Another bonus to playing less colors is that it frees up your brain to think more about the game, and less on what land to tap for what. That is also why I love Chromatic Orrery.
I think dual colors are my favorites. Easy to build manabase (you could just have all basics and not really suffer), there's still a whole bunch of restrictions, weaknesses and also strength's to your particular colors, and there's a lot of commanders to choose from. I also don't like mono color much because it feels too restrictive (or maybe because I haven't found many commanders in mono that I want to build). I also have a quite strict budget so my 3-color decks manabases feel quite slow often (I don't mind running taplands but it does come at a cost).
^ this, though i do enjoy mono color decks. two is like the perfect sweet spot for me, occasionally 3 but also with a budget on the mana base. 4 and 5 color is just too expensive for me and i'd struggle too much to think of what to put in the decks and never finish building it because i can literally put *any card ever* in it
I built a 4 color deck for the first time in a long time and I forgot how rough the mana base is (I don't have fetches or shocks). I think 2 and 3 color is the ideal. 2 lets you play mostly basics and a bunch of utility lands. 3 gives you more mana rock choices and it's probably the peak ROI for dual lands. You can fit all the mid budget duals and still have a few basics for each color for fetching etc. 4+ you run out of land space to fit duals, so you start having to reduce pip count because you just won't have reliable multi-pip access. Also, I really tried to hold it in, but.... It's "fewer colors". 😅
@brendans1983 actually, it references the number of colors produced by those lands lol. I generally use a geometric calculator to figure out the optional number of lands and of which colors they need to produce
Funny enough i just built a deck a fews weeks ago with a sub theme of leaves the GY with Brendard Ginger Sculpture. I use Hydras for X of 0 so they die immediately then have cards like Chalk outline as they die then are exiled with Brenards effect so i get to create 3/3 for like 1 mana and get stuff like Clues and other tokens when they are exiled. Its really fun.
Very true the more I played the more I wanted to prioritize specific colors. My slivers are dedicated to wubrg my cedh for mardu and lately studying jeskai primarily for blue due to it being my least favorite but it least wanted support from two of favorite colors
My deck building thought process usually goes: -I need ramp: Green! -I want flyers/tokens/etc: White! -Haste. Gotta have haste: Red! -Guess I’m playing Naya. 😂
I recently built my second five color deck around not casting spells. I used five colors because I wanted creatures that reanimated themselves in black, ninjas in black, blue, and green, and some specific cards from red and white. It has the greediest mana base I’ve made, which I consider a work of art. I definitely used what you call method two to make this deck, and the commander almost never had relevance (can’t cast it and all). I like janky things too, and I’ve discovered that if you just ignore the staples and focus on your janky strategy, more colors doesn’t present as much of a temptation.
The kain benefit of the constant product release is that a lot of themes finally get a critical mass to function properly. With foundations i finally have hit the density necessary for a dimir token deck with a consistent theme (2nd draw/discard triggered in this case with vohar as the commander)
I have a problem where all the decks i want to build are in the same colors so i'm running out of decent dual lands. Got nothing but selesnya and gruul decks.
For me, I drop those "Commander Staples" sometimes even in many decks that could run them, just because I am targeting a lower power level with the deck. Not all my playgroup has time to build and optimize decks, so by omitting some of these "staples" their decks remain more competitive with mine.
The last handful of decks I've built have been mainly two colors... building a mana base is easier and I like the "restriction" you talked about of finding creative ways to use those colors. I kind of have a small goal of having decks of all two color pairings just for fun and variety
I generally build 3 color decks where one color is more of a splash color. for example, my krark ishia coinflip deck runs 3 white cards in the 99. enlightened tutor, pull from eternity, soul mystic(might be the wrong name the monk that gives you spells life link)so it ends up really being an izzit deck with some white utility. my shark tribal deck is WUG solely to run the one white shark keen sight mentor, aura shard, exotic pet, veto, and eye of the singularity. akroma and Thrasios are the commanders. the deck is actually pretty extreme being mostly a vlue deck with some green and a slash of white. I feel that approach builds the best decks.
I have found that whenever I build a Two color concept, I find myself thinking, 'Man I wish I had this third color thing. That would help this run more efficiently...' hence why my izzet deck became Grixis, my double combat gruul enchantments became Naya, and why I'm considering adding white to my Golgari Fungus Deck.
I do have a golgari egg deck that cares very much about eggs leaving the graveyard, even without boros which is the go to for eggs it ended up being my favorite. Glissa is the face and the main way to get them back to my hand
I tend to lean towards less colors when deck building. The color pie is broken. All colors can do and handle pretty much everything now in their own ways. Artifacts too. Colorless and can go in any deck. Very easy and powerful answers are available in the form of artifacts.
You're gonna need to add blue as well and be WUBRG if you want *all* leave the graveyard cards, there is Murktide Regent which also has the effect for instants & sorceries :)
I play whatever fits my strategy best, and find a commander in those colors. These days, there's always at least one that will enhance or offset my strategy in a helpful way. But as far as jank goes, there's basically nothing you can't do with some 3-color, and WotC is certainly comfortable printing 3-color commanders.
Yeah, I don't think I've built a 3+ color commander deck in paper, yet at least. I have a Narci Saga deck that I plan on putting together. Less is more, basically. However, I see your point. There are times when I'm experimenting where I just don't want to think about trying to dig around for some capability in one color when I know I've got plenty of cards in another color that will fill that bill quite well. I actually built a 5 color test deck recently. Frankly, I am not entirely sure why people think 5 colors is hard to deal with in play, but it definitely took some work to make it do its thing.
From a practical standpoint, commander is already a long game, and if you're playing 5 colors or whatever, that's more time you gotta spend figure it out if you have the right stuff or what specifically to tap and it makes the game take longer. If you're playing mono color, you literally just "tap 3" or "tap 5" of any lands and don't have to worry about it
I'm at 3 colors max but i prefer two color commanders. Mono decks are super fun though. They always seem to be able to "do the thing" which feels great every time.
I prefer one or two color decks but I do have a couple of three colors. Lately, I've been on a mono color kick. Currently building mono green, mono red and a mono blue decks.
My only deck among 20+ that was selected to have more colors was to get a 5 colors commender fitting the party mechanic, all my others decks are build on a commander I like and I discovered i gravitate around 3 colors with janky mechanics.
Whenever I play 3 colors, one of them ends up with far less representation in the deck than the other two. That stresses me out, so I mostly stick to mono and dual color decks.
is simic one of the bests for commander? due to mana ramping and card draw and general what it does. stealing creatures, and cards like doppelgang, mass manipulation. etc. but a guy made a great simic commander deck on youtube with the star card being kruphix, god of horizons. he built the deck around that card, and it's a deck i want to try. looks really cool. what is your opinion of kruphix, god of horizons in commander? how strong is it? should it be banned for commander format?
Kruphix is simular to Omnath, Locus of Mana, but the mana turns colorless. So not at strong. If Omnath isn't bannable, Kruphix wouldn't be. There's also a red version. Leyline Tyrant, though not legendary.
@@ANitschkeProduction kruphix is indestructible hard to remove. indestructible enchantment. the players casts x cost draw spells. and all kind of crazy tricks are in his deck. he draws out his deck or makes oppponent draw out their deck. can win a variety of ways from there on that turn. one enchantment allows him to win when 0 cards in his deck. another enchantment if it has 100 counters on it you win the game, so to put a counter on it pay 1 mana. by this time in the match he has infinite mana. he a creature that untaps all permanents on each oppnoents turn. he has a mana rock that doubles mana in the mana pool. etc. the deck just generates a ton of mana and card draw. he also has bounce spells and counter spells. and ways to deal with a variety of threats. omnath is restricted to green, and much easier to destroy though. since it's ONLY restricted to green, you no longer have access to the insane card draw capability of blue. and also no maximum handsize is one of hte valuable aspects of kruphix. omnath is also missing the maximum handsize restriction removed aspect.
@@henlohenlo689 well Kruphix only has 3k decks (edhrec) and I've never heard anyone think he's busted since he first came out or say to bann him. So I guess he's fine 🤷♂️
@@brendans1983 the kruphix is hard to remove. it's an indestructible enchantment. opponents must build a specific ways or else they can't deal with it. and the deck has alot of ways to win, i only mentioned a few. this is the full deck: doubling cube sol ring mana vault mana crypt simic signet zendikar resurgent oracle of mul daya Sakura tribe elder seedborn muse rampant growth cultivate kodamas reach growth spiral boundless realm explosive vegetation coiling oracle thrasios, triton triton hero Rashmi eternities crafter tafyova, benthic druid courser of kruphix eternal witness consecrated sphinx gadwick, the wizened nezahal, primal tide prime, speaker of zegana mission briefing mystical tutor pull from tomorrow blue sun's zenith stroke of genius dictate of kruphix rhystic study leyline of anticipation mystic snake counterspell remand mana drain disallow voidslime rewind force of will acidic slime krosan grip curse of the swine boomerang capsize cyclonic rift commit to memory, commit/memory progenitor mimic rite of replication jace the mind sculptor nissa, steward of elements narset, parter of veils jin gitaxias, core augur vorinclex, voice of hunger teferi, mage of zhalfir nexus of fate isochron scepter dramatic reversal laboratory maniac genesis wave helix pinnacle psychosis crawler walking ballista land: arch of orasca mystic sanctuary reliquary tower alechemist refuge botanical santum lumberaing falls temple of mystery flood grove hinterland harbor breeding pool command tower waterlogged grove yavimay coast evolving wilds simic growth chamber misty rainforest 10 forests 9 islands
I usually play 2 and 3 color decks, I'll build mono color too, but for some reason they never stick around long term. In general I have no desire to have 4 and 5 color decks, because mana fixing becomes more of an issue and you don't really have a strong color identity playstyle to lean into, but I will try it out for a janky theme. The only 5 color deck I ever built was a deck that tried to put lure effects on Stuffy Dolls, but it still ended up being too janky.
Interesting to note, the idea of “allowing yourself to play more colors with a jank strategy” sort of goes hand in hand with your method 2 style of deck building. Because method 1 would already have picked the commander and therefore colors, before really honing in the strategy
I usually play 3 color cause I like tribal decks and I don't just play commander staples if it doesn't work with my commander or strategy I'd rather use one that does even if it's less efficient.
I personally mainly play one to two color decks. I only go into three colors if the theme is something i like. I like having to actually build around the colors of the game rather then just playing all the best and most expensive cards price wise. Boring to me. I have one 5 color and its my least favorite deck for me. Less colors for me is better and more fun in gameplay and deck building
Yes, you have less of things that you can’t count, like water, hair or happiness, and fewer of things that you can count, like colors, hairs, or mistakes.
I mean U still can play junky when u choose to play 5colour or 4or3 colour For me there is real point of EDH - play junky and made it works If someone are obsessed with playing stamples, it’s kinda cringe for me
1 color decks are more pure yet tend to be more the same to their brethren. Then again playing multi colors has become WAY to easy with 1000 different duals and mana fixers. Color pie? Lets talk about the mana pie 😮
The Guilds, Shards, and Wedges have strong identities and play really well too, even on a budget. I am also a 5C enjoyer though: Ur-Dragon, Jodah, and Sisay Shrines.
Out of all 36 decks 9 of them are 2 color or less, and another 7 are 3 color, and only 2 of them are 4 color. The rest are all 5 color. 5 color seems easier to build to me and most of the decks I've made have started out as 3 or 4 color decks and ended up five because of 1-3 cards that fit the theme/deck and had synergy and wanted to add them... so they went up to five colors like my Zombie/Amass deck that I built before LOTR was ever even around for MTG. The ones that started out as 5 color usually were because the commander i wanted was 5 colors, like Progenitus (Hydra) and Sisay (Superfriends), or Horde of Notions (Elemental) and O-Kagachi (Kamigawa/spirit). Although my Ninja Turtle themed Deck is five colors for both thematic reasons as well as functionality.
Another bonus to playing less colors is that it frees up your brain to think more about the game, and less on what land to tap for what. That is also why I love Chromatic Orrery.
Then go play yugioh ahhaa
Why specifically Orrery, and not Prismatic Omen or Chromatic Lantern?
I think dual colors are my favorites. Easy to build manabase (you could just have all basics and not really suffer), there's still a whole bunch of restrictions, weaknesses and also strength's to your particular colors, and there's a lot of commanders to choose from. I also don't like mono color much because it feels too restrictive (or maybe because I haven't found many commanders in mono that I want to build). I also have a quite strict budget so my 3-color decks manabases feel quite slow often (I don't mind running taplands but it does come at a cost).
^ this, though i do enjoy mono color decks. two is like the perfect sweet spot for me, occasionally 3 but also with a budget on the mana base. 4 and 5 color is just too expensive for me and i'd struggle too much to think of what to put in the decks and never finish building it because i can literally put *any card ever* in it
I built a 4 color deck for the first time in a long time and I forgot how rough the mana base is (I don't have fetches or shocks). I think 2 and 3 color is the ideal. 2 lets you play mostly basics and a bunch of utility lands. 3 gives you more mana rock choices and it's probably the peak ROI for dual lands. You can fit all the mid budget duals and still have a few basics for each color for fetching etc.
4+ you run out of land space to fit duals, so you start having to reduce pip count because you just won't have reliable multi-pip access.
Also, I really tried to hold it in, but....
It's "fewer colors". 😅
I think my name pretty much says what my feelings are on this subject, though my main deck is three colors
I thought that was your name because all your decks only run 1 land...
@brendans1983 actually, it references the number of colors produced by those lands lol. I generally use a geometric calculator to figure out the optional number of lands and of which colors they need to produce
Funny enough i just built a deck a fews weeks ago with a sub theme of leaves the GY with Brendard Ginger Sculpture. I use Hydras for X of 0 so they die immediately then have cards like Chalk outline as they die then are exiled with Brenards effect so i get to create 3/3 for like 1 mana and get stuff like Clues and other tokens when they are exiled. Its really fun.
Very true the more I played the more I wanted to prioritize specific colors. My slivers are dedicated to wubrg my cedh for mardu and lately studying jeskai primarily for blue due to it being my least favorite but it least wanted support from two of favorite colors
My deck building thought process usually goes:
-I need ramp: Green!
-I want flyers/tokens/etc: White!
-Haste. Gotta have haste: Red!
-Guess I’m playing Naya. 😂
I recently built my second five color deck around not casting spells. I used five colors because I wanted creatures that reanimated themselves in black, ninjas in black, blue, and green, and some specific cards from red and white. It has the greediest mana base I’ve made, which I consider a work of art. I definitely used what you call method two to make this deck, and the commander almost never had relevance (can’t cast it and all). I like janky things too, and I’ve discovered that if you just ignore the staples and focus on your janky strategy, more colors doesn’t present as much of a temptation.
The kain benefit of the constant product release is that a lot of themes finally get a critical mass to function properly.
With foundations i finally have hit the density necessary for a dimir token deck with a consistent theme (2nd draw/discard triggered in this case with vohar as the commander)
I have a problem where all the decks i want to build are in the same colors so i'm running out of decent dual lands. Got nothing but selesnya and gruul decks.
As I remember, you built a jigantha deck with spending SSL colors in activated ability, what with that?
For me, I drop those "Commander Staples" sometimes even in many decks that could run them, just because I am targeting a lower power level with the deck. Not all my playgroup has time to build and optimize decks, so by omitting some of these "staples" their decks remain more competitive with mine.
The last handful of decks I've built have been mainly two colors... building a mana base is easier and I like the "restriction" you talked about of finding creative ways to use those colors. I kind of have a small goal of having decks of all two color pairings just for fun and variety
I generally build 3 color decks where one color is more of a splash color. for example, my krark ishia coinflip deck runs 3 white cards in the 99. enlightened tutor, pull from eternity, soul mystic(might be the wrong name the monk that gives you spells life link)so it ends up really being an izzit deck with some white utility. my shark tribal deck is WUG solely to run the one white shark keen sight mentor, aura shard, exotic pet, veto, and eye of the singularity. akroma and Thrasios are the commanders. the deck is actually pretty extreme being mostly a vlue deck with some green and a slash of white. I feel that approach builds the best decks.
I have found that whenever I build a Two color concept, I find myself thinking, 'Man I wish I had this third color thing. That would help this run more efficiently...' hence why my izzet deck became Grixis, my double combat gruul enchantments became Naya, and why I'm considering adding white to my Golgari Fungus Deck.
Monogreen fungus is on the rise 🎉
I do have a golgari egg deck that cares very much about eggs leaving the graveyard, even without boros which is the go to for eggs it ended up being my favorite. Glissa is the face and the main way to get them back to my hand
I tend to lean towards less colors when deck building. The color pie is broken. All colors can do and handle pretty much everything now in their own ways. Artifacts too. Colorless and can go in any deck. Very easy and powerful answers are available in the form of artifacts.
You're gonna need to add blue as well and be WUBRG if you want *all* leave the graveyard cards, there is Murktide Regent which also has the effect for instants & sorceries :)
I play whatever fits my strategy best, and find a commander in those colors. These days, there's always at least one that will enhance or offset my strategy in a helpful way.
But as far as jank goes, there's basically nothing you can't do with some 3-color, and WotC is certainly comfortable printing 3-color commanders.
Yeah, I don't think I've built a 3+ color commander deck in paper, yet at least. I have a Narci Saga deck that I plan on putting together. Less is more, basically. However, I see your point. There are times when I'm experimenting where I just don't want to think about trying to dig around for some capability in one color when I know I've got plenty of cards in another color that will fill that bill quite well. I actually built a 5 color test deck recently. Frankly, I am not entirely sure why people think 5 colors is hard to deal with in play, but it definitely took some work to make it do its thing.
From a practical standpoint, commander is already a long game, and if you're playing 5 colors or whatever, that's more time you gotta spend figure it out if you have the right stuff or what specifically to tap and it makes the game take longer.
If you're playing mono color, you literally just "tap 3" or "tap 5" of any lands and don't have to worry about it
I'm at 3 colors max but i prefer two color commanders. Mono decks are super fun though. They always seem to be able to "do the thing" which feels great every time.
I find it easier to maintain an actual theme with two color decks.
Also I’m poor and my pod doesn’t use proxies so mana base options are limited.
I prefer one or two color decks but I do have a couple of three colors. Lately, I've been on a mono color kick. Currently building mono green, mono red and a mono blue decks.
i do 2/3c (few to no removal staples, only on-theme cards) for serious decks, 4/5c for jank
2 colors is the sweet spot for me for sure
My only deck among 20+ that was selected to have more colors was to get a 5 colors commender fitting the party mechanic, all my others decks are build on a commander I like and I discovered i gravitate around 3 colors with janky mechanics.
Whenever I play 3 colors, one of them ends up with far less representation in the deck than the other two. That stresses me out, so I mostly stick to mono and dual color decks.
is simic one of the bests for commander? due to mana ramping and card draw and general what it does. stealing creatures, and cards like doppelgang, mass manipulation. etc. but a guy made a great simic commander deck on youtube with the star card being kruphix, god of horizons. he built the deck around that card, and it's a deck i want to try. looks really cool.
what is your opinion of kruphix, god of horizons in commander? how strong is it? should it be banned for commander format?
Kruphix is simular to Omnath, Locus of Mana, but the mana turns colorless. So not at strong. If Omnath isn't bannable, Kruphix wouldn't be.
There's also a red version. Leyline Tyrant, though not legendary.
@@ANitschkeProduction kruphix is indestructible hard to remove. indestructible enchantment.
the players casts x cost draw spells. and all kind of crazy tricks are in his deck. he draws out his deck or makes oppponent draw out their deck. can win a variety of ways from there on that turn. one enchantment allows him to win when 0 cards in his deck. another enchantment if it has 100 counters on it you win the game, so to put a counter on it pay 1 mana. by this time in the match he has infinite mana. he a creature that untaps all permanents on each oppnoents turn. he has a mana rock that doubles mana in the mana pool. etc. the deck just generates a ton of mana and card draw.
he also has bounce spells and counter spells. and ways to deal with a variety of threats.
omnath is restricted to green, and much easier to destroy though. since it's ONLY restricted to green, you no longer have access to the insane card draw capability of blue. and also no maximum handsize is one of hte valuable aspects of kruphix. omnath is also missing the maximum handsize restriction removed aspect.
@@henlohenlo689 well Kruphix only has 3k decks (edhrec) and I've never heard anyone think he's busted since he first came out or say to bann him. So I guess he's fine 🤷♂️
You complain about 2 enchantments, an artifact and a creature.
All can be removed.
@@brendans1983 the kruphix is hard to remove. it's an indestructible enchantment. opponents must build a specific ways or else they can't deal with it.
and the deck has alot of ways to win, i only mentioned a few.
this is the full deck:
doubling cube
sol ring
mana vault
mana crypt
simic signet
zendikar resurgent
oracle of mul daya
Sakura tribe elder
seedborn muse
rampant growth
cultivate
kodamas reach
growth spiral
boundless realm
explosive vegetation
coiling oracle
thrasios, triton
triton hero
Rashmi eternities crafter
tafyova, benthic druid
courser of kruphix
eternal witness
consecrated sphinx
gadwick, the wizened
nezahal, primal tide
prime, speaker of zegana
mission briefing
mystical tutor
pull from tomorrow
blue sun's zenith
stroke of genius
dictate of kruphix
rhystic study
leyline of anticipation
mystic snake
counterspell
remand
mana drain
disallow
voidslime
rewind
force of will
acidic slime
krosan grip
curse of the swine
boomerang
capsize
cyclonic rift
commit to memory, commit/memory
progenitor mimic
rite of replication
jace the mind sculptor
nissa, steward of elements
narset, parter of veils
jin gitaxias, core augur
vorinclex, voice of hunger
teferi, mage of zhalfir
nexus of fate
isochron scepter
dramatic reversal
laboratory maniac
genesis wave
helix pinnacle
psychosis crawler
walking ballista
land:
arch of orasca
mystic sanctuary
reliquary tower
alechemist refuge
botanical santum
lumberaing falls
temple of mystery
flood grove
hinterland harbor
breeding pool
command tower
waterlogged grove
yavimay coast
evolving wilds
simic growth chamber
misty rainforest
10 forests
9 islands
Best 2-colour pairing is Rakdos with white
I usually play 2 and 3 color decks, I'll build mono color too, but for some reason they never stick around long term. In general I have no desire to have 4 and 5 color decks, because mana fixing becomes more of an issue and you don't really have a strong color identity playstyle to lean into, but I will try it out for a janky theme. The only 5 color deck I ever built was a deck that tried to put lure effects on Stuffy Dolls, but it still ended up being too janky.
i actively cut black from my leave graveyard deck... i miss insidious roots... but it feels more unique to do that theme without black =)
i have a boros artifact reanimator deck and it's super fun
Interesting to note, the idea of “allowing yourself to play more colors with a jank strategy” sort of goes hand in hand with your method 2 style of deck building. Because method 1 would already have picked the commander and therefore colors, before really honing in the strategy
I have a 4 color enrage so I can play all the cool black cards like pestilence with the usual naya ones
I usually play 3 color cause I like tribal decks and I don't just play commander staples if it doesn't work with my commander or strategy I'd rather use one that does even if it's less efficient.
I personally mainly play one to two color decks. I only go into three colors if the theme is something i like. I like having to actually build around the colors of the game rather then just playing all the best and most expensive cards price wise. Boring to me. I have one 5 color and its my least favorite deck for me. Less colors for me is better and more fun in gameplay and deck building
One random thing I'm always curious about. How is your name spelled?
demo is short for demolition man. long story.
Quint is a commander I have out of my 24 decks and it's so strong
I play 2-3. Got one mono red deck for funsies.
Sauron is grixis. So I built a 3 color deck. 😂. Now I wanna make something a little less powerful.
English isn't my first language but isn't it FEWER colors?
Yes, you have less of things that you can’t count, like water, hair or happiness, and fewer of things that you can count, like colors, hairs, or mistakes.
I only play 1 or 2 color.
I love 3 color decks. I do own 2 Mono colored decks. 2, 4 and 5 colors are boring to me.
Most of my decks are 2 colors.
I mean
U still can play junky when u choose to play 5colour or 4or3 colour
For me there is real point of EDH - play junky and made it works
If someone are obsessed with playing stamples, it’s kinda cringe for me
1 color decks are more pure yet tend to be more the same to their brethren. Then again playing multi colors has become WAY to easy with 1000 different duals and mana fixers. Color pie? Lets talk about the mana pie 😮
The Guilds, Shards, and Wedges have strong identities and play really well too, even on a budget. I am also a 5C enjoyer though: Ur-Dragon, Jodah, and Sisay Shrines.
Out of all 36 decks 9 of them are 2 color or less, and another 7 are 3 color, and only 2 of them are 4 color. The rest are all 5 color. 5 color seems easier to build to me and most of the decks I've made have started out as 3 or 4 color decks and ended up five because of 1-3 cards that fit the theme/deck and had synergy and wanted to add them... so they went up to five colors like my Zombie/Amass deck that I built before LOTR was ever even around for MTG. The ones that started out as 5 color usually were because the commander i wanted was 5 colors, like Progenitus (Hydra) and Sisay (Superfriends), or Horde of Notions (Elemental) and O-Kagachi (Kamigawa/spirit). Although my Ninja Turtle themed Deck is five colors for both thematic reasons as well as functionality.