Articles

Most Magic players started out playing Magic by playing mono-colour decks because the colour itself outlines a specific strategy that is easy for beginners to follow. For instance, Green is all about fat beats and Red is about direct damage; the underlying strategy of a colour is simple because all you need to do is play with the cards that will cause the most damage for the least amount of mana. In comparison, this strategy is a lot simpler then decks that revolve around individual card interactions like Psychatog, which require a good understanding of all the cards in the different sets to build and to play.

In most cases, before a player can build decks based on cards and not colours, they will have to go through a phase of trial and error through playing near mono colour decks that will give them a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses in all colours of Magic. This phase is usually crucial to the development of Magic players because the exposure to each individual colour will teach the player some important features about the game that will make them a better player in general.

As a player, you might start out with a certain colour due to different reasons. For example, you can start out by playing the same colour deck as your friend, or you might play the colour that your starter deck contains most cards of. Even though some Magic players start playing the game in different colours, but for most people, playing Magic start with Green.

Trial by Nature - When might makes right

When someone decides to start perusing the gut wrenching, brain wrecking and money devastating career of Magic, they are usually not impressed by card advantage spells like Fact or Fiction or even the obvious vicious Flametongue Kavu. No, it is usually creatures like Force of Nature with power and toughness the size of Texas and a funky picture that make the new players squeal in delight.

To the more experience Magic players, they know that looks and size don't really matter as long as they are cheap and come with special skills and abilities. Big creatures are too high maintenance and impractical in any tournament play but to the uncanny eye of the inexperienced big creatures can win games in 3 turns. Bulky creatures provide a new player with a sense of strength, power and dominance but most importantly, Green provides a strategy that is simple for the new player to follow.

Owing to Green's creature dependent nature, playing a heavily Green dependant deck mean that to bring out the fattest and the meanest creature in the shortest period of time and combat strategies. However, the passion for Green will fade, as they realise that even when their combos work out perfect and they manage to bring their 8/8 trampler down on the 4th turn, they are still losing because the creature is easily bounced, stolen or killed. So after a couple of weeks, they will realise what that toothy grin TBS gave them was about when he traded a Thriss, Nantuko Primus for their Cunning Wish.

Trial by Fire - A need for speed

When a new player loses faith in Green's creature strength, they will usually turn to Red for its destruction power. First, their deck will still be Green based but add Red spells for removal, but soon enough the player will find that creatures are too slow compared to Red's direct damage spells due to summoning sickness. The attraction of Red is that it provides the player with a sadistic sense of gratification as you witness your opponent's life dwindle while you deliver blow after another. In addition, Red is the colour of speed and it is satisfying to say that it only took you 5 minutes to finish your opponent while the Blue mirror match on the other table is still having their 3rd turn.

In my opinion, Red is a relatively more advanced colour to play when compared to Green, as the decisions you make in this colour are more then just tapping your mana and casting creatures. The central question while playing a fast Red deck is: Should I use the burn spell on his creature or should I focus on the player instead? These judgement calls will more often then not decide the outcome of many games and it teaches the player how to utilise their resources in the most efficient manner.

The problem with Red is that in order to hurt your opponent your hand size dwindles at an extraordinary speed. The new player will find that he is losing a lot of "close games" at the beginning with his opponent only on 3 life and probably contribute it to bad draws. But soon enough, he'll discover that no matter how good he drew, his opponent always seems to make a come back for the win. What was once a satisfying burns deck will become a deck of frustration as you try fruitlessly to beat your opponent down before he can stabilise. As the frustration grows, the interest in speed and powerful burn spells declines.

Trial by Life - When feeling down, turn it around

White is perhaps one of Red's worst nemeses, as it has creatures with protection from colours making them inviolable by Red mages and enchantments that prevent direct damage to the player. In most cases, the reason players leave Red is due to the lack of answers against cards like enchantments. Therefore White will be a welcome change to the new player as it has the answer to almost everything.

In contrast to Red, White is up another notch in skill level to play well. To play White, it requires patience and the ability draw out your opponent's resources so you can destroy them all with a global effect. For instance, if you are running a white weenie deck, it is always a tough call to decide when to cast Armageddon. On one hand you might feel that you will need to establish your resources more before you throw the switch. On the other hand, if you don't reset the lands now, you give your opponent the chance to gain the upper hand in the game and it might all be too late by then. To know when it is the best time to throw the switch, it requires hours upon hours of practice.

Though White is a good all round solution to the many problems in the realm of Magic, many new players will find that White is too defensive and get tired of playing it after a while. Playing mono white is like eating McDonalds, sure it is filling but it lacks the taste and flavor that makes the game really interesting. In addition, White lacks the power to hurt and there is perhaps nothing more frustrating to see your opponent staying on 1 life but due to the defensive nature of White, there are no spells at your disposal that can close the deal for you.

rial by Death - Short term gain, long term pain

In bibles and fantasy novels, when a person is disappointed in the side of good, he is often inclined to follow the path of darkness to see what the hype was all about. After getting bored of White's defensive strategy, you are once again ready to try for something reckless, but instead of falling back to the simple strategy of Red, you discover the delight the dark side has to offer. Though black provides none of the answers that White does, it is the colour that has the potential to disadvantage your opponent the most, for a price.

One of the major characteristics of Black is that it allows you to exchange one resource for another. For instance, at the cost of 1 card (Dark Ritual) and 3 life points, you can summon a 5/5 Phyrexian Scuta on second turn, giving you great advantage on the board. In addition Black offers a range of spells that will do damage to both your opponent and yourself (e.g. Braids, Cabal Minion) but you are still inclined to play it because of the devastating effect it can cause on your opponent.

Playing Black often forces you to make decisions about sacrificing one thing for another. In addition, it teach new players the lesson of taking calculated risks, of having short term gain for long term pain and when is it worth it to do so. If you know that you opponent is playing Blue, should you still be casting a spell that will cost you 2 cards and 3 lives while your opponent can simply counter it? Or should you be exchanging life for cards when your opponent is playing Red? Black players have many paths to victory to win games, but in most circumstances, things usually don't work out according to plan.

Unfortunately, Black is a double edge sword. Sure a second turn Scuta will give you great board position, but if your opponent happens have a bounce spell or counterspell in their hand, then it is likely that you will yourself in a worst position then the one you started with. Likewise, though your Braids can have board-wrecking effect on an opponent with a slow start, yet she is probably not the ideal card to draw when you are on the receiving end of mana short of some severe beatings. Black lacks stability and consistency and new players will soon find that all it takes for their opponent to win is to turn the right cards at the right time.

Trial by Water - Say no or let it go?

Finally we come to Blue, the colour that is possibly the hardest to master in Magic. At fist glance, Blue is an unattractive colour to play as it doesn't offer fat creatures, fast damage spells, reset buttons (Upheaval is an exception) or devastating spells. What it offers though is the power to say "no" to potentially dangerous spells, card advantage spells and a bluff to your opponent even though you have all lands in hand.

The joy of playing Blue is that in most cases, you are in control. You get to decide which spells come through and which don't. You are also in the position that the longer the game goes on, the better chance you have to win against other colours since you are constantly refilling your hand with spells while your opponent draw lands. Up until now, you are only given the choice to influence resources that have already established on the board. With Blue, you are given the choice to disrupt a spell before it has an effect of the game. The traditional weakness of Blue is that you usually start of slow and using your limited counters against a barrage of spells will often lead to the question of: What spells should I counter? Knowing what the right spell to counter usually involves an extensive knowledge of your opponent's deck and the strategy he is running. It is only then that you can tell the difference between the spells that are dangerous and those that you can let through.

Next month: Bringing Balance to the Game

Oh and thanks to Ryan Dare for the article idea this month.

Until then, best wishes
Minga Wong

[ Email the Author | Discuss this Article ]