The world of Magic is fascinating. White tends to do its creature destruction in one of four ways: white can kill during combat, it sometimes will just hit attackers or just hit blockers, or white will often exile creatures instead of destroying then. All colors have access to this, but we tend to skew toward black, red, and green. Blue. As champion of the little guy, white will also destroy large creatures. White will grant the ability to creatures, whereas blue tends to have the ability on creatures. ", This can involve a wide range of things where you either help that card type (making it cheaper to cast, enhancing it in some way, using it to generate an effect, etc.) Green is the one color that regularly grants +3/+3 and above on Auras. Lets start with the basics. This is what we refer to as the Rootwalla ability. If you enjoy the sound of having walls to hide behind and the strength of an army at your side, then white is the color for you. We tried to keyword this ability only to discover that there are so many variations on it that we couldn't. Many players like to create decks that are themed around specific characters or ideas. "Daunt" (This creature can't be blocked by creatures with power 2 or less.). Black most often makes 2/2 Zombies. White is the color that searches the library for enchantments. "Lobotomy" (Choose a non-land card name. Today, I'm going to do something that players have been asking me to do for years. Finally we have green mages that like to go big or go home. They flow freely and find damage wherever they can as you unleash as much raw power as you can muster. Blue is the color that likes to go searching for answers by digging through its library. Blue is the main color to gain control of other players' permanents. Everything has a place, and to disrupt that for selfish gain goes against greens philosophy. Dark Intimations | Illustration by Chase Stone. Finally, there are mechanics that each color is tertiary to, meaning theyre rarely seen and only come around once every so often. Mexico, Chilpancingo-Guerrero. Good thing green has that sweet fixing so that you can splash them if you want. A visual and interactive guide for understanding Magic: The Gathering's color pie Brimstone Volley | Illustration by Eytan Zana. We don't do this often, but this effect keeps you from either being attacked for a turn or as long as a specific permanent is on the battlefield. The color pie lays out the flavor of each color and gives us a feel for their character. Thought-Knot Seer | Illustration by Svetlin Velinov, Well, that took a while. We don't do a lot of land changing these days, but the ability is still in blue in environments where we might need it. The color pie lays out the flavor of each color and gives us a feel for their character. They make a dangerous and wild duo when properly mixed. The ability then got moved into white because white is the army color that likes giving rewards for having lots of little creatures. Red is the color most often to have just power-pumping Auras (including "firebreathing" Auras). If we're going to let you lower a creature's power, we will let you raise its toughness accordingly. Red uses it occasionally but at a much lower volume. For a while this was a green effect, but we've moved it to be more in blue. Players have more options. Green has this ability on creatures that can change themselves, usually flavored as a chameleon-like effect. How come every good green deck is a ramp deck? Also, dont get me started on how it makes sense from a flavor perspective that green has some intrinsic advantage over technology. At the end of the day, red sees a world bound by rules and restrictions but doesnt want to worry about them. Stay safe and stay healthy. Good luck tapping the burnt stumps of the trees in the Argoth Forest for green mana to cast Naturalize after an Urza artifact bombed it off the map. Yes, it has its own mechanics in Eldrazi like annihilator, devoid, and ingest. The Azorius Senate is the guild from the plane and city of Ravnica. Subscribe to our newsletter and receive discounts ! Because it doesn't often result in the creature getting +1/+1 counters, we now often do variations of it. That used to be solely whites job, but it feels right for green to have it because of its natural disagreement with blue and its technology. White will occasionally deal damage to multiple creatures or all attackers or blockers. If blue could start doing things the way red did, who would need to play red anymore? While Golgari sees the world more for what it is than what it could be, black is prepared to upset the natural order to get what it wants. "Punisher" effects (Opponent chooses one: thing X happens or thing Y happens.). Blue had mastery over all things psychic, mental, intellectual, tactical, or pertaining to the manipulation of time and space. White is the proactive color, stopping things from before they happen (as opposed to blue being reactive, stopping things as they happen). Changing lands (Target land becomes the basic land of your choice.). Counterspell | Illustration by Jason Chan. As always, if youd like to help support us in making more awesome content you can check out our Patreon. Find the color that works for you. There should be a rule that if no one at #MTGChamp registers a white card, I am automatically added to the tournament. -Craig Wescoe. Exile target nonblack artifact or enchantment. That spell can't be played as long as this card is on the battlefield.). Often it pumps your creatures just on attack. While there are plenty of other depictions and charts of the color pie, the simplest and most basic one will always be on the back of your cards. The reason I bring this up is that Ive been wondering (and wondering if others agree) if opening up the color pie could be a way to create more diversity in Magic. White tends to make smaller creature tokens, usually 1/1s, while green tends to make larger ones, from 3/3 and up. Red takes control of permanents, mostly creatures, for the turn, gives them haste, and then returns them at end of turn. Afterward, I'll go through all the abilities in alphabetical order. It started in green, spent numerous years bouncing around, ended up in white, and then finally got moved back to green where it has stayed. (It matters occasionally.) Black will do direct damage to creatures or players and then gain life. While I could just say that white is built around themes like protecting a group or punishing wrongdoings, youll probably be happier with an actual list of whites mechanics. Blue has permanents that will choose a target and then remain that target for the rest of the game (or until the permanent chooses to copy a new target). Primary: whiteSecondary: greenTertiary: blue, black, and red. The Council of Colors had a big discussion of whether animating lands was tertiary in white, blue, and black, but between things like the Genju cycle from Betrayers of Kamigawa, the awaken mechanic in Battle for Zendikar, and the numerous lands affiliated with colors that could animate themselves (although I should stress lands are not colored), it felt like something we wanted to have access to, so I left them in as tertiary, but pointed out it's usually done through a larger set theme like . White is the main color of tapping creatures. We turn any occasion into an unforgettable moment. I discuss its history, how it influenced Magic, and how it came to be a Wizards of Coast game. These are most often creatures or enchantments, but occasionally show up in other forms. 28 Oct 2022 05:57:51 So, all of that raises the question: What kind of mage are you? Black and red are the two colors that tend to pump power as a spell without also pumping toughness. They dont care about consequences if theyre strong enough to ignore them. It stayed in green for many years, but has drifted toward white as part of us experimenting with white draw in narrow deck themes. But too much cake and pie is a recipe for disaster. Black is the color most focused on the graveyard. Deck design would be less about being limited by narrow strategies (keyword mechanics or linear all-in decks) or playing a super color (green or blue), and splashing the effects those colors cant do well (discard, removal, or permission). (See drain life) Black will sometimes deal damage to players as a punishment. Black is as ruthless as it is free. It also will often bounce a creature via an enters-the-battlefield effect. Other colors will deal damage or gain life, but black is the color that does both at the same time. Fight, one-sided (Target creature deals damage to equal to its power to another target creature.). Word Changing (Change a word in rules text into another word from the same subset.). In short, imagining Magic formats as ecosystems that ideally fall into a state of fair or balanced environments is an exercise in wishful thinking. The champion in Dragon's Maze is Melek, Izzet Paragon, a weird, basically an elemental of diametrically opposing elements. Green, as the color connected most closely to lands and creatures, is the color most likely to turn lands into creaturesusually still keeping them lands. White and black have very different flavor rationales for the abilities, but both use it almost every set. Red wants to act according to its emotions and it wants to do it as soon as possible. Green believes everything is as it should be and that they must accept their place. In fact, the promise is the exact oppositesome of this will change over time. The decks, cards, and strategies that go outside the expectation of archetype tend to be the most interesting and memorable cards from a set or in a format. In the end its a matter of which color you feel like you understand and resonate with the most. Black does this infrequently, usually with some payment required. It's mostly used in blue, but occasionally in white when we want to simulate vigilance because actual vigilance is problematic due to timing. When the color pie dictates that certain colors cannot do certain things, each color can only ever do one or two things with any kind of effectiveness. Red on rare occasion will do a "Time Walk" that comes with some big penaltyoften losing the game at the end of the extra turn. Somebody must block your creature, but everyone doesn't have to. Blue grindy creature. This is a common way for black to kill creatures. The life that white strives for is pale and without freedom. Thats whites thing! People barely even remember that green wasnt always the master of disenchantment. Organization, protection, harmony and unity are all the virtues of white. I'm going to lay out the color pie as it connects to all (okay mostI'm sure I'll forget a few things) of the mechanics. But this is more about the individual colors at their core, so lets focus on that for now. Green disagrees with black and blue on fundamental and moral levels. White only destroys lands when it does mass land destructionsomething that, although still in white's color pie, we simply don't do often. Green used to do this all the time. You may then cast cards off the top of your library. Spawning Jellies This ability used to be in blue, but we moved it to red as it has a chaotic feel (you don't know what's about to happen) and red needed more stuff. For now, it stays in red's (and blue's) part of the color pie. "Khabl" Ability (Whenever another creature dies, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.). Blue doesn't tend to just tap or just untap, but rather give you the choice between the two. This ability started in black on Spirits and was known as "skulking," but has since been moved into blue and attached to Illusions. I'm going to make this a feature I do every few years so that I can update it and show the flux. As this is mostly used as a kill spell, the ability resides mostly in black. We've also let red play a little in this area, especially in sets where it can grant flashback to instants and sorceries in the graveyard. Crackling Doom | Illustration by Yohann Schepacz. If you mostly agree with what white is all about, you prefer building the group up regardless of what some people have to sacrifice or contribute. Team pump that only pumps power is most often done in red, usually affecting attacking creatures. Play extra lands/Put a land from hand onto the battlefield. Sometimes it will even put them directly onto the battlefield. I cant play as a red mage to save my life, but I know blue like the back of my hand. Green gets unlimited pumping activations but usually only when the activation cost is high enough that multiple activations don't happen until the late game. I've included a greater explanation of the limitations of each ability as well as which colors it can appear in, so you can see how the colors share abilities. ChannelFireball - Magic: The Gathering Strategy, Singles, Cards, Decks. White tends to make smaller creature tokens, usually with some payment required so, all of that raises question... Promise is the exact oppositesome of this will change over time which you. White is the main color to gain control of other players ' permanents guild from the subset... Of little creatures non-land card name dont care about consequences if theyre strong enough ignore! 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