The Colours of Magic

There are five coluours in Magic: the Gathering - white, blue, black, red and white. Today I am going to briefly describe what each of them is about just to give you a general idea about how a deck centred around a single colour feels and plays. Of course the colours can be combined in an atempt to overcome the weaknesses each of them has. Yet, this is a concept that is beyond the scope of this blog, plus it is better to let you experiment and figure it out on your own.

I will only give a summary for each colour's traits, plus a link to an article by Mark Rosewater (Head Magic Designer). These articles are pretty long and might require some previous knowledge of the game so you might consider reading them at a later point. For now the short story should do. So here we go:

"Act now, think later"
Red is fast, furious and fierce. Red is led by emotions and passion. It cares what happens now, not what will or may happen later. Fire, agression, speed, mischief are all common weapons for this colour. It's most typical creatures are goblins, barbarians, minotaurs and dragons. The enemies of red are white and blue.

"In harmony with nature"
Green is about the community, growth and adaptation to the environment. Green hates everything artifical and uses only what nature provides. It follows natures laws and gets rewarded with the power to accelerate it's development and punish everybody who is violating those laws. Green is typically represented by elves, insects, trolls and beasts. The enemies of green are blue and black.

"United we are strong"
White cares about social organization and order. It believes that laws must exist and be enforced. White specializes in armies where the whole is more than the sum of it's parts. It protects its own and punishes those who oppose it. The creatures that symbolize white are soldiers, knights, clerics and angels. The enemies of white are black and red.

"Knowledge is power"
Blue is patient, planning and elitist. It seeks power through knowledge and despises everything else. It is the colour that is least interested in warfare, instead focusing on other ways to emerge triumphant. Blue is the colour of counterspells, control and defense. It's creatueres are most often illusions, drakes, levithans and sphinxes. The enemies of blue are red and green.

"Power at any price"
Black will pay and do anything to win. For it's readiness to pay any price it is rewarded with the ability to destroy creatures, discard it's enemy's spells before they are cast and reanimate creatures after they have been laid to rest. Black's armies usually consist of skeletons, zombies, vampires and demons. The enemies of black are green and white.

To wrap it up here is a nice diagram, known as "the colour pie" that visualizes everything you just read:


No comments:

Post a Comment

Share your thoughts