The Five Colors of Magic: The Gathering

The five colors of Magic

Every Magic deck draws on one or more of five colors: white, blue, black, red and green. Each color has its own philosophy, its own strengths and its own weaknesses, and the game is balanced so that no color can do everything. Understanding the colors is the fastest way to understand why cards look and behave the way they do.

White: order and protection

White values community, structure and safety. It is known for efficient small creatures, armies of tokens, life gain, and enchantments that restrict what an opponent can do. White can remove troublesome permanents, often by exiling them, but it is weak at drawing extra cards. Its basic land is the Plains.

Blue: knowledge and control

Blue values knowledge, patience and manipulation. It draws cards, counters spells, returns permanents to their owner's hand, and wins with evasive creatures such as fliers. Blue is rarely good at dealing direct damage or removing creatures outright, so it relies on tempo and card advantage. Its basic land is the Island.

Black: ambition and sacrifice

Black seeks power at any cost. Its spells are powerful but often make you pay life, cards or creatures. It excels at removal, at forcing opponents to discard, and at bringing creatures back from the graveyard. It has few ways to deal with artifacts and enchantments. Its basic land is the Swamp.

Red: freedom and impulse

Red acts first and thinks later. It is the color of direct damage, fast attackers with haste, and spells that are cheap and explosive. Red is strong at pressuring an opponent's life total and at destroying artifacts, but it is poor at defense and at handling enchantments. Its basic land is the Mountain.

Green: growth and nature

Green values growth, instinct and size. It produces the largest creatures at the lowest cost, accelerates your mana with ramp spells, and answers fliers and artifacts. Green has little in the way of card draw or evasion of its own, and struggles against things it cannot fight. Its basic land is the Forest.

Colorless and multicolor cards

Some cards have no color at all. Artifacts, most lands and a handful of creatures can go into any deck. Other cards belong to two or more colors and need mana of each color to cast. Two-color pairs have popular names, for example:

• White and blue: Azorius
• Blue and black: Dimir
• Black and red: Rakdos
• Red and green: Gruul
• Green and white: Selesnya
• White and black: Orzhov
• Blue and red: Izzet
• Black and green: Golgari
• Red and white: Boros
• Green and blue: Simic

Choosing a color

If you are new, pick the color whose style appeals to you and learn it well before adding a second. A one- or two-color deck has far fewer mana problems than a deck stretched across many colors. Use the color filter in the search tool to browse every card in a color and see what its deck would look like.