Multicolored

The Magic Arena multicolored symbol

Multicolored (also "multicolor", "multi-colored", "multi-color"; as opposed to "monocolored", "mono-colored" "single-colored") cards were introduced in the Legends set, and use a gold frame to distinguish them. For this reason, they also can be referred to as "gold" cards.

Description

Multicolored cards require mana from two or more different colors to be played. Multicolored cards tend to combine the philosophy and mechanics of all the colors used in the spell's cost. For examples Quicksilver Dagger and Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, which combine blue's ability to draw cards with red's ability to deal (direct) damage ("pinging").

Two-color hybrid cards have costs that can be paid with either of the card's colors (as opposed to both) were introduced in Ravnica. They are considered to be of both colors. This means that, for example, if a card has a mana cost of , it has a converted mana cost of 1, but the card is considered both a red card and a green card. Hybrid revolves around the mechanics and philosophies that the two colors have in common. The cards are distinguished by a gradient frame with those two colors.

Multicolored cards tend to be more powerful compared to single-color and hybrid cards, due to the restriction of requiring the player to use all the colors in the mana cost.

Alara Reborn was the first, and so far only, Magic set in which all of its cards are multicolored.

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

Multicolored

An object with two or more colors is multicolored. Multicolored is not a color. See rule 105, “Colors,” and rule 202, “Mana Cost and Color.”

Color pairs

Using color pairs to structure the Limited environment does a lot for development to create a better product.

From the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

• 105.5. If an effect refers to a color pair, it means exactly two of the five colors. There are ten color pairs: white and blue, white and black, blue and black, blue and red, black and red, black and green, red and green, red and white, green and white, and green and blue.

Allied colors

White-Blue

White-Blue is slow and steady. Typical white-blue decks stall the game and let the users cast their major spells in the late game.

Common mechanics: Flying, Flash, tapping, effects that prevent creatures from attacking or blocking, returning permanents to hand, counterspells, temporarily exiling permanents

Common creature types: Birds, Kithkin, Wizards

Ravnica guild: Azorius Senate

Blue-Black

Blue-black is related to secrets and forbidden knowledge. Blue's emphasis on information and black's solitary nature combine to create a very secretive color pair. The opponents of Blue-Black decks often realize that they are going to lose when it is too late.

Common mechanics: Milling, card draw, discard, library manipulation, casting from graveyard, large creatures with big drawbacks, unblockability

Common creature types: Merfolk, Faeries, Rogues, Assassins, Wizards

Ravnica guild: House Dimir

Black-Red

Black's anti-sociality and Red's hedonism combine to create a very sadistic and sociopathic color pair. Black-red decks typically prefer overwhelming opponents at all cost, often at the expense of their own creatures and even their users' life total.

Common mechanics: Haste, Wither, spells and creature that are undercosted but have drawbacks hurt the casters, sacrifice, direct damage/life loss, disallowing life gain, power boosting, +X/-X effects

Common creature types: Demons, Elementals, Goblins, Devils

Ravnica Guild: Cult of Rakdos

Red-Green

Red-Green is very unthinking, considering the fact that it has red's impulsiveness and green's preference for instinct over the mind. Red-Green decks are typically highly aggressive and attempt to overwhelm their opponents with pure strength.

Common mechanics: Trample, Haste, Reach, Land Removal, Fight, +X/+X effects, Fast mana, one-sided fight (dealing damage equal to the power of a creature you control to an opponent's creature), direct damage to flying creatures, Aggressive creatures

Common creature types: Warriors, Shamans, Goblins, Beasts

Ravnica Guild: Gruul Clans

Green-White

Green-White detests black's individualistic attitude and is the color pair of group and unity. Green-White thrives in being in groups.

Common mechanics: Vigilance, creature tokens, protecting creatures, creature boosting/pump, life gain, enchantments

Common creature types: Elves, Centaurs, Knights

Ravnica Guild: Selesnya Conclave

Enemy color

White-Black

White-Black as a color can represent corruption or dishonesty under the clever veil of mercy and/or kindness. It may also represent the balance of good and evil, where the world is seen as a grey area in times of war or strife. As a mechanic, White-black is about gradually killing one's enemies, with white slowing the game down and black destroying opponent's creatures and draining their life totals.

Common mechanics: Lifelink, parasitism, life gain, return creatures from graveyard, massive removal, permanent exiling, extort

Common creature types: Spirits, Clerics, Knights, Vampires

Ravnica guild: Orzhov Syndicate

Blue-Red

After combining Blue's desire for progress and red's impulsiveness, Blue-Red is a color pair that focuses on innovation.

Common mechanics: Prowess, Jump-start, Power/toughness switching, reusing instants/sorceries, time manipulation (e.g. taking additional turns), copying spells and abilities, changing targets of other spells and abilities, looting, gaining control of permanents

Common creature types: Wizards, Weirds, Noggles, Dragons

Ravnica Guild: Izzet League

Black-Green

Black-Green embodies the cycle of life and death and thrives on exploiting the cycle. Black-Green capitalizes on creatures that slowly grow over time or those that have special effects when they die.

Common mechanics: Regeneration, Deathtouch, Undergrowth, +1/+1 counters, reusing creature cards, exiling from graveyard, destruction of non-land permanents, return cards (any, permanent, or creature card/s) from graveyard

Common creature types: Zombies, Insects, Elves, Plants, Shamans

Ravnica Guild: Golgari Swarm

Red-White

Red-White represents enforcement of justice, as a mixture of red's readiness to take action and white's insistence on honor.

Common mechanics: First strike, Double strike, small creatures, bonuses to attacking creatures, damage to attacking or blocking creatures

Common creature types: Soldiers, Giants, Warriors, Angels

Ravnica Guild: Boros Legion

Green-Blue

Green-Blue is the color pair of progress. Both green and blue enjoy seeing the world evolve, although the former prefers reaching it by natural selection while the latter prefers artificial means.

Common mechanics: Flash, Adapt, Shroud, Hexproof, card draw, search library, +1/+1 counters

Common creature types: Wizards, Beasts, Mutants, Merfolk

Ravnica Guild: Simic Combine

Color triples

Several sets have had major three-color themes, most notably in the Alara and Tarkir blocks. The Alara block focused on the shards in Shards of Alara, but had a strong five-color theme in Conflux and focused more on two-color gold cards in Alara Reborn with its all-gold gimmick. The Khans of Tarkir block only focuses on wedges in its namesake set Khans of Tarkir. As such, three-colored cards can show up every now and again in other sets. Starting with the Tarkir block, the new default for showing three color costs is to place a pair's mutual enemy in the middle.

Shards

Shards are sets of three colors (a color and its two allies) that form an arc, or an obtuse triangle:

• Bant ()
• Esper ()
• Grixis ()
• Jund ()
• Naya ()

The Shards, and the term Shards, were established in the 2008 block Shards of Alara. Within the Shards, the color that is allied to both of the other colors is considered the "primary" color of the shard by the design team; with Bant, for example, White is the primary color.

Wedges

Wedges are sets of three colors (a color and its two enemies) that form a wedge shape, or an acute triangle.

The official names for the wedges are:

• Abzan ()
• Jeskai ()
• Sultai ()
• Mardu ()
• Temur ()

Within the Wedges, the color that is left-most of the allied colors, when looking from the base of the triangle to the tip, is considered the "primary" color of the wedge by the design team; with Mardu, for example, Red is the primary color. However, the "center" color is the enemy of the two allied colors; with Abzan, for example, Black is the center color.

Color quadruples

Four color cards are hard to design. The Nephilim from Guildpact were the first four-colored cards. In some circles, these Nephilim creatures have become the nicknames for the different 4-color decks: Glint (Glint-Eye Nephilim, no White), Dune (Dune-Brood Nephilim, no Blue), Ink (Ink-Treader Nephilim, no Black), Witch (Witch-Maw Nephilim no Red), and Yore (Yore-Tiller Nephilim, no Green). Commander 2016 introduced a second cycle of four-colored cards and this time also introduced names and themes for the color combinations:

• Artifice ()
• Chaos ()
• Aggression ()
• Altruism ()
• Growth ()

All colors

The first card with five colors () was 1996 World Champion, the first one that was legal for sanctioned play was Sliver Queen.

External links

• Magic: The Gathering Combination Names: Tool that allows selecting colors to show the name for the particular color combination, as well as a representative symbol if available.