Enemy color

Enemy colors are two opposed colors of the color pie (, ), (, ), (, ), (, ), (, ). A deck may be enemy color (e.g., Phyrexian Poison). A multicolored card may require mana from enemy colors in order to play it (e.g. Angel of Despair).

Enemy colors naturally repel each other, and are often hosers.

Several sets have centered around enemy-colored cards. These include Apocalypse, Eventide, and five of the Guilds of Ravnica

White / Black

Life drain

Target player loses life and you gain life

Since white is the color of gaining life and black is the color of losing life, life drain is a common mechanic of white-black, particularly among cards of the Orzhov Syndicate. Example cards include Debt to the Deathless and Agent of Masks. This manifests itself in the mechanics lifelink (Divinity of Pride) and extort (Kingpin's Pet), as well a number of white-black effects that hinge on a player's life total.

Exiling

White and black combine to be the colors most able of exiling permanents of any kind. Examples of this include Unmake, Castigate and Identity Crisis. A number of these spells, such as Merciless Eviction, also serve as board wipes.

Multicolored examples

• Death Grasp - combines black X dealing damage spell with white's gain life onto a very efficient sorcery
• Mortify - combines white's disenchantment ability with black's creature destruction onto one card with no drawback (i.e. cannot target black creatures)

Black / Green

Multicolored examples

• Consume Strength - combines green's "pump" effect with black's "weakness" effect onto a very efficient instant
• Putrefy - combines green's dislike of artifacts with black's creature destruction onto one card with no drawback (i.e. cannot target black creatures)

Green / Blue

Multicolored examples

• Winged Coatl - combines the Evergreen mechanics common to green - deathtouch and blue - flash, flying onto one creature efficiently
• Yavimaya's Embrace - combines blue's "stealing" creatures from opponents with green's creature boosting "pump" effect and trample

Red / Blue

Multicolored examples

• Magefire Wings - combines red's power enhancing effect with blue's flying onto one enchantment efficiently
• Schismotivate - combines red's power enhancing effect with blue's power reducing effect onto a very efficient instant

Red / White

Multicolored examples

• Cerodon Yearling - combines the Evergreen mechanics common to red - haste and white - vigilance onto one creature efficiently
• Lightning Helix - combines red's Lightning Bolt with white's life gain of Healing Salve onto one card that does the same as two mentioned

Apocalypse

The Enemy color theme was especially strong in the Apocalypse set. It featured:

• Enemy color painlands
• Enemy color split cards
• Cards with enemy color kicker costs (i.e. Orim's Thunder)
• Cards with two enemy color kicker costs (i.e. Anavolver)
• Cards with abilities requiring an enemy color (i.e. Angelfire Crusader)
• Enchantments which gave bonuses if you controled cards of an enemy color (i.e. Ana Sanctuary)
• Multicolored cards with enemy color casting costs

External references

• Mark Rosewater (February 19, 2002). "Hate Is Enough". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
• Mark Rosewater (February 18, 2002). "Enemy Mine". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.