Enemy color

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Enemy colors are two opposed colors of the color pie: {W}{B}, {B}{G}, {G}{U}, {U}{R}, and {R}{W}. Philosophically, these pairs tend to have stronger internal conflict than allied colors in their union. Enemy colors naturally repel and are often hosers against each other. Historically, this used to manifest in having weaker mana fixing and less prevalent dual lands, but the modern design has moved away from this as it develops poorly constructed environments.

Several sets have centered around enemy-colored cards. These include Strixhaven: School of Mages, Eventide, and five of the Ravnican guilds. Due to drafting considerations, enemy colors are the backbone of wedge-based sets, such as Apocalypse, Khans of Tarkir, and Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths.

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 as several white-black effects that hinge on a player's life total.

Exiling

White and black combine to be the colors most capable 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.

Enchantments

White and Black tend to interact with enchantments regularly, often getting some rather complementary effects and enchantments-matter cards between the two of them.

Multicolored examples

  • Death Grasp - combines black X dealing damage spell with white's gain life onto 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).

Flavor

White values morality and selflessness, while Black sees morality as a construct and thus puts more value on self-indulgence. Theirs is a conflict of priorities in life.

This color pair is represented by the Orzhov Syndicate and Silverquill college.

Black / Green

Reclamation

Black-green cards have strong interaction with the graveyard, with many effects allowing cards to be returned from the graveyard to your hand (Desecrator Hag) or to the battlefield (Bloodbond March). This is supported by mechanics such as dredge that combine reclamation with "self-mill" effects.

Exiling from the graveyard

A recurring theme among black-green is exiling creature cards from graveyards. These can be either from your graveyard or from an opponent's. This effect is often accompanied by some positive effect, such as creature tokens (Necrogenesis) or +1/+1 counters (scavenge).

Regeneration

Fitting in with the theme of death and revival is regeneration. Examples in black-green include Odious Trow and Lotleth Troll.

Permanent destruction

Since black is good at destroying creatures and lands and green is good at destroying enchantments and artifacts, permanent destruction is a minor theme of black-green. Examples include Putrefy, Maelstrom Pulse, and (as a board wipe) Gaze of Granite. One way that black-green is particularly good at destroying creatures is with the mechanic deathtouch.

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)

Flavor

Black believes in free will, while Green believes that all things are subject to an inherent role by fate or nature's design. Thus, their conflict is regarding how individuals can behave.

This color pair is represented by the Golgari Swarm and Witherbloom college.

Green / Blue

+1/+1 counters

Green's penchant for creatures combines with blue's "mad scientist" tendencies to create large creatures (often mutants) that have lots of +1/+1 counters. In Ravnica, this is achieved with graft, evolve, and adapt. Examples include Nimbus Swimmer, Lorescale Coatl and Fathom Mage.

Card drawing

Blue and green are the two strongest colors in terms of card drawing, and blue-green has both powerful draw spells (Biomantic Mastery) and creatures with repeatable card drawing effects (Cold-Eyed Selkie, Fathom Mage).

Multicolored examples

Flavor

Green believes in nature, while Blue believes in nurture. Theirs is a conflict in regards to how life is defined.

This color pair is represented by the Simic Combine and Quandrix college.

Blue / Red

Instants and sorceries

Blue-red has strong interaction with instant and sorcery spells. A number of effects (Cloven Casting, replicate) allow the color combo to copy instant or sorcery spells. Other blue-red cards (Blistercoil Weird) have effects that trigger upon casting of instant or sorcery spells. Blue-red also has several cards (Nucklavee) that allow the reclamation of instant or sorcery cards.

Looting

Red-blue has several cards that allow the drawing of cards at the price of discarding cards.

Artifacts

Blue and Red are the two colors most likely to interact with Artifacts of all kinds, with Blue Tutoring, duplicating and enhancing them, while Red takes a more direct, often destructive approach, sacrificing or tapping them to gain some desired effect.

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 in a very efficient instant

Flavor

Blue believes in careful logic, while Red believes in following your heart. Theirs is a conflict on how to live one's life.

This color pair is represented by the Izzet League and Prismari college.

Red / White

Combat

Red-white finds most of their synergy through combat abilities, especially in the Boros guild of Ravnica. Many red-white creatures have first or double strike (Boros Recruit, Boros Swiftblade). Red-white creatures receive bonuses when attacking together, such as through the Battalion mechanic. Other cards (Agrus Kos, Wojek Veteran, Akroan Hoplite, Duergar Assailant) pump attacking creatures, and still, other cards allow the player to run red-white to make determinations about whether his opponents' creatures can attack or block.

"Weenies"

More than any other two-color combination, red-white is the combo for small but powerful creatures.

Multicolored examples

Flavor

Red believes that individuals should be free to do as they please, while White argues for a well-governed society. Their conflict, therefore, is one of how people govern themselves (or inversely how they don't).

This color pair is represented by the Boros Legion and Lorehold college.

Apocalypse

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

External references

Monocolored
Multicolored ({M})
See also
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