pretty good there.

Orzhov is too slow and mostly lacks the interaction to stop you, however, Breach the Multiverse can be a huge problem if you don't have a good board state set up. Even with that in mind, this matchup is still good as their game plan does line up quite poorly into ours which good considering this matchup is starting to become more popular.

We board out most of the removal both because it's not that good and they tend to play a lot of Loran of the Third Path (maybe they'll place less now, but I'm running with the assumption that they'll still have a few). Lithomantic Barrage should clean up nearly anything you're worried about, so it's not like you're in trouble if they resolve a strong card.

Vs Five Color Domain

INOUT
+2 The Wandering Emperor-2 Archangel of Wrath
+2 Tyrannex Rex-3 Ossification
+1 Sunfall

I can probably leave this section blank and you'd get the idea. This is battlecruiser magic at its finest and the type of matchup you don't normally get to play nowadays. This is going to be all about who can ramp and play bombs the quickest, so play with that in mind. Like I keep saying, Etali, Primal Conqueror // Etali, Primal Sickness is going to be your best card here as you can potentially hit two nutty spells, so try not to mulligan any hands with it.

I will note, though, that a weird function of this matchup is how good board wipes are. The board is going to get gummed up very often, so having a wrath to reset when you get behind is very important. To that end, try not to use Leyline Binding to kill their seven drops, rather using your big creatures or wraths to get rid of them.

Vs Azorius Soldiers

INOUT
+4 Lithomantic Barrage-4 Topiary Stomper
+2 Obstinate Baloth-1 Atraxa, Grand Unifier
+2 The Wandering Emperor-4 Invasion of Zendikar // Awakened Skyclave
+1 Sunfall

I won't split hairs with you, this matchup is horrendous.

Soldiers does everything we don't want them to do - mount strong pressure with a lot of interaction. The fine line between this and Esper is that Soldiers never moves away from this game plan and try to become a control deck - they are aggro/tempo all the way through and that makes this matchup kind of a nightmare.

While that's obviously not ideal, there are a few saving graces. First of all, Lithomantic Barrage is quite good as it kills everything in their deck. That doesn't mean they won't have a Zephyr Sentinel to stop you, but you have a good shot to kill a high priority target. Second, wraths are insanely effective against them...if you can resolve it of course. To that end, they can't always have it!

Your best chance of victory is to keep the board clear when possible, and eventually, you can resolve a threat. They don't have much removal, so getting a threat to stick makes this much easier. You can do the Mirrex strategy like you would against Esper as well, but it is less effective against Soldiers as their threats are cheaper.


Best Tips For Playing Five Color Domain

leyline binding dominaria united mtg art 2048x1601
  • While you always want to kick it, don't discount the opportunity to just run out an Archangel of Wrath on turn four.
  • Be extremely careful with how you sequence your lands and what hands you keep. The colors in this deck can be notoriously tricksy.
  • You should aggressively cycle your Herd Migration. There will always be another bomb, but missing your land drop can be deadly.
  • Like I mentioned in the Esper Legends section, Mirrex is very powerful. Don't be afraid to sculpt your game plan around Mirrex kills.
  • Prioritize conserving life. It's easy to come back from bad spots, but you need to be at a high enough life total to even make that possible!

End Step

That's everything for Five Color Domain!

While not the most complicated deck, it is extremely cool and a great foil to a lot of the midrange decks that have been extremely popular in Standard. If you want to beat up on a midrange deck, it's hard to do better than this.

If you have any questions for me, be sure to join the Discord where I'd be happy to answer them.

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Thank you for reading!