Hallmark Cards

BLACK

The color of evil, death, and the undead. From day one this color was painted as the villainous one, from horrific pit-beings to the sacrifice of innocents to further dastardly goals. To describe these themes that typify black as a color, I’d break it down into three branches: Pure Evil, Sacrifice, and the Dead/Undead.

Pure Evil

Pure evil, the kind that comes from those willing to sell their souls, corrupts the innocent and commits unspeakable acts of horrific torture. While I certainly wouldn’t condone such behavior, you can’t have a hero without a villain. Juzam Djinn fits this bill perfectly. Just look at him! He’s getting ready to eat a hapless victim, grinning devilishly all the while.

You can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs, and you can’t keep a powerful creature fed without throwing some bodies on the fire. The original sacrificial bad boy of black was Lord of the Pit, who needed to eat all sorts of lesser minions in order to keep from turning on his master. It seems like the Lord is a nigh-uncontrollable entity bent on destroying everything in his path. Compare him to Phyrexian Plaguelord, the fourth stage of plague who will gladly sacrifice his followers in order to achieve his goals.

The Dead/Undead

Now here’s where things get interesting. The undead cover a huge amount of territory in Magic, from skeletons to ghouls to wraiths to vampires to specters. There are two likely contenders for this crown: There’s ethereal Hypnotic Specter, looming ominously while it waits to strip its victim of all memories. Also we must consider Sengir Vampire, the bloodthirsty flyer who thirsts for the blood of his victims to grow ever more powerful.

While other Vampires have duplicated Sengir's +1/+1 ability, the children of Hyppie -- Abyssal Specter and Chilling Apparition -- seem to push the idea that undead spirits rob you of your resources. Edge to Hypnotic Specter.

BLUE

Wizards

Hands down the most recognizable wizard in Magic still remains Prodigal Sorcerer. Affectionately known as “Tim” (from Monty Python and the Holy Grail for the two people out there who don’t know), this sorcerer has been pinging other creatures for one damage for years, and has inspired an entire host of imitators in every single other color in Magic. But none have matched the elegance and simplicity of tap: deal one damage to target creature or player.

Will this remain a blue ability? Arcane Teachings and Jesska, Warrior Adept from Judgment seem to hint otherwise.

Flyers

It may seem like a lot of cards on this list come from the Alpha edition, but that’s because they have been around the longest and have had the most opportunity to burn into the collective psyche of Magic players across the world. It should come therefore as no surprise that the embodiment of blue flyers is Mahamoti Djinn, the “Fat Moti”. Large and in charge of the skies, the Moti dominates the airways once he hits the board and never gives up his stranglehold as lord of above.

Tricksters are those creatures which aren’t exactly as they seem. Clone, Vesuvan Doppleganger, Shifty Doppleganger, and Volrath's Shapeshifter all fit into this category. But, perhaps, the most wildly popular (and hated!) blue creature in Magic history fits snugly as the epitome of trickery. He might fly. He might get tougher. He might get more powerful. He might untap. He might not even be targetable. Ah, Morphling. So, what is "trickery" really about? Becoming another creature, or having the ability to survive anything thrown at you?

GREEN

Here’s where the most debate will take place. Green contains the best fatties in Magic, all the while using nature and mana production to support them.

Fatties

The original fatty was, of course, the Force of Nature. And while he was all good and fine, the crown of King of Fatties belongs to Jamie Wakefield's pet - Verdant Force. As a 7/7 monstrosity, Verdant Force not only came to bring it, he brought friends… lots of small friends who grew off of him, looking to overwhelm the enemy.

Mana Producers

The Birds or the Elves? Even all those years ago, players debated whether the flying and color versatility of Birds of Paradise gave it more reason to be played than Llanowar Elves, who were capable of actually dealing damage on their own. Traditionally the Elves have been used in one and two color decks, while the Birds supplement the Elves in two color decks and outright replace them in three to five color decks. I’m going to leave this one as the only tie in this article.

Animals come from nature, and green’s got more animals than any other color. Bears, snakes, monkeys, tigers, wurms, spiders, elephants(?), they’re all here in the forests. Accordingly, there have been many very popular green creatures (in the literal sense of creature!), but none have been as played as River Boa and Uktabi Orangutan. These two Visions creatures have vied against each other for deck space for years. One has been the constant source of frustration for blue mages, while the other has been gleefully destroying artifacts.

Stay tuned next week for Commons Week. In two weeks, we’ll revisit this topic when we look at red, white, and artifact creatures, as well as discuss the choices I’ve made above.

And for those wondering, last week’s poll snuck in a little question about which green token creature really typified green tokens. Here’s how that voting turned out: