This idea for a 5 color deck is based on the combination of the RTR/THS Standard Maze's End deck and the Legacy Lands deck.
Why Child? Child of Alara is probably the best option that we have for this idea. The ability to destroy all non-land permanents allows us a constant board wipe that will disrupt our plans the least. However there are unfortunate side effects for this. The threat of a board wipe in the command zone can make you a primary target for aggro players. Also, many combo players will attempt to force you to blow the board up to allow them to combo right after.
IMPORTANT NOTE: For Child of Alara's trigger to go off, you must let him stay in the graveyard. If you use the commander rule to place him back in the command zone, the board will not be destroyed.
Deck Breakdown:
This deck is Primarily lands with many cards backing it up with tutors and multiple land drops
Artifacts
Amulet of Vigor: The ability to have Maze's End and the other gates to come into play untapped is very powerful tool. Combined with multiple land drops and Maze's end can sometimes double or triple in efficiency.
Crucible of Worlds: We're a land based deck. This is a obvious inclusion. Combined with multiple land drops for truly disgusting plays.
Horn of Greed: Allowing us to draw cards for playing lands? Sounds like a great deal! Beware that other players get this ability as well.
Sensei's Divining Top: This card is much better in decks that can shuffle a lot. With the amount of tutors and fetches we run, I can safely say this is a great card.
Zuran Orb. Helps keep that life total healthy and a great response to mass land or targeted land destruction.
Enchantments
Burgeoning: One of the bogeyman plays for turn one. This allows use to shoot out the gates quickly. Truly disgusting with Maze's End and Amulet of Vigor
Exploration: I hear the having more land drops is important in a land deck, so why not have 2 lands a turn?
ManaBond: One of the most hilarious and broken cards in this deck. This allows use to gather a large hand of lands and dump them at the end of turn. Combine this with Life from the Loam to start generating a powerful engine.
Trade Routes: Cycling is a powerful tool for us. This allows us to use unneeded lands to dig into our deck quickly. Also allows use use of certain utility lands more than once such as Bojuka Bog.
Creatures
Azusa, Lost but Seeking: Having two more land drops a turn allows for some really explosive plays. Combination with Oracle of Mul Daya or Crucible of Worlds can make deck thinning a breeze.
Eternal Witness: These a reason she's a staple in green decks. Great for reusing tutors or utility cards.
Genesis: Having access to Child of Alara every turn can easily destroy the morale of your opponents. Also can be used to regain eternal witness for easy graveyard pickings.
Knight of the Reliquary: A creature that can tutor lands is already good enough for a place in this deck, Combine the power/toughness boost from lands in the grave and you have a great blocker as well.
Oracle of Mul Daya: More land drops and a way to thin our deck? Sounds awesome. Combine with fetch lands for a more constant land dropping experience.
Sorcerys
Animist's Awakening: I view this is a land deck's Genesis wave. Allows for a insane amount of value and digging.
Creeping Renaissance: A powerful way to regain our lands from a Armageddon. Also not afraid to ditch from a discard effect or dredge.
Demonic tutor: Staple card for any deck running black. Needs no introductions.
Personal tutor: Primarily used to grab either Life from the Loam or one of the win cons.
Life from the Loam: This card in one of the most important things in the deck. basically makes drawing for your turn an ancestral recall. Allows heavy digging with combination of a cycling land.
Rude Awakening: Sometimes we just need to beat someone in the face to get them out of a game. The untapping effect buy itself also allows this a spot in the deck. Beware of blue player and there ability to cause a Evacuation
Scapeshift. A modern deck powerhouse and one of the primary ways we can win in a single turn.
Treasure Hunt: considering how many lands we're running, this can easily be a draw 4-5 cards for 2 mana.
Worm Harvest: This is a very fun win condition. one of the few spells we're not afraid to get countered and can generate a much needed blocking force.
Instants
Ad Nauseam: A very infamous card in competitive magic. With our curve being very low overall, we can gather a huge amount of card advantage at the end of our opponent's turns.
Cyclonic Rift: Staple in all blue decks. can snipe target problems or bounce everything to allow us to swing in for the kill
Crop Rotation: A tutor for a specific land. with our toolkit of useful lands, this is has earned it's place.
Entomb: A useful way to get specific cards into our graveyard. Primary targets are Life from the Loam and Genesis.
Intuition: One of the best blue tutors. Used mainly to get Life from the Loam and cycling lands, but has a insane amount of possibilities.
Krosan Grip: Primarily used against Combo decks and graveyard hate.
Long-Term Plans: Useful blue tutor, mostly used to grab utility things to throw in graveyard from a Life from the Loam dredge.
Realms Uncharted: Remember the banned card Gifts Ungiven? Basically it a land version of it, but we can't do the double entomb trick. Still a Great way to grab a toolkit of lands.
Sunder: One of the ways to make our opponents hate their lives. Combine with Manabond to truly send a message.
Lands:
10 Gates & Maze's End: Our primary win condition. Allows mana fixing and shuffle effect.
10 Fetches, 10 Shocks. this is a 5 color deck, and we need all the mana fixing we can get. One of the most expensive parts of the deck.
Plateau: currently my only original duel, currently trying to get the others.
Command Tower, City of Brass, Exotic Orchard, Reflecting Pool: 5 color mana fixing. one of the best.
Cycling Lands: One of the best ways we have of digging though our deck. Combine with Life from the Loam for heavy digging power.
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. Great mana fixing and allows use to use some of our lands that don't tap for mana.
Riftstone Portal: Mana fixing from the grave. One of the best tools we have to generate multiple Life from the Loam/Cycling land combos.
High Market; Miren, the Moaning Well; Grim Backwoods: Sac lands, allows use to set off our Child of Alara whenever we want.
Horizon Canopy: Mana land and allows us to draw a card. I view it as our version of Mind Stone.
Cephalid Coliseum: With our deck digging stuff into the grave, its not hard to trigger Threshold.
Inkmoth Nexus, Kessig Wolf Run: Combo for a instant One Hit Kill. Kessig Wolf Run can also be used as a political tool.
Volrath's Stronghold, Haunted Fengraf: Ways to grab Child of Alara from the grave to constantly blow up the board.
Glacial Chasm: One of the best tools for aggro, the loss of life can build up, but with the amount of recursion of lands we have, its not a problem to let it hit the grave once in a while.
Kor Haven: Ways to stop problem creatures from hitting you and can generate mana.
Dust Bowl. targeted land destruction and a useful way to save lands from being exiled.
Petrified Field: recursion for toolkit lands that hit the grave. Primarily used to save a land from being mass exiled
Academy Ruins: Used to grab artifacts that we trash from dredging.
Alchemist's Refuge: A surprise Child of Alara end of turn can mess many plans for your opponents. Combine with a few other sorcerys for an insane amount of value.
Bojuka Bog: Graveyard hate in the form of a land. Useful toolkit card, and worst comes to worse, a way to get Child of Alara out of a graveyard.
Boseiju, Who Shelters All: Uncounterable Scapeshifts and Ad Nauseams can make any control player cringe. A very great card in our toolkit.
Primary Win conditions
Maze's End: The primary win condition, many people never expect to die to lands and many people don't have answers for it.
Inkmoth Nexus: 10 Damage to death is not difficult withe the combination of Kessig. It can be a surprising
Worm Harvest: Never underestimate the power of 1/1s in large quantities. This card can be recasted each time you draw land. Combine with Life from the Loam to have a constant army.
Child of Alara: The commander itself can also just go to the face. 6/6 trample should never be underestimated.
