Why Does Mark Rosewater Believe that Red is not a Good Color for Elves?
General forum
Posted on Oct. 10, 2025, 10:24 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
In this post, Mark Rosewater stated that he believed that red was the color that was the least likely match for elves, but I do not necessarily agree, with him, because red is an allied color of green, and is often the color that is associated with nature the second most frequently, after green, so I do not see any issues with mono-red elves, considering how prevalent red/green elves are in this game.
What does everyone else say, about this subject? Why does Mark Rosewater believe that red is not a good color for elves? I certainly am interested to hear your thoughts, on this matter.
DemonDragonJ says... #3
SaberTech, that makes sense, so I actually think that a faction of elves that are black/white/green would be an interesting idea for a future set, and Lorwyn/Shadormoor almost has such a faction.
October 11, 2025 12:16 p.m.
There are elves in both Selesnya and Golgari on Ravnica too.
Funny enough, I think that the general vibe of the Abzan could fit a WBG elvish culture but there are no elves on Tarkir at all. Just make it more about protecting the forest from some sort of encroaching erosion of nature by all means necessary instead of about surviving in the desert.
SaberTech says... #2
I think that Mark's answer makes sense when you take into account that elves in MtG are generally depicted as stewards of nature. They care about how the forest and the life within it functions. In that regards, it makes sense that Mark thinks that White is the next best colour for them due to White being concerned about the well-being of community.
Red, on the other hand, is a very impulsive colour. When paired with green you see an expression of the wildness of nature but there is still an awareness of being part of the natural cycle. Mono-Red acts on its own whims and has a rebellious nature that is willing to toss aside connections and structure that might constrain it. Red wouldn't care about maintaining the natural order if it found that order to be too much of an imposition on its own desires. Yes, red does have ties to nature in its own way, but it is an acknowledgement of how everything changes, sometimes violently. Lava spews out from the earth, burns all in its path, cools and hardens into stone, provides a foundation for life to grow, and eventually gets finds its way back under the crust of the earth to be melted into magma.
Tl;dr: Mono-Red is a bad steward, conflicting the the role that elves play in MtG.
As a point of comparison, Black is a selfish colour that shares an aspect of individuality with Red but Black doesn't throw things away impulsively. It wants to makes use of everything it can to increase its own power, so it won't just tear down systems and structures that it could potentially benefit from. You can expect black to look after something if Black sees a personal benefit in doing so. In that sense, it makes sense that Mark would rank Mono-Black as a more likely individual colour to find some elves in than Mono-Red.
October 10, 2025 11:41 p.m.