The Colors of MtG

The Colors

The Colors of Magic are a core part of its unique design. Each color has it's own associations and functions. Here is a review of the role each plays in the Magic: the Gathering RPG. In addition to being used to describe the personality and the abilities of the character, Color Identity also grants bonuses to particular stats.

White is the color of order, equality, righteousness, healing, law, community, peace, absolutism/totalitarianism, and light, although not necessarily "good". White's strengths are a roster of small creatures that are strong collectively; protecting those creatures with enchantments; gaining life; preventing damage to creatures or players; imposing restrictions on players; reducing the capabilities of opposing creatures, and powerful spells that "equalize" the playing field by destroying all persistent effects of a given type. White creatures are known for their "Protection" from various other colors or even types of card, rendering them nearly impervious to harm from those things. Numerous white creatures also have "First Strike", "Lifelink", and "Vigilance". White's weaknesses include a focus on creatures, its unwillingness to simply kill creatures outright (instead hobbling them with restrictions that can be undone), and the fact that many of its most powerful spells affect all players equally—including the casting player.
White gives a bonus to Focus. White is the color of protection, valor, and restoration and sustains many effects at once.

Blue is the color of intellect, reason, illusion, logic, knowledge, manipulation, and trickery, as well as the classical elements of air and water. Blue's spells are best at letting a player draw additional spells to memory; permanently taking control of an opponent's persistent effects; returning persistent effects to their owner's memory; and countering spells, causing them to be discarded and the mana used to pay them wasted. Blue's creatures tend to be weaker than creatures of other colors, but commonly have abilities and traits which make them difficult to damage or block, particularly "Flying" and to a lesser extent "Shroud". Blue's weaknesses include having trouble permanently dealing with spells that have already been played, the reactive nature of most of its spells, and a small (and expensive) roster of creatures.
Blue gives a bonus to Memory. Blue is the color of intelligence, logic, and knowledge and knows many great secrets.

Black is the color of power, ambition, greed, death, corruption, selfishness, and amorality; it is not necessarily evil, though many of its cards refer directly and indirectly to this concept. Black spells are best at destroying creatures, forcing players to discard spells from their memory, making players lose life, and returning creatures from the dead. Furthermore, because Black seeks to win at all costs, it has limited access to many abilities or effects that are normally available only to one of the other colors; but these abilities often require large sacrifices of life totals, creatures, spells in memory, spells in the Library, and other difficult-to-replace resources. Black is known for having creatures with the ability "Intimidate", making them difficult to block. Lesser black abilities include "Deathtouch" and "Regeneration". Black's main weaknesses are an almost complete inability to deal with enchantments and artifacts, its tendency to hurt itself almost as badly as it hurts the opponent, and difficulties in removing other Black creatures.
Black gives a bonus to Mastery. Black is the color of greed, ambition, and power and draws forth strength at any price.

Red is the color of freedom, chaos, passion, creativity, impulse, fury, warfare, lightning, the classical element of fire, and the non-living geological aspects of the classical element earth. Red's strengths include destroying opposing mana source links or local terrain and artifacts, sacrificing permanent resources for temporary but great power, and playing spells that deal "direct damage" to creatures or players, usually via applications of fire. Red has a wide array of creatures, but with the exception of extremely powerful dragons, most are fast and weak, or with low toughness, rendering them easier to destroy. Some of Red's spells can turn against or hurt their owner in return for being more powerful for their cost. Red also shares the trickery theme with Blue and can temporarily steal opponents' creatures or divert spells, although generally not permanently. Many of Red's most famous creatures have the "Haste" trait, which lets them attack and use many abilities earlier. The ability to raise a creature's power temporarily is also common among Red's creatures. Red's weaknesses include its inability to destroy enchantments, the self-destructive nature of many of its spells, and the way in which it trades early-game speed at the cost of late-game staying power. Red also has the vast majority of spells that involve random chance.
Red gives a bonus to Speed. Red is the color of impulse, reaction, and aggression and gets in and out of trouble quickly.

Green is the color of life, instinct, nature, reality, evolution, ecology and interdependence. Green has a large number of creatures, which tend to be the largest in the game for their cost. Many of its spells make them stronger temporarily. It can also destroy "unnatural" artifacts and enchantments, increase a player's life total, get temporary extra mana sources into play, and produce the other four colors of mana. Green creatures often have "Trample", an ability which lets them deal attack damage to an opponent if blocked by a weaker creature. Green's weaknesses include its difficulty destroying creatures directly; a distinct shortage of flying creatures (though some of its creatures have "Reach", making them able to block flying creatures); and a lack of strategic options other than its signature large creatures.
Green gives a bonus to Channeling. Green is the color of growth, nature, and sustenance and provides an endless flow of life.