4/17/15 Episode 219: Green/White

All podcast content by Mark Rosewater

I’m pulling out of my driveway! We all know what that means! It’s time for another Drive to Work.

Okay. So today is another in my mega-series about the two-color pairs. So let’s see. I’ve done white/blue. I’ve done blue/black. I’ve done black/red. I’ve done red/green. That means it’s time for green/white. The final of the allied color pairs. And then, I’ll be getting on to the enemy pairs in future podcasts.

Okay. So, let’s start by talking about what does green and white want? So green. So green’s the one color that believes that things are the way they’re supposed to be. That nature is this thing of beauty, and that the key to life is not changing anything, it’s not trying to turn it into something else, it’s just acknowledging and accepting it for what it is. That’s why green, green wants acceptance. That’s what green ultimately—just accept the world the way it is.

And the way it does that, I say, is through harmony. And what that means is, that you have to be able to sort of stop and realize what you have. That what green feels is that not enough people take into account what they have. They’re always searching for something else, not realizing that what they already have is plenty.

Meanwhile, we have white. White is seeking out peace. White believes that everybody can be happy. That everybody can have what they need. That we have the resources that everybody can have their needs met. But in order to do that, it requires us taking steps to make sure that we all get—that everybody gets what they need.

And in order to do that, white is very big on structure. White believes that people inherently will do things that are counter to their own well-being, but if you sort of set up rules, whether the rules be civil rules like laws or more spiritual rules like religion, that you can guide people. Like, people need guidance. That people have lots of impulses and instincts, more impulses I guess, more impulses and selfishness is the issue. Is that I just want to do things for me. Me me me me me. And white’s like, “You have to think about not yourself but everybody else.”

Okay, so the obvious overlap between white and green is, their shared enemy is black. Black is the color of selfishness. Black is, I take care of me first. Well, let’s go look at the opposites of black, which are white and green. White clearly has an entire sense of the value of the community in that we need to do what’s better for the group. If the decision is bad for an individual, even if the individual is the person making the decision, but it benefited the group, the correct answer is doing what’s right for the group.

And green, now green cares about the community in a different context than white. White is very much about the needs of the group outweigh the needs of the individual. Green believes that there is an ecosystem set up. That everything fits in balance. That everything is connected to one another. And that part of what you—one of the things you need to realize, part of the harmony that you need to reach is understanding the role that you have in the world, the interconnectivity that you have with everything else.

So green’s big issue is, I have to care about everything else because I’m connected to everything else. That when I do something, it impacts other things. And that you have to be careful what actions you take because of the repercussions of those actions.

One of the big problems green has with black is, black cares about nobody but itself, and does things that have horrible ramifications. That if you kill something, that there’s not a role for it being killed. Green’s not against killing things if there’s a point, if I need to eat, I mean there’s some function for the killing green understands.

But killing for just to gain advantage, like black wants to do, okay, you’re disrupting the web of life. You’re disrupting the natural order. That you start killing off creatures, maybe those creatures are predators, and if they don’t eat their prey then things get out of balance. That green’s a big believer that there’s a harmony that needs to be reached.

So, where green and white overlap is definitely the needs of the larger group as a whole. That both green and white, in their own way, believe that what’s most important is what you’re able to do. You need to think about the larger picture. You need to think not just about you yourself, but extend out and think about the larger role that you play.

Okay. So, the first place that you see that is that green and white definitely have a flavor of building. That they are colors that are very supportive colors. So for example, we’ll start with creature buffing. That green and white are the two colors that do +N/+N, meaning that they boost creatures, usually at instant speed, to sort of make you bigger.

And so, now, the way we separate white from green is, white tends to do the smaller boost, white is +1/+1 or +2/+2. Normally what it does is white then also, you gain an ability. So it’s +1/+1 and flying or +2/+2 and lifelink, or +1/+1 and first strike. Sometimes white occasionally will do +1/+0. Like, +1/+0 and first strike is something it will do from time to time. But white definitely does the small bursts, and usually adds utility to it.

Green does the bigger bursts. Green gets Giant Growth. Green gets +3/+3. Green doesn’t tend to add as much as white does. It does add trample every once in a while. But green usually is more about size.

And you will see that, that green both has the Giant Growth-like effects, and it also has the Rootwalla effects, where built into the creature it can Giant Growth itself. White sometimes will have a little bit of buffing. Sometimes you’ll see with knights or something that they’ll pump themselves up. But white doesn’t do that nearly as much as green.

Okay, also there is the community buffing, where you’re buffing all your creatures. So white tends to do +1/+1 or +2/+2 to the whole team. To all your creatures. You don’t buff your opponent’s creatures, you just buff your own creatures. And so white tends to do smaller buffs. White gets +1/+1 to the whole team, usually at common, often as an instant, sometimes as an enter the battlefield or an activated ability. Although usually if it’s activated it’s higher than common.

 Green tends to get the larger boosts. The Overruns if you will. +3/+3 to the team. Now, that happens at higher rarities. So white’s team boosting happens a little lower. White is the army color, right? White is the color that has lots of little creatures that work together. And so one of the things that works really well with a small weenie strategy is something that boosts everything.

Now, white and green are also the colors that mess around the most often with +1/+1 counters. Green is more primary in it, and white is secondary. But it’s something that both of them do. Also, they are the number one and number two creature colors. In fact, white is number one in volume of creatures, white has the highest percentage, usually between 55 and 60% creatures. Green is number two in the number of creatures it has.

Now, green is the biggest creatures, so green is the creature color in the sense that it gets the highest. Like at common, it’s going to have a 6/6 or 7/7. And usually at the higher rarities, usually it has the biggest creature. Every once in a while, one or two colors will get a singular big creature. Blue sometimes gets leviathans and things. But green on average, if you just added up all the power/toughness and divide it by the number of creatures you have, just on average has the biggest creatures. And it has the best utility for paying for its creatures. Now what happens is, white is very, very good at getting cheap creatures. And it has the best cost to size equity at the low size. And then green has the best cost equity at the big size. So those are the creature colors.

They also overlap in two abilities, speaking of creatures. One is, white is primary in vigilance and green is secondary. Not tapping to attack. And then also, white and green are the two colors that most often will get indestructible. Which is, it used to not be a keyword, but has recently become—or not recently, but in the last, I don't know, year or so, became a keyword.

Anyway, so white and green, vigilance is good for both attacking and defending. White and green have some of that quality to them. Indestructible is a good defense mechanism. White and green can be very protective. Like I said, we already talked about the boost, that they can boost creatures, that’s one means by which to protect themselves. Another is like, indestructible.

And one of the reasons, by the way, that vigilance is in both colors is that both colors have this sort of quality of wanting to look out. And white is more defensive than green, now one of the ways that white and green both a have a defensive quality is they are the two life gaining colors. That they’re the two colors that both gain life.

Usually the way we tend to separate life gain is white tends to get smaller bursts at instant speed, and green gets larger bursts at sorcery speed. There’s a few exceptions to that. That’s the general rule though. The idea is, white’s life gain is a little more, ha-ha, you don’t know that was going to happen. You thought you’ve defeated me, you have a clock going, you think you’re going to defeat me, and all of a sudden I mess up your clock. Where green, it’s sort of like, you know it’s coming, it’s not a surprise, but it’s get larger bursts.  Now, white has a little more ways to get life. White also has lifelink, something green does not have. So white’s able to get life through creatures as well. So white has a few other ways to get life.

Okay, now let’s talk destruction! Okay, so white and green both have the ability to destroy enchantments. White is—so the way it works is, white destroys enchantments and red destroys artifacts, and green--at common, white destroys enchantments, red destroys artifacts, and green destroys artifacts or enchantments. Sort of the Naturalizes if you will.

White is allowed at higher rarities to have spells that can destroy both artifacts and enchantments, doesn’t tend to do it as efficiently as green. Either it does it at sorcery speed or it does it more expensive. Sometimes it will exile them but at a higher cost. It will cost four or something rather than two like Naturalize.

Now, white has the ability to destroy more things than green. White has more answers than green. White, for example—white’s big thing is, white either only destroys things that are messing with it, or its answers tend to have answers, or they tend to be more expensive in the solutions.

Green, on the other hand, has very efficient ways to destroy artifacts and enchantments, always has a common Naturalize or Naturalize variant. And then the way green deals with creatures is green has fight. So green has to fight them, or it can Lure them, but green’s creature removal always is revolving around its creatures. Where white, if you mess with white, white has spells that can—once you attack or block, if you attack white or block white, white can interact with you. And then white also has the Pacifism thing (???) where I can sort of lock you down, although there might be answers to that.

As far as beefing creatures up, white and green also have—they are the two colors that most often do buffing auras. So that’s auras that go on your creatures that tend to make them bigger. All the colors have the ability to do it a little bit. So all the colors have some ability to do auras. White and green tend to do them more frequently.

Green for example usually is the color that has the biggest, at common or low rarity, the +3/+3-type enchantments. White usually has less than that. Just like we do Giant Growths, white gets to have more +1/+2, but with added bonus to it. An added keyword. Where green just sometimes gets more size. You’ll notice that theme between them.

So one of the things I should point out is that white and green, when you ask us, “What two colors have the most overlap mechanically?” the two ones we always bring up are either white and green or black and red. And white and green, like I said, as I’m going through this, there’s just a lot of areas where it lines up. Like, when you’re making hybrid cards, white/green hybrid cards are one of the easiest to make. Because it was just a lot of overlap between what white and green do.

Okay. Also, not only do they have auras for pumping, they also are the two colors that care about auras. They tend to have the positive aura interaction. I mean, outside of an enchantment block. That they’re the ones that have stuff like enchantresses, they’re the ones that net you gain when you play auras or affect auras in a positive way.

Also, white and green—well, green is number one at land fetching, which is going into your deck and getting basic lands and putting them into play. White is allowed to go get plains. I guess all the colors are allowed to get their own basic land type. White tends to do it a little more than some, I guess black is probably second as far as getting its own lands out. But white is probably third. As far as seeking out of your deck.

Usually white getting plains has been tied to like are you behind in some way, it’s done kind of a catch-up thing. Where white says, “Oh, you’re in some means, let me help you. Let me help you.” It goes all the way back to like Land Tax, which was pretty broken. Usually that’s the idea, that white’s land fetching usually is trying to help you out.

 

Okay. So now, let’s talk about some of the defensive—I already talked about Giant Growth and indestructible. The other thing is, white and green are the two colors that do damage prevention. So white does damage prevention, sort of spot damage prevention, which is like you try to do something, I prevent damage from that source or to that creature. Green’s damage prevention is just Fog, which is nobody does damage. So green is much more widespread. Sometimes green will do Fogs where not everybody gets fogged, that’s green getting closer to sort of how white functions, sometimes it will be like “Everybody but the werewolves and the wolves deal damage.”

 

So one of the funny stories about Fog real quickly was, Fog began the game in green, and then there was some early weird examples of like black having a Fog and stuff. But eventually we talked about, we had a big period where we said, “You know, we’re going to change around some stuff.” The first real sit-down we had on the color pie. And we decided to make some major movements. When Naturalize moved from white in Disenchant into green, a bunch of things that happened at that point.

So one of the things we decided to do there was that Fog seemed like an odd fit for green, and it had been tied to kind of weather manipulation, which green does, so we said, “You know what? White’s really the damage prevention color, let’s put it in white.” So we put Fog in white. So for a couple years, Fog was in white.

The problem we ran into is, Fog isn’t—white doesn’t need Fog. It just—there’s so many other ways for white to prevent damage that Fog is kind of irrelevant to white. And white had more spot prevention, so it definitely was more like, “We get in a fight, and I harm you but you don’t harm me.” So white just had better than Fog.

And what we found was, green really needed Fog. Green really needed the “I’m going to do some sort of alpha strike, and then I have protection in case you strike back.” So we moved it back. So what happened was—it’s one of the good examples where we saw something, it seemed to make sense logically, so we made the move, we tried it, and then as we actually started doing it, we realized that we hadn’t seen a lot of the ramifications of it.

It’s one of the reasons I always talk about how important playtesting is in general, where you need to sort of understand the ramifications, and there’s really no way to understand ramifications without actually playing it. That theorycrafting, as we call it, talking through what you think will happen, only gets you so far.

Another thing I want to point out, real quickly, since I brought up this story, is that the color pie, the philosophies do not change. What white represents, what green represents, those are not things that—those are constant. And they’ve been the constant since Alpha.  But our execution of the color pie, how we execute it and what we do with it, that does change.

Okay. I’m sitting in some traffic. This is one of those topics where I have a decent amount to talk about, but it is a more finite topic. It’s not like I can just talk forever about it. So I’m hoping this traffic will clear up a little bit because I have a decent amount of material, I have half an hour of material. I don’t know if I have forty, fifty minutes of material.

Okay, so we talked about damage prevention. Okay. Let’s now talk about bounce. Both green and white both have bouncing as a cost. And what I mean by that is that you can play a creature—so they work a little bit differently. What white will do is white often has creatures that say, “When I play this creature, I have to bounce a creature.” One time. One time when I play it. Green tends to have bigger creatures, there’s a cost of bouncing it every turn.

Neither of these we do tons, we do this every once in a while. Usually what happens is, if the set has a theme where bouncing your own stuff is synergistic, we’re more likely to put it in. So let’s say there’s a set where the main mechanic, for example, is something that has to do with casting, or has some sort of trigger when things enter the battlefield. That having things that bounce lets you reset things, and so we tend to add those in when it’ll help the environment. So they’re the kind of things that white and green get, but they don’t get super often, and…

One of the things that’s interesting is that I put things in three buckets as far as colors go. There’s your everyday stuff, that is, when I talk about something like vigilance in white. Every set’s going to have vigilance in white. Every, every time. So the first bucket is just things colors do and always do. The second is things sometimes do, in the sense that it’s something the color’s capable of, and every once in a while we’ll do it. And then the third bucket are things that are like special occasion, which are really only when we do a particular theme.

Like for example, when we do a graveyard theme, we need to make sure we have things for all the colors to do. And red and blue don’t have tons of graveyard interaction in a normal thing, and so we’ve given them a little bit. And the funny thing is, the stuff we’ve given them, when we need it we’ll put in other sets, occasionally red will return an instant or sorcery or something. But the three buckets essentially are things we always use, things we sometimes use, things we rarely use, but we use judiciously to help flesh out particular themes. Okay. Can you tell when I’m padding? Traffic’s picking up.

Okay. Next. Untapping. So for a long time, white was the color of—well, blue taps or untaps. Blue has the puppet-mastery-type things where it taps or untaps. And then for a while, we had white tapping and then white also untapping. Not like blue, not at the same time. Usually when white was untapping, it either untapped all your creatures as a spell, or it untapped one creature as a means to surprise something for blocking.

And so what we decided is, we shifted off the latter to green, and we did that recently. I mean, not so recently that you haven’t seen the sets. But so the idea is, green now has the “I untap a creature and I can use that defensively.” And the idea is, we want green to get in fights. We want green to use its creatures to have answers for other creatures. So one of the things might be, “Oh, I attack with my big creature, now I see the coast is clear and you attack, so now I untap my big creature and block.” White still gets to untap all its creatures. White has that general utility. But it no longer does—infrequently does the untap to block thing. We’re letting green do more of that recently.  

Okay. Next, token-making. So they’re the two creature colors, so being the two creature colors, they are the most likely to make creatures. So not only do they have the highest as-fan of creatures, the highest percentage of creatures, but they also are the most common in making tokens.

So one of the things, it used to be that green was king of 1/1 tokens because green’s all about swarming you. And we’ve shifted a little bit to white. We decided that we liked the idea—there was a period of time where green had both the most creatures and the biggest creatures, and we’re like, “You know what? We’re kind of wasting it.” Like, it’s neater if we can spread that out.

So we decided that white would have the most creatures, and green had the biggest creatures. It plays into white’s army theme. That white doesn’t have big creatures, there’s lots and lots of little creatures. But it has more of them.

And so we decided to give white small token-making. So 1/1 creature tokens is in white’s domain. Not that other colors can’t do it, red does it from time to time, other colors can make 1/1s, but white’s is the thing where almost every single set there will be a common white card making 1/1 tokens. Sometimes you’ll see it in other colors, but it’s almost always in white.

Then green, we decided that green, most of the time, and once again, like it can make 1/1s, but more of the time it will make bigger ones. It will make 2/2s and 3/3s. And so the idea is, if you see a 1/1 counter, the most likely thing is white made it, and if you see a 2/2 or 3/3 counter, well most likely green made it. Green makes the bigger counters. I keep calling them counters. Tokens. Creature tokens.

It’s also that white and green are the colors most likely to make multiples. Not only make them but also make them in multiples. Because they are the creature colors. The only other color that really does them at lower rarities in multiples is we give red “make two 1/1s” every once in a while. Usually goblins, to fill out some theme.

Okay. Next, returning from the grave. So interaction with the graveyard. So white has more interaction. Well, white and green each have interaction. Green’s interaction is, it can get back anything. It ties into kind of its thematic connection with the past. We talk about blue is about the future and green’s about the past, blue looks for what can be and green looks for what has been.

So green through that is able to return anything. It can regrow anything from the graveyard. White is a little more restrictive about what it can get back from the graveyard. White is allowed to get small creatures as a means to sort of not run out of small creatures. White has a card advantage issue, one of the things we let white do is to sort of keep a flow of small creatures, to get back its small creatures.

White is also the color that gets back artifacts or enchantments when we have sets that we care. That’s the kind of thing that white doesn’t do all the time, but does in a set where it matters. Oh, there’s an enchantment theme? Okay, white can get back enchantments from the graveyard. Oh, there’s an artifact theme? Okay white gets back artifacts from the graveyard. White also has a little bit of an ability to get things from the graveyard into play. Usually that’s also on smaller things. Green does not do that, that’s—white and black are the two that tend to get it into play.

Okay. The other thing that green and white tend to do is green and white care about creatures, and has effects that specifically care. So for a long time, green—so originally there was a card called Keldon Warlord, that was in Alpha. And it was */*, where * was the number of creatures you had in play. It might have been */*+1, only because they loved */*+1s in the early days.

But the idea essentially was, its power and toughness are equal to the number of creatures you have in play. Oh no, it was */* because it itself is a creature. So it always, stuff Lhurgoyf had to be plus one so it didn’t die when you played it. But Keldon Warlord was always a 1/1. So it was a */*.

Anyway, we made Keldon Warlord. Then we figured out that Keldon Warlord didn’t make a lot of sense in red. Red wasn’t really the color that cared about creatures. In fact, it has the second fewest. Only blue has fewer creatures than red. So we moved it into green. And green started doing it.

And then, after we made the split to decide that white was the number color, we came back, and there’s a big split, because one of green’s big flavors is growing. That it has things that grow over time. Variable power/toughness. Not that the other colors all don’t dip their toe in it, but green’s the major variable power/toughness color.

And so—and green is a creature color, so being stars equal to creatures made a lot of sense. It grows over time, green has a swarming concept. But the argument for white was, well white is the army color, white has lots of little creatures. Oh, well this thing is a reward for having lots of little creatures.

So we had a—there’s a meeting we have once a week called cardcrafting, where we get the designers and developers in a room, and we really argue over like nuts and bolts mechanical things. Such as, okay, who’s supposed to get the Keldon Warlord? Is it supposed to be white or is it supposed to be green?

And this was a pretty—by the way, this was a pretty heavy debate. It wasn’t like, sometimes we have discussions and like, 90% of the room agrees one way, and that’s just what we do. This was a case where we were pretty split. In the end it was like 60/40 leaning white, so we ended up going with white, so white now became the color that’s */* equals the number of creatures.

Green, the place now is green will do effects where it cares about creatures, it both cares about creature size with like formidable and ferocious and stuff we recently did in Khans. So will sometimes care about size, but also sometimes it just cares about number of creatures. For example, drawing cards equal to the number of creatures, that’s a green card. So white and green are the two colors that definitely like say, “I have a group, I care about the group, in fact, I will count that group.” Okay. So that is most of the mechanical connections. You can tell I have a little longer trip today. How am I doing on my time?

Okay, so let’s talk a little bit about philosophically where white and green—where they play around with. So one of the things that—so let’s talk about the conflict between white and green. I’ve talked about what they have in common, looking at their enemy, black, so let’s talk about where they differ.

So the way to do this is if there’s an ally color, you look at the other allies they have that are enemies. So white’s other ally other than green is blue, and green’s other ally other than white is red. So blue and red are enemies.

Okay. So the conflict between blue and red is one of emotion vs. intellect. So the idea there is, blue believes that you should think things carefully through, and that you shouldn’t—blue is all about thought, where red is all about action. That blue believes that it’s important before you do anything, you think of all the consequences. Red is like about action. Red is follow your heart, do what you believe. Don’t get caught up in your mind, just act. Think about things.

And when we look at white/green, this is where they tend to spread a little bit, white leans towards blue’s side. White agrees with the idea that look, you’ve got to be careful, that people just doing things causes chaos, and chaos is dangerous to society. So white very much agrees with blue. White, like blue, is a planning color. White wants to think ahead. White wants to use its structure constructively to make sure that everything stays safe. And so the reason that white and red are enemies is white does not like red’s recklessness. That red does not think about things. And that to white, it’s important. White wants order, not chaos.

Meanwhile, green, green is the color of instinct. Green understands the impulsivity of red. Green looks and says, “Look, you are who you are, you feel what you feel, you do what you need to do.” Animals aren’t thinking. It’s not like—if I see my prey, do I think about if it’s the right thing? No, I chase my prey. It’s what I do. And green is very instinctual in nature. So one of the conflicts between white and green is green definitely leans towards the red side of act before you think, and white leans towards the blue side of think before you act.

Now, both of them very much, like I said, they center on the care of the community, but the means by which how they do that. The other thing that’s very different is, white is literally trying to protect every member of its group. White wants to make sure that nothing can harm any member. Its laws, its rules, its religion, everything is about protecting every single individual.

Green is more about protecting the overall, the web of life. Green is not protecting the individual. If a cheetah has to eat a gazelle, well hey, gazelle, the cheetah’s got to eat. Green does not say, “Oh no no no, we need to protect the gazelle.” Where white is very much—white in fact wants to support the meek. White wants to look at the weakest members and make sure those are protected.

And green, green definitely has a quality of survival of the fittest. That if the weak aren’t able to survive, then they don’t survive. And that green does not do anything, like green believes that the natural order will weed things out that need to get weeded out. If you’re weak and need to be weeded out then you will.

That’s where another big issue—green and white, while they overlap, and they have a lot of shared beliefs, definitely how they see the larger community is a very different thing. That white is trying to protect everybody, and green is trying to protect the overall system. But not the individuals in the system.

Okay, so what happens when white and green gets together? A couple different things. First and foremost, white and green banding together will be very group-focused. That white very much will care about the welfare of everybody, and green will care about the combination of everybody.

And so one of the examples, obviously, in Ravnica is Selesnya. So Selesnya definitely—for those that know Divergent, for example, there’s five factions in Divergent. One of them is called Amity, and for those that don’t know Divergent, it’s a futuristic—it’s a teen novel, and the idea is, there was a horrible, I don't know, world war or something, and there’s five factions that each believe that something different is what they need to embrace. And Amity’s very much about (???) peace and belonging and that connectivity. And so Amity’s another green/white example just like Selesnya.

And the thing that both of them overlap, you’ll notice, is the idea that the group as a whole is in charge. That it’s not any one individual making decisions, it’s the group making decisions. That the idea of a true democracy, where if you’re going to take action, every single member of the group will weigh in. I know in Divergent, for example, whenever they make a decision they literally vote. Everybody votes. And if the majority doesn’t agree with them, whatever the majority wants is what the group does. And they’re very much about giving voice to the group as a whole.

I think white/green is, of the ten two-color combinations, the most group-focused. It is the most caring about the welfare of the group as a whole. And when you get white and green together, that’s the kind of thing that happens.

Now, in gameplay, what happens is, white and green are the two creature colors, they’re the colors that both have the most creatures, can make the most creature tokens, have the ability to protect their creatures, so white and green’s strategy, if you look at sort of whenever white and green get together, it’s all about—it’s very creature-focused. We talk about green and black might be graveyard-focused, and blue and black might be library-focused. Green and white is the most creature-focused.

And the strength in numbers. White and green is all about strength in numbers. If you look at the mechanics that we did so far for Selesnya, one was convoke, which is use your creatures as a resource to help get more things out, play more spells and play more creatures, and populate, which was the idea of just making more creatures. Of getting tokens out and then duplicating them and making more.

And so white/green is the most creature-focused. And it’s not just individually creature-focused, it’s group creature focused. It’s going to beat you by overrunning you with a large group of creatures. That is how white/green is going to win. It’s going to win with creatures, and it’s going to win by having more creatures than you can deal with.

And like I said, if you really look at all the different mechanics that weave into that, I think green is about overwhelming and overrunning, and white is about banding together and joining as a group. So when you sort of take those two qualities and mix them together, that when you take—like, for example, what green believes is, nature is plentiful. And that one of the advantages that nature has over everybody else is, we just have more things. And that if you give us time to sort of pool all the resource of nature, we’re going to overwhelm you. White says, hey, we have the individuals, we have the numbers, we’re going to band together, and if we work as a group, we will be more powerful than any individual.

Now, take those two philosophies, meld them together, and you see, okay, these are people that are going to create a lot of creatures, band them all together, and work as one very unified unit to take you down. And they’re just going to overwhelm you. Because that is the nature. That they’re going to make more creatures and they’re going to overwhelm you with those creatures. That is what green is about.

So what is white/green’s negative qualities? So I talked some about the positive qualities. I think white and green, on some level, their groupness is their greatest negative, which is they are so focused on the group they can’t see the rights of individuals. That like if you want to sort of take a white/green group, and the problem there is, they just don’t care about the rights of the individuals. That whatever’s good for the group supercedes that.

And that, I mean, while there’s definitely a lot of value of seeing things for the group, there is some value of being able to see the rights of individuals. And that individual rights kind of get trampled in a white/green world. That if it’s good for the larger group, doesn’t matter if it’s not good for everybody. And there are individual freedoms that don’t exist.

Like in a white/green world, there’s not a lot of property. Everybody owns everything. And there’s not a lot of self-achievement because whatever you do is for the greater good of the group. And so there’s individuality lost in white/green. That sort of, it has the strength of the group, but it doesn’t give any strength to the individual. And that a lot of the things, especially (???) some of the other colors that play into that, that is really important.

So anyway, I see Wizards. So just remember that we’re halfway through. This was the last of the allied two-color combinations, but coming up—not immediately, I’m trying to do them about once a month maybe. I’m going to be getting to the other five. The next one I’ll be doing, I’m going in order, the next one will be white/black, which is Orzhov.

But anyway, I hope you guys are enjoying these two-color pairings. I am fascinated by the color pie, for those that somehow can’t tell or haven’t heard the 18,000 different things I’ve written about the color pie. I find the color pie fascinating, I think it’s a really neat—it is the foundation of Magic, it is the secret sauce if you will, if you dig down deep, it’s a thing that really sets Magic apart. And so I love swimming in the mana pool near the color pie and seeing all the cool sort of stuff that you can do.

Anyway, I love sharing with you guys, and it is fun to sort of talk color pie and talk color pairs. But I am now parking my car. So you know what that means? It means it’s the end of my drive to work. So instead of talking Magic, it’s time for me to be making Magic. I’ll see you guys next time.