Time Spiral block has been all about shifting the color pie. For some, this has been a welcome change. For others, a once-sacrosanct pillar of Magic’s integrity has been weakened beyond support. To me, I think Planar Chaos is the best thing ever to happen to the color pie.
For years, I’ve been stating the opinion that virtually every choice in the color pie is completely arbitrary. R&D decides which colors get which abilities, and there is literally nothing that is 100% set in stone about any given color. From a flavor perspective, you can argue any ability to any color. For instance:
Trample:
Green: Large creatures run rampant over smaller creatures.
Red: Berserk hordes attack without any concern for their own welfare.
Blue: Huge creatures from the sea are larger than any land-massed form.
Black: Otherworldly demons and grotesque beings from the netherworld are bound to service, attacking relentlessly.
White: Full armies decimate all in their path, catching enemy and civilian in their wake.
Artifact: Towering artificial constructs are built to attack relentlessly, without any choice about whether to stop or keep attacking.
First Strike:
White: The pikemen, cavalry, and bowmen strike from a distance, before the gap is closed.
Red: Berserk hordes attack with alarming alacrity, taking the enemy unawares with their ferocity.
Green: Jungle creatures jump from the trees, tearing opponent from limb to limb before they can react.
Black: Hidden in the shadows of the swamps, ghostly forms that can barely be seen attack silently at unaware adventurers.
Blue: Swift-winged avens attack from above, drawing first blood from the skies.
Artifact: As Bjorn walked across the palace, he didn’t notice that constructed into the floor was a mindless automation about to strike.
Countermagic:
Blue: Mages harness the power of the mind to stop their opponent’s spells dead.
Green: The spell fell dead, as the unnatural gave way to the ways of the natural.
Red: Mindless and berserk with rage, the barbarian could not be affected by the sorcerer’s spells as he struck his blows.
White: The council of the great city made sure that none could operate Magic within its walls unless they said so.
Black: At the cost of a little of his own essence, Glokk absorbed the spell within himself, rendering it useless.
Artifact: Mishra had constructed the finest globe of the finest antimagicite. All magics brought near it would fade to the Aether in its wake.
You get the idea. Thematically, all you need is an imagination, and you can explain away any mechanic to any color. With Planar Chaos, Wizards examined “what could have been,” meaning that old cards and mechanics were shifted into new colors. The explicit implication here is that these color pie choices are completely arbitrary, just as the non-Planar Chaos color pie choices are picked at the whims of R&D and What Has Come Before™, and can be changed or altered at any time for any reason (but usually a good one).
For further reading, I highly suggest checking out Mark Rosewater article “The Great Mix-Up, Part 1” at MagicTheGathering.com. He discusses a lot of these points from the perspective of one of the game’s designers, and has insight that no one outside of Wizards of the Coast would be able to provide.
Let’s take a look at different Planeshifted cards in Planar Chaos, and see the reasoning behind their changes.
Black:
Bog Serpent: Blue is the most common “Home” color, which is easily explained by having creatures which can only exist in water. This is one of those abilities that is hardest to explain off to other colors, and generically the answer would be “because it wouldn’t survive in other environments”. That answer applies here.
By the way, want a Plainshome creature? Homesick Hero would be a great name for one…
Damnation: White usually gets the Wrath of God effects, and Black and Red get the “limited” Wrath effects, such as Infest, Pyroclasm, and Sulfuric Blast. However, it’s very easy to argue the “kill everything” mechanic for Black, especially given things like Plague Wind, Decree of Pain, and Overwhelming Forces (which may very well be one of the top group-game cards of all time).
It would be difficult to make Damnation in Blue. For Green, it’s rather easy thematically — you just invoke Mother Nature, and suddenly you have earthquakes (not the card), tsunamis, hurricanes, and other natural disasters that wipe out thousands of people at once in the real world. For Blue, the answer would probably involve some sort of mind bomb that shuts off everyone’s brains at once. [Destroy all creatures. They drowned. — Craig, channeling Evan Erwin.]
Dunerider Outlaw: This was the Slith cycle from Mirrodin, except this time the creature has Protection from Green instead of regeneration. Not a stretch at all.
Kor Dirge: Reminiscent of Simulacrum from way back when. I can entirely see Black throwing someone else in front of them to make them take damage, though thematically it’d be stronger if it could only redirect to your own creatures. I’m not sure I buy this one as presented.
Melancholy: This ability was actually Black to begin with (Paralyze) but was moved into Blue (Thirst, Eternity Snare, Dehydration). I like the flavor of this card, in that the creature is held down by depression. Definitely very Black feeling.
Null Profusion: Sure, why not? Black gets a lot of the esoteric card-drawing effects with-a-drawback (Greed, Necropotence, Yawgmoth’s Bargain, Moonlight Bargain), so I can totally grok moving Recycle into Black. This effect is so unique and so out-there that you could argue it for any color.
Rathi Trapper: White ended up with all the creatures that tap creatures (with Green getting untap creatures, and Blue getting creatures that can tap or untap creatures), but given the early trappings of Black, this ability could easily have been fit into Paralyze’s color. Black is the color of muck, ooze, and swamps — things that, basically, slow people down. It would fit to have creatures become exhausted or get stuck (tapped) in that color.
Then again, you could make the same argument about going through a jungle, climbing a mountain, or swimming through the sea. Ironically, White is probably the color that is least suited for the “tap a creature” mechanic from a thematic standpoint!
Shrouded Lore: This one isn’t a stretch either. Both Black and Green regularly bring cards back from the graveyard (Recollect, Yawgmoth’s Agenda, Sins of the Past, Eternal Witness), so this is just a previously-existing shared-design space.
Vampiric Link: It’s never really made sense to me why White is the Spirit Link color. Spirit Link is about gaining life through causing pain to others. This is Black personified — Vampires, Drain Life, Corrupt, Douse in Gloom — most of the Black direct damage spells are tied in with this ability. Why is it exclusively on spells for Black, and on creatures for White? Why would an Angel give you life by beating someone up? That seems awfully Black to me! (From a flavor standpoint, you could say that the holy and spiritual link between Exalted Angel and the Planeswalker controlling her allows the Planeswalker to flourish off her zeal in battle). In short, this is an ability that makes the most sense in Black, period.
Blue:
Frozen Aether: If Blue is the color of tapping and untapping creatures, it’d make sense to throw Kismet (comes into play tapped) into Blue. This one isn’t much of a stretch from the current color pie. Green has had Root Maze, White has had Kismet, and you could make the argument that this card would go in Black as well (see tappers, above). What would a Red Frozen Aether / Kismet look like? Maybe you’d call it something like “Lava Lake” and have the flavor be that in order to cross the lake of lava, people had to take extra time to make sure that they, and their possessions, didn’t get dropped into a pool of molten hot magma.
Gossamer Phantasm: The Skulking mechanic has primarily been Black, as Black gets ghosts and other undead creatures than could easily be non-corporal. Blue gets Illusions, and it’s very, very easy to explain the Skulking mechanic as someone piercing the veil, or simply disbelieving the illusion. I could also see this going to Red as a goblin (we scared it away for good with a show of force!), or in Green (the deer ran away from our loud noises, and we never saw it again). In White, this would probably end up going the “Spirit of the Ancestors” route — see Drudge Skeletons, below!
Merfolk Thaumaturgist: The Transmute ability has moved from Black to Red to Blue, and it’s pretty much stayed in Blue over the last few years — Aquamoeba and Crookclaw Transmuter are two examples. In both Black, this is reshaping the flesh. In Blue, it’s changing the force of reality. In Red, it’s Flowstone creatures. Flowstone creatures are an A+ example of Wizards shoehorning a mechanic into a color. Why does Red get +X/-X effects, if Blue is the color of switching powers and toughness? In Planar Chaos, this ability moves into Blue instead.
Ovinize: Transmutation is definitely Blue. Switching this from Humble to Sheep is great, and this is amazingly flavorful given Ovinomancer. In Green, this might be “Plagued by Bug Bites”, and in Black it’s “Sudden Sickness” (and / or Sudden Spoiling, but who is counting?). Red might express this as “fell into a deep hole” or “pinned by rocks” where the person is lying prone, not yet dead, but ready to be killed if anyone can get to him before he frees himself.
Piracy Charm: Discard is primarily a Black mechanic, but it moves into Blue in Planar Chaos. This makes sense in that Blue attacks on the mental plane (illusions and the such), and that an attack on the mind can be expressed as forgetting knowledge (discard). The +2/-1 also fits in with Merfolk Thaumaturgist (above), and Islandwalk is Islandwalk — there’s a lot of ocean you can use to sneak up on someone with.
Discard is a tricky mechanic to give to other colors. Black is about corruption and torture, and it’s easy to pry spells from someone’s mind when you’re making them give into despair. Let’s say Black attacks through despair, and Blue through Psionics or Piracy (plundering someone else’s horde, though this would fit more into things like Bribery or Desertion). What about Green, Red and White?
Red: The Goblins rummaged through the Wizard’s workshop, tearing pages willy-nilly.
Green: When the wizard entered the woods, the forest made sure he no longer kept secrets.
White: The confessor drew forth the evidence from the prisoner, who ratted out the plans of his one-time cohorts.
Primal Plasma: Again, the shaping of reality. This is the only artifact to be shifted into a color, and it fits straight into Blue’s current shapeshifter philosophy. This one is more of a natural fit of giving Blue something it already could have, and not a re-envisioning of the color.
I’d love to see a Dominarian Chameleon that has this sort of ability for Green.
Riptide Pilferer: Again, discard moves to Blue, and this combines an attack of the mind with piracy. Both are Blue (mind and Water), and so it fits. You could fill in any race here (Elvish Knave, Goblin Sneakatorium, and Planted Spy) and give this to any other color you want, without any real stretch.
Serendib Sorcerer: See Ovinize. There’s not more to say here. Let’s move along!
Serra Sphinx: Mark explained Vigilance away as something Blue would do because of their foresight and planning. Sure, why not? And Red would have Vigilance for the same reason they have haste — their guys are so fast, they can play both offense and defense. And heck, Green is vigilant because Elves are longer lived than any other race, and so they have learned how to attack in the woods, and get back to their village before they are counterattacked. And heck, Black’s otherworldly demons exist in multi-dimensional space, so they are ever-present both on the offense and on the defense.
This is a perfect example of a mechanic and a card that is arbitrarily given to a color. I am not saying this is a bad, but I’m saying that this is the example that proves the rule. Blue gets vigilant creatures? Sure, why not?
Blue plans for a long time, and then executes its’ plans.
Blue controls the very flow of time.
Blue is like ice, freezing foes long enough to attack and set up an defense.
Blue attacks telekinetically, allowing it to strike from a distance, and then be prepared to defend (also works for First Strike — bonus!)
Blue attacks from the ocean, and other non-seafaring races are a lot slower in the water.
And so on, and so forth.
Red:
Blood Knight: Why not? If black gets Whirling Dervish, Green gets Scryb Ranger, White gets every knight imaginable, why can’t Red get Black Knight instead of Black? First strike makes sense in Red (they are fast and furious), protection from White is seen from time to time in Red (Wildfire Emissary). About the only thing Red doesn’t usually get is Knights (ha!), but it’s just made to mirror Black and White Knight.
Brute Force: In Planar Chaos, Red gets the best pump spells of any color. Red is all about attacking in a rage. Rarrr! Red expresses growth through enlarged power and toughness; Green expresses growth through drawing cards and gaining life. White grows through expanding their city, Blue grows through learning and Black grows through sacrificing others to further one’s own goals. Again, pure rationalization made up to make the mechanic fit the color.
Molten Firebird: This actually made very little sense in White, since White isn’t about creatures that self-recur — it’s about creatures that save other creatures (Saffi Eriksdotter, Adarkar Valkyrie, Samite Healer). In Red, you already have a plethora of phoenix-type creatures that rise from the ashes. This is just a realignment of a previously existing ability, and not a shift to a new color of this mechanic.
Prodigal Pyromancer: Red has become the Tim color for literally a decade now. Hello Fire Whip! Hello Reckless Embermage, Fireslinger, Grim Lavamancer, Anaba Shaman, et al, et al. Prodigal Sorcerer never should have existed under the current color pie philosophy — this one was a shoo-in for a color change. In Green, this might be a Treefolk that throws its hard-shelled fruit to do damage. In Black, it’s a different iteration of the -1/-1 effect (causing pain instead of weakness). In White, you’ve got plenty of catapults that, right now, seem only usable during combat. Ever hear of a preemptive strike, ya pansies?
Pyrohemia: Pestilence, again, in the right color. Red does damage like this all of the time nowadays. The only throwback is the “If no creatures are in play” clause, but you can see the flavor — once there is nothing left to burn, there’s nothing burning. End of story!
See also: Hail Storms (not the card), Wracked by Waves, and Spiritual Inquisition.
Reckless Wurm: Completely arbitrary. Black makes sense for Madness — only in an insane world would sacrificing (which Black does a lot of) work to your benefit. What’s so mad about Arrogant Wurm or Reckless Wurm? A giant, trampling beast falls out of your mind and onto the battlefield? This might have been better served as something like “Insane Barbarian Horde” or “Communist Propagandist” than as a large, ground-dwelling limbless beast that runs you over.
Shivan Wumpus: This, on the other hand, makes more sense than Reckless Wurm. Red is the color of land destruction (though Green and Black dabble in it in “regular” Magic.) Thematically, Shivan Wumpus rises from the ground, and can be set back into the ground if you bury it (sacrifice a land), only to rise again from the ashes from which it was buried.
I can’t help but think that if there were a White version of Shivan Wumpus/Argothian Wurm, it’d be called Tax Collector or Mortgage Forecloser. Run away from your land to keep him at bay!
Simian Spirit Guide: Another arbitrary mechanic given to another arbitrary color. Red is now the fast mana / short term gain color, whereas that used to be Black — though this card used to be Green! Fits in with Rite of Flame, Seething Song, Desperate Ritual, Skirk Prospector, and what-have-you. Why is Red the color of throwaway mana acceleration? Shouldn’t Green be good at that, given that they are the best at lasting mana acceleration? Can’t you harvest the fruit from that damn Utopia Tree, Farmer Brown?
Just for the record, let’s have Blue draw the magical energies straight from the air in one burst, and White will impose a one-time tax on its people where the group gives for the greater good.
Skirk Shaman: Fear, in Red. Mark explains it as Red inducing panic in others, or Red eliciting an emotional response in others. Sure, works for Panic Attack and Stun — why not put it on a creature? Again, realize that this decision was one made by R&D, and not one that is necessarily intuitive. There’s a very, very, very fine line between Xwalk and Xfear. The difference is that they are inverse — Xwalk makes their own color vulnerable, whereas Xfear makes every other color vulnerable — but thematically and conceptually, they are similar. The serpent that can attack through Islandwalk does so through approaching through the seas. Why can’t it also have Islandfear, because other creatures can’t catch up to it in the water? White’s first strike could also be fear — the archer attacks from the ramparts with his bow, so other non-long-range inclined beasts are helpless to stop his assault.
Green:
Deadwood Treefolk: I just put this here to see if Bennie Smith is reading my articles. Exhumer Thrull hootie hoo!
Essence Warden: It’s never been clearly defined about which aspects of lifegain are Green, and which are White. Both sides have one-shot lifegain effects (Nourish versus Sacred Nectar), larger life-gain spells (Alabaster Potion versus Stream of Life), and creatures that gain life from other spells or creatures (Soul Warden and Bounteous Kirin). White gets creatures that have Spirit Link and that gain life when they come into play, whereas Green gets creatures that are sacrificed to gain life. That’s the distinction, but they overlap when White meets Green — see Loxodon Hierarch and Heroes’ Reunion. Wellwisher is an iteration of Soul Warden, in that it really requires other creatures to be used effectively. Essence Warden is another lifegain spell that makes as much sense in Green as it does in White, given the huge overlap the two have in lifegain philosophies.
This is, fully, an article for another time. I will definitely have some part of a future article devoted to discussing the difference in lifegain between White, Green, and Black.
Fa’adiyah Seer: Of all the colors in Planar Chaos, Green got the most cards that are basically realignments of older, off-color cards that make perfect sense in Green. Soul Warden would be perfectly fine as a Green card in a pre-Planar Chaos world. So would Fa’adiyah Seer, which combines stuff like Bloodline Shaman and Rowen with Green’s love of land-manipulation effects.
Gaea’s Anthem: Green gets lots of spells that pump up individual creatures, both long and short term (see Might of Oaks, Giant Growth, Moldervine Cloak, Blanchwood Armor). Green also seems to get the most number of creatures that pump up other creatures (Elvish Champion, Verdeloth the Ancient, Timberwatch Elves, Primal Forcemage, Tribal Forcemage, and many, many, many more). It again makes sense for Glorious Anthem to be in the creature color (and again, it’s arbitrary that Green was/is seen as the creature color, but it’s both perception and reality right now. Green gets more creatures than any other color, on average, each set), given that Green already has a lot of creatures, and can already grow their creatures.
Groundbreaker: I argued in one of my Time Spiral set reviews that Flash should have been a predominantly Green mechanic, by expression of Green having haste. To shortly rehash that argument: Haste is (was) Red, Green is a sneaky color, and Flash is basically haste, but half-a-turn delayed. It’s not a far stretch to just give Green haste. There are tons of super-fast creatures in nature (Cheetahs and the such), and Green used to have haste creatures wayyy back in the day (A search through pre-Mirage sets makes Green a color that got haste every here and there, with Instill Energy, Concordant Crossroads, Yavimaya Ants, and Touch of Vitae). This is an extension of Aberoth — a large, hulking creature that comes from the earth, and returns to the earth.
Harmonize: Every color has ways to draw cards, but Green feels like it’s been #3 in this category. Red and White don’t have outright card-drawing spells often (Pursuit of Knowledge, Browbeat), whereas Blue gets a lion’s share of card drawing, Black gets a decent amount (usually tied with loss of life), and Green gets the wacky, restriction-based card drawing effects, like Nature’s Resurgence, Rowen, Recycle, Primordial Sage, and Glimpse of Nature). If, and you probably don’t think of it this way, Green is the third most common card-drawing color, it’s not too far to make it number one. Wizards is already pushing to move the Thieving Magpie mechanic more into Green (Hystrodon, Ohran Viper), so why not just take it all the way? Green is growth, and growth is both physically and mentally. Usually Green’s growth is physical (Giant Growth, Rampant Growth), but Planar Chaos makes it all-encompassing.
Healing Leaves: All right, I can see the lifegain part of this, but I don’t buy the damage prevention. This one is just tossed in there for no good reason — why should Elves know herbs that prevent damage any better than Blue blunting a blow with a telekinetic shield, Black having an extension of regeneration as preemptive damage prevention, or Red using a berserker rage to ignore wounds? Of all the Green Planeshifted cards, this one left me the most dry.
Hedge Troll: Green and White play nice pretty often, and White loses damage prevention and gains regeneration. Given that shift in mechanics, this makes sense as a Green/White card. Plus, Green already has regenerating Trolls (Skyshroud Troll, Horned Troll), so this already exists on the color pie.
Keen Sense: See above, Harmonize, but even more so. Turning your creatures into Ohran Viper makes terrific sense, moreso than Curiosity did.
Seal of Primordium: Around Onslaught, there was a big shift in the color pie for artifact/enchantment destruction. Previously, White destroyed artifacts and enchantments, Green destroyed enchantments and the occasional artifact, and Red destroyed artifacts only. Post-Onslaught, White destroyed enchantments and the occasional artifact, Green destroyed artifacts and enchantments equally well, and Red, well, stayed Red. Shifting Seal of Cleansing into Green is like shifting Disenchant into Naturalize — it was actually done in “real” Magic, so it’s no stretch here at all.
White:
Calciderm: See, this is perfect. This makes absolutely, 100% no sense in White pre-Planar Chaos. But now, White has been reimagined as a nomadic, desert-dwelling race that looks out for its own, and uses terrain to its own advantage. Therefore, Calciderm comes from the sands, is protected by the sands, and eventually returns to sand. Just like Lavaderm comes from the volcano, is protected by the volcano, and returns to the volcano. And Aquaderm comes from the waterspout, is protected by the waterspout, and returns to the waterspout. Let’s not forget Oozeaderm, which comes from the muck, is protected by the muck, and returns to the muck. I can’t, though, imagine this in Green.
Malach of the Dawn: That last sentence was a joke. Now that White gets regeneration instead of damage prevention (which seems fine — they are both aspects of the same ability, when applied to a creature — in fact, see Knight of the Holy Nimbus), it might as well have Ghost Ship.
Mana Tithe: White is supposed to be about taxation (Ghostly Prison, Suppression Field, Kataki, War’s Wage), so you can apply that to anything. Got a spell? Pay a tax! Play a creature? Pay a tax! Play a land? Pay a tax! Attack me? Pay a tax! It’s kind of like Black — you can give Black literally any effect in the game if you attach a sacrifice (thematically), and White can make other colors pay mana/resources to do things through tax. Pay 2 mana or you take 2 damage when you attack. Pay 1 mana or this artifact doesn’t untap. Pay 1 mana or you skip drawing a card. White loves April 15th (this year, the 19th if I’m correct).
Mesa Enchantress: Green has gotten the Enchantress mechanic in the past. Now White has it. Sure, why not? White usually has a lot of (defensive) creature enchantments, from Pentarch Ward to Pacifism to Faith’s Fetters. Might as well find a way to tie in card advantage to the card type which is most traditionally associated with card disadvantage. White is the enchantment color, moreso than any other color, so you might as well give them enchantment-associated positive effects.
Mycologist: See, now Green gains life when creatures come into play (Soul Warden) and White gains life from sacrificing creatures (Elvish Farmer). Just one question: If White is a nomadic desert tribe, how the hell it is growing fungus?
Porphyry Nodes: Okay, I had to go to dictionary.com for this one.
Porphyry: Any igneous rock with crystals embedded in a finer groundmass of minerals.
Igneous: Relating to rocks or minerals formed by the cooling and hardening of magma or molten lava.
Nodes: (Physics) A point or region of virtually zero amplitude in a periodic system.
Amplitude: Large or full measure.
Periodic: Recurring at regular intervals.
So, basically, it’s recurring, maze-like structure formed out of hardened molten lava. I think. Help? Shouldn’t molten lava be Red?
Well, at least you can say that White taxes the largest creature in play! Tax Tax Tax!
Revered Dead: Regeneration in White, for the third time (Hedge Troll being the first, for those who skipped the rest of this article, and had a burning need to skip straight to Drudge Skeletons). Again, why not?
Sinew Sliver: Arbitrarily given to White, given that White, Red, Black, and Green have gotten Slivers which pump power and/or toughness. Sure, white gets lots of 2/2 for 2 that have positive abilities. This fits that paradigm.
Sunlance: In this reimagined world, White looks out for White (much light Holy Light from The Dark). Therefore, it makes sense that White gets the inverse of Black’s inability to deal with itself (see Dark Banishing, Terror), but for the opposite reasons — Black can’t affect Black because Black can’t scare Black to death. White won’t attack White because White looks out for White. Same end results, opposite reasons.
So, that’s my thoughts about the flavor of the Planeshifted cards in Planar Chaos. The color pie has been sliced and diced, and now you get Banana Cream Pie where you used to have Key Lime (Hi Scott Larabee!). I’ll abruptly end this section of the article, and escort you to a little of the ol’ Ben’s Corner. See you there!
…
Over the past few years, I’ve intermittently written Ben’s Corner for StarCityGames.com. The purpose of Ben’s Corner was to bring people up to speed on the shopping cart for the website — I’d let people know when we restocked products of note (such as entering in 2,000 high-demand foils or power cards at once), added new product lines (right now, we just added the new Ultra Pro official Magic tournament sleeves to the system, and we’re about to add the Coldsnap Theme deck reprint cards to the system over the next week.
However, there’s not really a good place on the site to talk about these new items. The front page is already a little cluttered, and this column is not for talking about the business of StarCityGames.com (at least, not in that way!). However, I know that there were a lot of people who appreciated Ben’s Corner, because it let them know about products they might not otherwise have known about, and it let them know when we added new Promo cards to the system.
Basically, the question is this: Do you want to see a mini-Ben’s Corner at the end of The Real Deal each week? This would not take away any of the regular column, but would be an add-on section at the end which talked about the new products added to our inventory over the previous week, along with other items of note from the shopping cart of SCG.com. Please pipe in either in the forums, or via e-mail (Ben@StarCityGames.com) to let me know!
Until next week, I’m me and you’re Chevy Chase.
– Ben