Pros and Cons of each color
General forum
Posted on Oct. 24, 2013, 9:03 a.m. by MonsterFinder221
THE QUESTION: what are the weaknesses and strengths of each color?
Green and red both have trouble with removal of bigger creatures, black and blue cant really deal with artifacts and enchantments, white has least amount of weaknesses in my opinion. it has removal, can deal with enchantments and artifacts and black has no real direct damage. It has access to powerful cards like path to exile, oblivion ring, celestial flare, serra ascendent, soul warden and martyr for life gain. Again in my opinion I feel like white is strongest for modern mono color decks besides maybe RDW.
October 24, 2013 9:45 a.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #4
I would argue that blue is stronger against enchantments than red. Blue has bounce removal like Boomerang . Red has almost nothing.
October 24, 2013 9:47 a.m.
HarbingerJK says... #6
It's kind of hard to say that there is a best deck, it's really all opinion, every deck has a weakness to another deck
October 24, 2013 9:50 a.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #7
Well, arguably the best 2 color deck for aggro is either red/black or red/green, but basically anything with red. Best 2 color deck for control is blue/white or blue/black.
But this is all open to debate.
October 24, 2013 9:55 a.m.
MonsterFinder221 says... #8
But what deck do you usually see in tournaments?
October 24, 2013 9:58 a.m.
This link here is a good read for this, specifically read Mark Rosewaters links in the 'External Links'. Mark Rosewater also does a podcast called Drive to work in which he talks about the different colors.
For the purpose of this question, these are the definitive information as Mark Rosewater is the main 'Color Pie Guy' and apparently a lot of the WotC employees go to him with questions about it.
October 24, 2013 9:58 a.m.
For a discussion, the information I posted above should help all those who want to participate but don't have a concrete idea on what each color does and is good at or bad at.
October 24, 2013 10 a.m.
HarbingerJK says... #11
I'm going to have to agree with GoldGhost012, those color combos are staples of the archetypes, although G/W is also quite good for aggro
October 24, 2013 10:11 a.m.
MonsterFinder221 says... #12
Huh. the files to the videos weren't found, but i saw that the graph and the color pie were very informative.
October 24, 2013 10:18 a.m.
MonsterFinder221 They aren't videos, but audio files, episode 52 about black worked for me. They are in mp3.
October 24, 2013 10:22 a.m.
From an RPG perspective:
Red is the melee DPS (i.e. rogue). It tries to kill the target before it can react, but it tends to be less effective as the battle progresses.
White is the healer. Lots of support, but can have a hard time dealing with constant threats.
Green is your tank. It can take a beating, but can be easily controlled.
Blue is your crowd control. It mostly stalls until it has control of everything, but it can have a hard time outright removing a threat.
Black is your ranged DPS (i.e. archer). It's plan is to remove all potential threats before they get too close.
October 24, 2013 11:03 a.m.
Blitzaero135 says... #16
In my humble opinion:
Red = Boom boom for the most part. Lots of burn spells and offensive cards, but not a whole bunch of defense.
Blue: A LOT of Control. It varies from milling to tapping, countering spells, stalling stuff, you name it. They DO have a FEW offensive cards but for the most part blue decks win by simply saying "No" to everything you do.
Black: Personally I find black to be kinda weird. It has a lot of offensive spells, but not outright Boom boom like Red. It's a lot of stuff like, you lose a life I gain a life, resurects, outright destroy anything that's not black (Doom Blade). I favor black and red because It's a lot of offense with some really annoying black spells. It's a bit of a jack of all trades IMO.
Green: HULK SMASH. Can be either a bunch of little hulks being buffed up to the High Heavens, or one Big Hulk that has a 17/17 on t4-t5. It has a lot of trample stuff, so literally roflstomping, the God Card and Artifact from the new Theros set give everything attacking deathtouch and tample (Black has a lot of deathtouch too, forgot to add that). It's more of a creature boom than a spell boom.
White: Just imagine the Nazis. Before people rage at that statement, think about it. They detain, arrest and exile everything that isn't white,protect themselves from whatever color they want, a lot of flying to simply attack you directly, can potentially spawn a bunch of little annoying buggers then buff em, hydra mechanic where 1 dies 2 come back (Doom Traveler), healing spells too. It's pretty self reliant I think, lots of people run W/U decks because it's a good amount of defense, offense, and "NO" mechanics to anything you do.
Take it as you will, that's all my personal opinon. Feel free to agree/disagree
October 24, 2013 1:23 p.m.
KrosanTusker says... #17
As Mark Rosewater would say, white's weakness is its "good guy complex" -- it doesn't want to Murder its enemies so it 'removes' them in other ways... but its answers often have answers, like Pacifism or Oblivion Ring .
Black gets Doom Blade for a 2-mana common killspell (okay, uncommon now), while white gets Journey to Nowhere . Does the same job, but you can hit it with a Naturalize and you've sold the problem. Doom Blade ... just kills it dead.
That, though, is one of black's weaknesses. It doesn't like killing its own. Cards like Terror , Doom Blade , Annihilate , Dark Banishing , Executioner's Capsule , Ghostly Visit , etc, can kill most stuff, but not black creatures. Similarly, black has trouble killing artifact creatures too, eg.Go for the Throat , Grisly Spectacle , Expunge and, again, Terror . Actually, it's not just artifact creatures, black can't really hurt artifacts, or enchantments. Black used to be able to destroy land, but not anymore. On the other hand, it can destroy planeswalkers better than any other colour.
Green can destroy artifacts, enchantments and land, courtesy of Winter's Grasp , Thermokarst or Ice Storm . Creeping Mold gives you the choice and Rain of Thorns can do all three at once! However, unless they have flying, nature-loving green can't really hurt creatures (green is the colour for flying hate: Aerial Predation , Crushing Vines , Plummet , Gloomwidow's Feast ).
October 24, 2013 3:16 p.m.
each colour is supposed to have weakness in the two opposing colours. With many of the sets they have been removing these limitations.
At this point Bant or Selesnia are the mainstay for control, why? (magical words) In my opinion (see how I did that) green and white together have some amazing creatures, as well as some terrible damage prevention. Fog to name one......
October 24, 2013 4:03 p.m.
mrbloo1848 says... #19
Here's my take (bullets are plus's):
Red:
Has direct-damage spells to both creatures and players and often can hit multiple targets at once
Has the fastest creatures (Red's primary keyword is Haste)
Can destroy artifacts
Contains some important creature types: Dragons (usually huge and powerful, for example Thundermaw Hellkite ) and Goblins (usually fast and good for aggro, for example Goblin Guide )
Is better than green at destroying lands
Chaotic nature that punishes slower decks and enables rapid cycling to keep the pressure going. A good example would be Wheel of Fortune
Has powerful one-use creatures that can get significant amount of damage through i.e. Ball Lightning
Gives some temporary mana acceleration
Grants ability to "borrow" creatures to attack for you for the turn
-- Their only removals are damage-based so they're weak to indestrucibility
-- They can't remove enchantments
-- Their creatures are generally the smallest
-- Generally gets weaker as the game progresses
Green:
Biggest creatures with the important primary keyword Trample, which means that their size doesn't go to waste against tiny chump-blockers
Great at destroying enchantments and artifacts, along with lands.
Is the one color that lets you permanently accelerate your mana (through dorks and ramps) and the one color that lets you get more than one land into play per turn.
Great tribal synergies (red comes close)
Generally resilient creatures. A great example would be Thragtusk
Biggest P/T pumpers
Hates flyers. Reach is a very green keyword. Most of their removals only kills flyers.
Multiple "Fog " effects, which helps stall into late game.
-- Crap selection of removals outside of combat and fighting
-- Slow without acceleration
-- Generally the only way to win is through combat
Black:
Best selection of kill spells
Generally the color to go to when it comes to reanimation and graveyard interaction
Can aggressively use life total as resource to gain card advantage or other advantage. See: Necropotence , Yawgmoth's Bargain , Phyrexian Arena , Hatred
The Demons generally have ungodly P/T-to-CMC ratio, with usually manageable drawbacks. Example, Abyssal Persecutor , Desecration Demon .
Is, along with blue, a very good color for control.
Has decent amount of mass removals
Has kill spells that circumvent certain keywords that would normally protect the creature (i.e. Indestructibility, Hexproof, Shroud, Regeneration, etc.) through use of sacrifice effects and power/toughness reduction effects.
Known for aggressive hand disruption, either through spot removal or discard effects (Duress , Hymn to Tourach , Thoughtseize )
In my opinion, is the color that rewards going mono the most. Not only because of Devotion mechanics, but also back in the day of Monoblack Control. See: Cabal Coffers , Mutilate , Liliana of the Dark Realms , Crypt Ghast , Nirkana Revenant , etc.
Non-revealing tutor effects for cheap
-- Some abilities requires paying life
-- Can't remove artifacts or enchantments (Save Gate to Phyrexia )
-- Relatively color-intensive spells
Blue:
Draws you the most cards at once
99.99% of all counterspells are blue
Has decent removal of any type of pernaments through bounce and tap effects
Gets you the biggest card advantage out of all five colors
All of the "extra turn" spells/abilities are blue
Most "clone" creatures and spells are also blue
Has generally better late game once enough mana and permanents are available to start lockdown
High utility creatures
Great evasion through unblockability and flying
Instant-speed spells gives your opponent less time to react and prepare
Best interaction with artifacts
Decent tutor effects, but most of the time for specific types of cards.
Jace is blue.
-- Doesn't really kill anything outright which can cause you to eventually get overwhelmed
-- Relatively weak creature base outside utility
-- Jace is blue
White:
Along with red, has better creature selection for aggro archetype. Small, but great in number (see: White Weenies).
Great synergy and support for aggro
Great at removing enchantments
White removals circumvent certain protection abilities through exiling.
Gains tons of life
Indestructible is a primarily white keyword
Anthem effects (gives all creatures you control +X/+X)
Contains one of the most powerful creature types: Angels.
Highest density of "Hate-Bears" (2-CMC creatures that either stops anyone from doing something that you aren't doing or makes it difficult for them to do so. For example, Leonin Arbiter , Thalia, Guardian of Thraben , Grand Abolisher )
Great at both offense and defense (see: Vigilance)
Great at combat against creatures of similar size (see: first- and double strike)
Powerful static effects (but generally expensive as well). See: Linvala, Keeper of Silence , Iona, Shield of Emeria , Blazing Archon , Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
As far as I know, most creatures with "protection from [color or things]" are white
Mass removal
Cats
-- Color intensive
-- Some removals are only temporary and can be answered. For example: Oblivion Ring , Journey to Nowhere , Fiend Hunter , etc.
-- Relatively weak creatures individually
-- Not enough cats
October 25, 2013 5:42 a.m.
MonsterFinder221 says... #20
You guys have been very informative and I thank you. I might consider making a G/R Aggro deck, making use of Kird Ape and Tukatongue Thallid ,
October 25, 2013 7:01 a.m.
Every single one of you guys failed to mention how to build a midrange deck. If you're going aggro, you'll likely want to use 1-2 colors. Support colors are black and white. If you're building a control or midrange deck, you'll mostly use three colors; i.e. Blue/Red/White, or Blue/White/Green, Blue/White/Black. If you'll notice, all of these control have blue and white. Those are the base colors for most control decks. Some control decks don't even use blue. There are mono black control decks all over the place. Midrange decks almost always use green. A few only use two colors, but most use three colors because with a midrange deck it's easy to access all of your colors.
HarbingerJK says... #2
Blue and Black have trouble dealing with enchantments and artifacts
October 24, 2013 9:36 a.m.