Like a boomerang, I’m back again, or perhaps maybe more like a bad penny. I won’t tell you whether or not there’s going to be six more weeks of winter, but I will tell you whether or not there’s going to be six more weeks of Magic (I’m siding with "yes"). So what are we going to talk about this week? Well, pretty much the same thing everyone else is. No, not the Super Bowl – we’re Magic nerds, we don’t care about stuff like that. No, what I was referring to was the possible birth of another piece of color pie in our favorite game.
The Burning Issue
Does Magic either want or need six colors? It’s not something I think is needed yet, but I think there will eventually be a point at which the inevitable shake-up that such a change would bring would be almost certain to do more good than harm. The game will want this sort of kick someday. I’ve been a supporter of the idea of a sixth color in the game back when it started as an InQuest joke, oh so many years ago. I like the symmetry it would produce on the color wheel (as pictured here), giving each color exactly one opposed color, although by the same token, each color loses the balance of having two enemy and two allied colors. For example, Black/Blue dual lands in allied-color land cycles would look weird, since Black and Blue would no longer be allied colors, if they worked things this way – nor would either color be Green’s enemy anymore, which would make several past hosers look a bit out of place.
For this reason, I think perhaps a better approach would be that Purple is treated as the "middle" of the existing color wheel, which we’re all familiar with from the card backs – Purple being something of a nexus; neither an ally or enemy of any color, but rather a source of power which all the existing colors try to tap in to. In this way, for example, Purple could become, in part, home to all those mechanics that never found a home in other colors. Stuff like Shrink effects, or mechanics which all colors should have at least some access to which might not work well as artifacts, since typically colorless mana is much easier to come by than colored. You could even carry this to an extreme and decree that Purple doesn’t get a basic land type – Purple mana might only come from existing cards that produce "any color" of mana. This would give a Purple mana symbol on a card more "weight" than any other mana symbol, since Purple mana would be the most difficult kind of mana to generate, and a double- or triple-Purple-symboled spell could be attached to pretty powerful effects.
In this way, one could give out things like mana-fixing and cantrips, or even real card draw, which anyone could use to shore up weaknesses in their own color(s), or just make the game play more smoothly. A Mana Severance style card is something I think would be a fair Purple effect; there comes a point in most games where many decks simply do not want or need to see any more lands, and including such an effect in Purple means having to put a little more effort into using it than they would an artifact, but still gives everyone equal access. I feel this would be a good approach, especially as I don’t think you could make Purple terribly interesting by making it just a mash of "the mechanics time forgot" or by making it some breeding of any of the existing combinations of colors, as was discussed in Paul Sottosanti article above.
Also, the "nexus" style of adding Purple to the game doesn’t break any current design paradigms the way they’d be broken if Purple were added as part of the existing color wheel; five card cycles still remain five card cycles, old hosers still make sense, et cetera. This avoids many continuity issues that would arise if Purple were implemented in any fashion discussed in Paul’s article. Now I’m not going to claim to be better at R&D than R&D, and recognize that the above article discusses Purple more as something to do on a temporary basis, while my plan focuses on it being a permanent addition to the game. This might be why the "nexus" approach never came up in their discussions (or if it did, was not represented so much in the article).
I think the biggest problem with this is how very, very careful one would have to be when designing cards for the color. Remember, anything printed here is something everyone has equal, if difficult, access to. For this reason, I think it might be best to introduce Purple slowly; only on rares in expert-level expansions at first, especially if the color is without a basic land, allowing Wizards to print just a few a set for a block or two which they can carefully eyeball and test to make sure such cards are worth at least considering, while making sure nothing jumps the shark. It also would keep their impact on Limited low until Wizards has found what does or doesn’t work as a part of Purple, mechanically speaking. Purple mana could be made available through some common or uncommon nonbasic lands and / or artifacts, for example something like:
Ley Nexus
Land
Uncommon
Ley Nexus comes into play tapped.
When Ley Nexus comes into play, choose a color.
T: Add P or the chosen color to your mana pool.
Where "P" is one Purple mana. The land itself would be useful as a kind of Sol Grail replica in Limited, even if one didn’t get or chose not to use any Purple cards they may have received. Not to mention working the color this way comes with a kind of safety net; if things work out, then perhaps Purple uncommons or even commons could then begin to trickle in, but if things just don’t fly right, Purple could be removed from the game, hopefully without anything getting permanently damaged.
Under the proposed "nexus" implementation, Purple is also never forced to stand on its own as a color; it could go without any creatures in one set, and without enchantments in another, because it’s never expected to be the backbone of a deck, it’s simply something used to enhance other colors. It could also play home to – allow me to borrow a Dungeons and Dragons term – metamagic, or spells which modify other spells (such as Quicken, which can change a Sorcery into an Instant). Purple could also make for some interesting gold cards – consider what something which costs 1GGP might do – a strong Green effect, with a hint of something "a little extra". Perhaps:
Nexus Guardian – 1GGP
Creature – Beast
Trample
Creatures blocking Nexus Guardian get -2/-0 until end of turn.
4/2
Or
Tilling the Fields – 1GGP
Sorcery
Search your library for up to three basic lands. Remove one of those lands from the game and put the rest into play tapped.
The first uses Purple to give the mini-Shrink effect to blocking creatures, making the Nexus Guardian more like a 4/4 than a 4/2 in single combat, and difficult to kill with tokens or gang-blocking, while the latter is priced "slightly" above Explosive Vegetation by virtue of the Purple (and second Green) mana symbols, but adds a mini-Mana Severance effect to the spell.
This has its flaws, too. People may just never "dig" Purple if it doesn’t have to stand on its own, or have a strong flavor to it. For example, there would need to be, outside of Time Spiral block (where Wizards doesn’t need an excuse to pull anything they want), some storyline of how Purple magic came to be accessible, why it wasn’t before, and if testing later shows the color needs to die, why it won’t be accessible anymore.
Intermission
I’d just like to put a blurb here to push for a nickname for Damnation, not just because the cards has been, and will continue to be talked about probably for the rest of the game’s life, but also because typing Wrath / Damnation is a pain in the fingers. What name do I suggest for it?
Why, Black Hole Sun, of course. BHS for short. So, remember, after you play Beacon of Creation, you’re hoping the opponent doesn’t answer with a Wrath / BHS. As a bonus, it’s not any longer to say, either – same syllable count as Damnation. Oh, if you’re not sure where "Black Hole Sun" comes from, check out some old Soundgarden tunes some time. Legally, of course, right?
Explaining the decklist you are about to see
This week’s offering comes from a little format called Rainbow Stairwell, which some of you may be unfamiliar with. To that end, allow me to provide the official Magic Online macro for it, courtesy of Adept_tpedA, who was a great assistance in helping me get some people started in the format by helping them with the deck construction rules so I could have some more opponents to test against than I might otherwise have had. Anyhow…
Rainbow Stairwell is a Five-Color format consisting of a sixty-card deck. Each color, including artifacts, gets six cards, one each from mana costs 1-6. No X spells or multicolored spells are allowed, though kickers are permitted as long as they don’t cost X. The manabase uses four of each basic land, and four different nonbasics of your choice.
So you’re working from a blueprint that looks like this:
4 Forest
4 Island
4 Mountain
4 Plains
4 Swamp
1 Non-basic land
1 Non-basic land
1 Non-basic land
1 Non-basic land (each of these has to be a different one)
W spell
CMC 2 White spell
CMC 3 White spell
CMC 4 White spell
CMC 5 White spell
CMC 6 White spell
U spell
CMC 2 Blue spell
CMC 3 Blue spell
CMC 4 Blue spell
CMC 5 Blue spell
CMC 6 Blue spell
B spell
CMC 2 Black spell
CMC 3 Black spell
CMC 4 Black spell
CMC 5 Black spell
CMC 6 Black spell
R spell
CMC 2 Red spell
CMC 3 Red spell
CMC 4 Red spell
CMC 5 Red spell
CMC 6 Red spell
G spell
CMC 2 Green spell
CMC 3 Green spell
CMC 4 Green spell
CMC 5 Green spell
CMC 6 Green spell
1 mana Artifact
2 mana Artifact
3 mana Artifact
4 mana Artifact
5 mana Artifact
6 mana Artifact
This may seem constrictive or boring to you, but there’s still a lot that can be done within these confines. For example, I’ve made Rainbow Stairwell decks based on enchantments, Slivers (back before Time Spiral made them actually kinda sorta decent), and I know someone who went through and made sure all their cards except basic land started with S. Spiffy, I say.
The format is played online within the Singleton (A.K.A. "Highlander") format, since Rainbow Stairwell decks by nature are also Singleton legal – meaning that there is precisely one banned card. Care to guess?
Yeah, Skullclamp. Bet you’re surprised too, huh?
Other than that, all online available sets are used in the format, just like in paper Rainbow Stairwell, which uses (last I checked) the Vintage card pool, although it might be Legacy these days.
I’ve gone one step further, since I know that this may be the first exposure many of you have to the format, and built this week’s decks without any rares, although the one Flametongue Kavu is a fairly expensive uncommon online, it could be replaced with Lightning Blast or Pardic Arsonist (although the latter involves a second Red mana symbol, something to be careful about with the enforced number of basic lands). Anyhow, on with the show.
Creatures (22)
- 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
- 1 Willbender
- 1 Man-o'-War
- 1 Gravedigger
- 1 Nezumi Graverobber
- 1 Beloved Chaplain
- 1 Skyreach Manta
- 1 Etched Oracle
- 1 Spikeshot Goblin
- 1 Mirror Golem
- 1 Twisted Abomination
- 1 Nantuko Vigilante
- 1 Prowling Pangolin
- 1 Thornscape Battlemage
- 1 Flametongue Kavu
- 1 Penumbra Kavu
- 1 Ogre Savant
- 1 Guardian of the Guildpact
- 1 Arctic Nishoba
- 1 Kjeldoran Gargoyle
- 1 Firemaw Kavu
- 1 Greenseeker
Lands (24)
Spells (14)
My watchword here was versatility; I wanted to do as much as possible using creatures, especially removal, and I wanted to get "something extra" from everything that wasn’t a creature where I could, hence the high number of cards with Kicker or Flashback. Since there’s not much to discuss in the way of deck construction, allow me to simply go over some of my card choices, especially those that stray from format norms.
Bonesplitter would probably raise the most number of eyebrows amongst format enthusiasts, because it’s just not Sensei’s Divining Top. Well, with the focus on creatures in this deck, I find Bonesplitter to be a fine card for its deck slot; anything holding it is a legitimate threat. Not to mention that the deck includes two fliers, one of which has First Strike; and Beloved Chaplain, who has Protection from Creatures; Mirror Golem, which can get it; and Guardian of the Guildpact, which has protection from non-artifact creatures in this format.
Loxodon Warhammer would probably be better overall as Darksteel Ingot, but I couldn’t pass up the cuteness with Spikeshot Goblin. Not that I’ve ever actually gotten the hammer into the Goblin’s hands, but one day I will, and probably just win from there. Not that Hammer’s bad on much of anything else, either. Refer again to the super-evasive set of creatures above.
Miraculous Recovery is just ridonkulous. It feels pretty cheaty to cycle a Twisted Abomination turn 2 and then reanimate it at the end of turn 5 or 6, with regeneration mana open just in case someone wants to take a shot at the now 6/4 before you take a swing in with it.
Ogre Savant… well, you’d be surprised how many of Red’s non-rare five-drops suck. My second choice was Anarchist. Besides, it’s not as though a second Man-o’-War is a bad thing to be having. I mean, if you won the lottery, wouldn’t you still pick up a piece of currency representing one hundred dollars / pounds / pesos / lire et cetera you found lying on the sidewalk? Same logic for Firemaw Kavu, by the way, who is quite silly with Momentary Blink, as it were, but I prefer my Beloved Chaplain. Yes, this is probably a painfully stupid preference, I know.
Penumbra Kavu annoys people more than you’d think, for serious. The Black token is fairly nice too, as several people like Woebearer in their CMC 5 Black slot. It’s no All Suns’ Dawn, which I’d use in a rare-enabled Rainbow Stairwell deck, but then what is? Well, Spectral Force isn’t exactly bad either…
In the words of Talen Lee, "When Prowling Pangolin comes into play, target opponent makes a mistake." From experience, this is incredibly true. Either they let you two-for-one them, or they let you have a 6/5 for five mana. Neither is a particularly appealing choice, and that’s why I’m willing to pay double Black for it. Yes, I’m a big fan of the "punisher" mechanic, too. Hush.
Skarrg, the Rage Pits. Because Skarry, the Arm Pits hasn’t been printed yet. Oh, and because +1/+1 and Trample is pretty much never a bad thing. Sure, the lack of colored mana is annoying sometimes, but sometimes Skarrg can just turn a game on its ear. You’d be surprised how much more impressive a 5/3 Trampling Flametongue Kavu is. Or, say, a 7/6 Trampling Pangolin. Oops.
Skyreach Manta – this will usually be a 3/3, 4/4, or 5/5 flier for five mana. Even the worst of these would be (and was) great in Limited, and decent in Constructed. If you pull off the 5/5 bit, you’re in pretty good shape.
Swords to Plowshares: because what more would you possibly want from one White mana?
Thornscape Battlemage fights for a Hell of a slot; he has to compete with Harrow and Eternal Witness, either of which could probably be better overall, but given that you know your opponent will be playing six Artifacts, you may as well come packing answers. Similar logic applies to Orim’s Thunder, Ancient Grudge, and Nantuko Vigilante. Possibly Confiscate as well. Oh, and I hear that Red kicker is pretty neat, too. PS: Shock you.
Willbender has good times just being a morph, which is an enviable ability in Rainbow Stairwell, since it means you can do things with three mana of any combination of colors. The fact that you’ve got another morph as well helps, although I’ve considered replacing this with Jilt or Think Twice.
Lastly, I cannot tell you exactly how awesome Greenseeker is here, especially without the rare Birds of Paradise, although with Madness, Flashback, or reanimation, the Seeker can be even better in some cases, let alone the fact that once it’s active, the lands it gets stay, even if it goes.
With that, I’ll be on my way with the mention that I’ll certainly be covering this format again, as it’s a blast to build for and pretty ace to play, too. Plus, hey, someone has to write about it, amiright? Mise well be the oddball format guy.
Signing off,
Rivien Swanson
flawedparadigm a(aye Carumba!)t gmaSPAMSUCKSil d(.)ot co[I’ll take that as a "no".]m
Flawed Paradigm on MTGO (when I actually log in)