In 2017, I wrote an article called Mechanical Color Pie 2017 where I listed in detail what effects were in each color. I promised that from time to time I would update this article. Today, I'm doing just that. You can see the list of changes with explanations in the companion article.

Here are a few caveats before we get to the revamped color pie:

  1. This mechanical color pie represents where the color pie currently is today, October 18, 2021. It's a snapshot in time. The color pie will continue to evolve and change as it's always done. This means while most of this will be true in the future, not everything will be, but I do promise to continue updating this article when enough has shifted.
  2. I work in the future (two-plus years), so while I'm going to try to communicate where the color pie is in the present, a little future might sneak through.
  3. What I'm writing here is the default center, but the needs of each set will shift the color pie a little, bending it in ways that reinforce the needs of that set.
  4. We are constantly experimenting with things, so a few of the things I talk about today might not stick.
  5. Unlike last time, this time I got the Council of Colors to help me, so I hope this version is even more thorough than the last version, but as we're all human, I'm sure there are things we forgot.

That said, let's explore the color pie.

To begin, we need to start by laying down some terminology:

  • Primary – This is the color (or colors) the ability is seen in most. That means it shows up in the highest volume and usually at the lowest rarity that the type of effects get used at. The primary color will almost always get this effect in a set if it's an ability we do every set. It also tends to be the color that most often pushes the power level, if it's an effect we push the power level on. There's a wide range on what primary means, because different types of effects exist at different levels. A card secondary in flying can show up way more than a card primary in taking extra turns, for instance, because we have so many more flying cards than extra-turn cards.

  • Secondary – This is the color (or colors) that an ability shows up in on a somewhat regular basis, but not as often as the primary and not always in as low of rarity as the primary. If the effect is something we do a lot of, the secondary color will usually get the ability in most sets. Sometimes a secondary color will have restrictions. For instance, red is secondary in flying, but only on Dragons and Phoenixes.

  • Tertiary – This is the color (or colors) that gets the ability occasionally. It's not every set. For some abilities, we could go years without seeing a tertiary color using it. Tertiary colors can often come with rules, meaning it's a very narrow subset that makes use of the mechanic. For example, black is tertiary in first strike and gets it primarily on Knights, most often when paired against a mirrored white Knight.

While there's always a primary color, there's not always a secondary or tertiary color. Also, more than one color can be primary, secondary, or tertiary. Cards that grant an ability to others usually are primary in that ability, occasionally secondary, and almost never tertiary. Multicolor cards, when trying to capture the feel of a color, will use primary and secondary abilities but (almost) never tertiary. For example, white is tertiary in reach. We wouldn't make a white-black card (black doesn't have reach) wherein the creature is "getting" reach from its white half.

I want to stress one more time that primary, secondary, and tertiary are relative to how often an effect is used. Things that are secondary in a color, for example, may be far more prevalent in that color than things that are primary if the items in question occur at a higher frequency.

  • N – "N" represents a natural number (1 or greater). +N/+0, for instance, means pumping a creature for an undefined amount. When defining abilities with numbers, we usually use N to cover all cases. If N appears multiple times within one mechanic (+N/+N, for example), N can represent different numbers.
  • Spells – For the purpose of today's discussion, when I say "spells," I am referring to instants and sorceries.

I'm now going to list the mechanical color pie, separating the primary, secondary, and tertiary abilities for each color. Afterward, I'll go through all the abilities in alphabetical order, explaining why an ability is in that color and what the limitations on it may be. You can jump to the alphabetical list of all abilities and explanations.

Mechanical Color Pie Lists

To make this easier to navigate, I've split each list into its own dropdown section. Simply click the header to see the mechanics.

White—Primary

  • +1/+1 counter (creation and caring)
  • Animating Enchantments (Target/all non-aura enchantment(s) you control becomes an enchantment creature.)
  • [autocard]Banisher Priest[/autocard]-like effects (When this card enters the battlefield, exile target creature/permanent until this card leaves play.)
  • Bring back creatures/permanents that went to the graveyard this turn
  • Can't be attacked. (Creatures can't attack you.)
  • Can't lose the game and opponents can't win.
  • Destroy target attacking or blocking creature.
  • Destroy target creature. Its controller gets compensation.
  • Destroy target creature that damaged you or a creature you control this turn.
  • Destroy target tapped creature.
  • Destroy target creature with power 3/4 or greater.
  • Destroy all creatures.
  • Destroy all creatures with power 3/4 or greater.
  • +N/+N (on Auras)
  • -N/+N (on spells)
  • -N/+N (on Auras)
  • +0/+N (on creatures)
  • +0/+N (on spells)
  • +0/+N (on Auras)
  • +N/+N to your team, one-shot
  • +N/+N to your team, ongoing
  • Damage prevention (Prevent the next N damage that would be dealt to target creature/player.)
  • Damage redirection (Prevent the next N damage that would be dealt to target creature/player this turn. If damage is prevented in this way, this card deals that much damage to target creature/player.)
  • Defender
  • Deal N damage to target attacking or blocking creature.
  • Double strike
  • Enchantment destruction
  • "Enchantress" ability (Whenever you play an enchantment, draw a card.)
  • Exiling cards from graveyard
  • First strike
  • "Flicker" (Exile target creature/permanent, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control—occasionally the creature/permanent returns at the end of the turn.)
  • Flying
  • Friendly to artifacts
  • Friendly to enchantments
  • Friendly to legendary permanents
  • Friendly to low mana value cards
  • Friendly to planeswalkers
  • "Gaseous Form" (This creature neither deals nor receives damage.)
  • Indestructible
  • Life gain
  • Lifelink
  • "Meddling" (Name a spell. That spell can't be played as long as this card is on the battlefield.)
  • Pacifism-like effect (Enchanted creature cannot attack or block.)
  • Preventing actions (Your opponents can't cast spells this turn.)
  • Protection
  • Putting enchantments from hand onto the battlefield
  • Putting planeswalkers from hand onto the battlefield
  • "Reanimate" permanent (Return a permanent card from a graveyard to the battlefield.)
  • "Reanimation" (Return a creature card from a graveyard to the battlefield.)
  • Return target artifact from graveyard to hand.
  • Return target enchantment from graveyard to hand.
  • Rules setting
  • Tapping creatures
  • Taxing
  • Token generation
  • "Tutor" for an enchantment. (Search your library for an enchantment card and put that card in your hand.)
  • "Tutor" for a planeswalker. (Search your library for a planeswalker card and put that card in your hand.)
  • Vigilance
  • Ward (for mana)
  • "Warlord" (This creature's power and toughness are equal to the number of creatures you control.)

White—Secondary

  • Artifact destruction
  • Flash
  • +N/+N (on spells)
  • +N/+0 (on creatures)
  • +N/+0 (on spells)
  • +N/+0 (on Auras)
  • +N/+0 to your team
  • Deal N damage to creature, planeswalker, and/or player.
  • Direct damage, multiple targets
  • Friendly to creatures
  • Friendly to lands
  • Increasing counters and/or tokens
  • Playing cards off the top of your library, paying their mana cost (You may look at the top card of your library and if it's a [blah] you may play it.)
  • Putting artifacts from hand onto the battlefield
  • Return target creature from graveyard to hand.
  • Return to hand (Return target creature/permanent to its owner's hand.)
  • Rewards for death (Whenever another creature/creature you control dies . . . )
  • Scry
  • "Tutor" for an artifact. (Search your library for an artifact card and put that card in your hand.)
  • "Tutor" for a creature. (Search your library for a creature card and put that card in your hand.)
  • Untapping creatures
  • Untaps itself
  • "You don't lose" (Permanents that prevent you from losing the game while they're on the battlefield, usually with an alternate means to lose.)

White—Tertiary

  • Animating lands (Target land becomes an N/N creature until end of turn.)
  • Basic land counting (Doing an effect equal to the number of basic lands of a certain type you control.)
  • Card draw
  • Cast spells from your graveyard.
  • Color changing (Target/this creature becomes the color(s) of your choice until end of turn.)
  • Counterspell
  • -N/+N (on creatures)
  • -N/-N (on spells)
  • "Drain life" (Deal damage to a creature/player and gain life equal to that damage.)
  • Discard as a cost
  • Extra attack (Untap all creatures that attacked this turn. After this main phase, there is an additional combat phase followed by an additional main phase.)
  • "Fog" (Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn.)
  • Hexproof
  • "Lhurgoyf" (This creature's power and toughness are equal to the number of cards in your/all graveyards.)
  • Life loss as a cost
  • Prowess
  • Putting creatures from hand onto the battlefield
  • Reach
  • Trample
  • "Tutor" for a land. (Search your library for a land card and put that card in your hand.)

 

Blue—Primary

  • Animating Artifacts (Target/all non-creature artifact(s) you control becomes an artifact creature.)
  • Can't be blocked
  • Card draw
  • Card filtering (Look at the top N cards of your library and put N in your hand and put the rest on the bottom of the library in any order.)
  • Cast spells from opponent's graveyard/exile.
  • Changing lands (Target land becomes the basic land type of your choice.)
  • Color changing (Target/this creature becomes the color(s) of your choice until end of turn.)
  • Copying permanents, permanently
  • Counterspell
  • Counter target activated/triggered ability
  • +N/-N (on creatures)
  • -N/+N (on creatures)
  • -N/-0 (on creatures)
  • -N/-0 (on spells)
  • -N/-0 (on Auras)
  • -N/-0 to their team, one-shot
  • "Curiosity" (Whenever this creature deals combat damage to an opponent, draw a card.)
  • Defender
  • Flash
  • "Flicker" (Exile target creature/permanent, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control—occasionally the creature/permanent returns at the end of the turn.)
  • Flying
  • "Freeze" creature (Tap target creature. That creature doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step.)
  • Friendly to artifacts
  • Friendly to instants and sorceries
  • Hexproof
  • "Illusion ability" (Sacrifice this creature if it is the target of a spell or ability.)
  • Increasing counters and/or tokens
  • Instant and/or sorcery triggers (Whenever you cast an instant and/or sorcery . . . )
  • "Lockdown" (Enchanted creature doesn't untap.)
  • Looking at opponent's hand
  • "Looting" (Draw a card and discard a card.)
  • "Manipulate time" (End the turn.)
  • "Maro" ability (This creature's power and toughness are equal to the number of cards in our hand.)
  • Milling (Target player puts the top N cards from his or her library into his or her graveyard.)
  • Moving enchantments/counters
  • Playing cards off the top of opponent's library
  • Prowess
  • Putting artifacts from hand onto the battlefield
  • Return target instant from graveyard to hand.
  • Return target sorcery from graveyard to hand.
  • Return to hand (Return target creature/permanent to its owner's hand.)
  • Return to library (Put a creature/permanent on top of its owner's library or some number of cards down.)
  • "Restocking" (Putting cards from graveyard back into your library)
  • Scry
  • Spell copying (Copy target instant or sorcery spell. You may choose new targets for the copy.)
  • Spell redirection (Change the target of target spell and/or ability with a single target.)
  • Stealing permanents, permanently
  • Switching power/toughness
  • "Time Walk" (Take an extra turn after this one.)
  • "Transformation" (Target creature becomes a color/card type with N power and N toughness.)
  • "Tutor" for an artifact. (Search your library for an artifact card and put that card in your hand.)
  • "Tutor" for an instant or sorcery. (Search your library for an instant or sorcery card and put that card in your hand.)
  • "Twiddle" (Tap or untap target creature/permanent.)
  • Untapping creatures
  • Untaps itself
  • Ward (for mana)
  • Word changing (Change a word in rules text into another word from the same subset.)

Blue—Secondary

  • Animating Enchantments (Target/all non-aura enchantment(s) you control becomes an enchantment creature.)
  • Can't be countered
  • Cast spells from your graveyard.
  • Cast spells out of graveyard.
  • Copying permanents, temporarily
  • +N/+N (on Auras)
  • +0/+N (on Auras)
  • Forced attack (Target creature attacks this turn if able.)
  • Friendly to lands
  • "Gaseous Form" (This creature neither deals nor receives damage.)
  • Mana production, permanent
  • Playing cards off the top of your library, paying their mana cost (You may look at the top card of your library and if it's a [blah] you may play it.)
  • "Polymorph" (Exile target creature. Its controller reveals cards from the top of his or her library until he or she reveals a creature card. That player puts that card onto the battlefield.)
  • Putting creatures from hand onto the battlefield
  • Rules setting
  • Tapping creatures
  • Taxing
  • Token generation
  • "Tutor" for a creature. (Search your library for a creature card and put that card in your hand.)
  • Vigilance

Blue—Tertiary

  • +1/+1 counter (creation and caring)
  • Animating lands (Target land becomes an N/N creature until end of turn.)
  • Basic land counting (Doing an effect equal to the number of basic lands of a certain type you control.)
  • Deal damage when blocked
  • Discard as a cost
  • +N/+0 (on Auras)
  • -N/-N (on spells)
  • +N/+N to your team, ongoing
  • Indestructible
  • "Lhurgoyf" (This creature's power and toughness are equal to the number of cards in your/all graveyards.)
  • Life loss as a cost
  • Protection
  • Putting enchantments from hand onto the battlefield
  • Trample
  • Treasure creation (artifact tokens with "T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color.")
  • "Tutor" for a land. (Search your library for a land card and put that card in your hand.)
  • Untapping Lands

 

Black—Primary

  • Can't block
  • Can't win the game and opponents can't lose
  • Cast spells from opponent's graveyard/exile.
  • Cast spells from your graveyard.
  • Cast spells out of graveyard.
  • Creature sacrifice, forced, repeatable (All players/opponents must sacrifice a creature each turn.)
  • Destroy target creature
  • Destroy all creatures controlled by one player
  • +N/+N (on creatures)
  • +N/+0 (on spells)
  • +N/-N (on spells)
  • +N/-N (on Auras)
  • -N/-N (on creatures)
  • -N/-N (on spells)
  • -N/-N (on Auras)
  • -N/-N to their team, one-shot
  • -N/-N to their team, ongoing
  • Deathtouch
  • "Devil's Deal" permanents (Cards that grant you power but at a cost.)
  • Discard as a cost
  • Discard as effect
  • "Drain life" (Deal damage to a creature/player and gain life equal to that damage.)
  • Exiling cards from graveyard
  • Forced sacrifice of a creature
  • Gain control of target player's turn
  • Life loss as a cost
  • Life loss as an effect
  • Lifelink
  • "Lobotomy" (Choose a nonland card name. Search target player's graveyard hand and library for all cards with that name and exile them.)
  • Menace
  • Planeswalker destruction
  • Playing cards off the top of opponent's library
  • "Reanimation" (Return a creature card from a graveyard to the battlefield.)
  • Removing counters
  • Return target creature from graveyard to hand.
  • Rewards for death (Whenever another creature/creature you control dies . . . )
  • Sacrifice a creature.
  • Sacrifice a creature. (Target player/all player(s) sacrifice a creature.)
  • Sacrifice an artifact.
  • "Sengir" ability (When a creature damaged by this creature dies, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)
  • "Specter" ability (When this creature deals combat damage to an opponent, that player discards a card.)
  • "Torment" ability (Target player sacrifices a nonland permanent, pays 3 life, or discards a card.)
  • "Tutor" for any card. (Search your library for a card and put that card in your hand.)
  • Ward (for life)
  • "You don't lose" (Permanents that prevent you from losing the game while they're on the battlefield, usually with an alternate means to lose.)

Black—Secondary

  • +1/+1 counter (creation and caring)
  • Basic land counting (Doing an effect equal to the number of basic lands of a certain type you control.)
  • Card draw
  • Deal damage when blocked
  • Destroy target tapped creature
  • Destroy all creatures
  • +N/+N (on spells)
  • +N/+N (on Auras)
  • +N/+0 (on Auras)
  • +N/-N (on creatures)
  • -N/-0 (on spells)
  • -N/-0 (on Auras)
  • +N/+0 to your team, ongoing
  • Defender
  • Deal N damage to creature, planeswalker, and/or player.
  • Deal N damage to a creature that's been damaged this turn.
  • Enchantment destruction
  • Flash
  • Flying
  • Friendly to lands
  • Haste
  • Indestructible
  • "Lhurgoyf" (This creature's power and toughness are equal to the number of cards in your/all graveyards.)
  • Life gain
  • Looking at opponent's hand
  • Mana production, temporary
  • Milling (Target player puts the top N cards from his or her library into his or her graveyard.)
  • Playing cards off the top of your library, paying their mana cost (You may look at the top card of your library and if it's a [blah] you may play it.)
  • "Punisher" effects (Opponent chooses one: thing X happens or thing Y happens.)
  • Rules setting
  • Sacrifice a creature and deal damage to creature/player equal to the sacrificed creature's power/toughness.
  • Sacrifice a permanent.
  • Scry
  • Token generation
  • Treasure creation (artifact tokens with "T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color.")
  • "Tutor" for a creature. (Search your library for a creature card and put that card in your hand.)

Black—Tertiary

  • Animating lands (Target land becomes an N/N creature until end of turn.)
  • Color changing (Target/this creature becomes the color(s) of your choice until end of turn.)
  • +N/+N to your team, ongoing
  • First strike
  • Flash
  • Friendly to enchantments
  • Land destruction
  • Mana production, permanent
  • Protection
  • Putting creatures from hand onto the battlefield
  • Stealing permanents, permanently
  • Trample
  • "Tutor" for a land. (Search your library for a land card and put that card in your hand.)

 

Red—Primary

  • Artifact distruction
  • Basic land counting (Doing an effect equal to the number of basic lands of a certain type you control.)
  • Can't be countered
  • Can't block
  • Copying permanents, temporarily
  • +N/+0 (on creatures)
  • +N/+0 (on spells)
  • +N/+0 (on Auras)
  • +N/+0 to your team, one-shot
  • +N/+0 to your team, ongoing
  • Deal damage when blocked
  • Deal N damage to creature, planeswalker, and/or player.
  • Deal N damage to a creature that's been damaged this turn.
  • Sacrifice a creature and deal damage to creature/player equal to the sacrificed creature's power/toughness.
  • Deal N damage to a creature/player where N is the number of cards in your hand/your opponent's hand.
  • Direct damage, multiple targets
  • Double Strike
  • Extra attack (Untap all creatures that attacked this turn. After this main phase, there is an additional combat phase followed by an additional main phase.)
  • First strike
  • Forced attack (Target creature attacks this turn if able.)
  • Haste
  • "Impulsive draw" (Exile the top N cards of your library. Until end of turn, you may play cards exiled this way.)
  • Instant and/or sorcery triggers (Whenever you cast an instant and/or sorcery . . . )
  • Land destruction
  • Mana production, temporary
  • Menace
  • Must attack
  • "Panic" (Target creature can't block this turn.)
  • Playing cards off the top of library, for free
  • "Polymorph" (Exile target creature. Its controller reveals cards from the top of his or her library until he or she reveals a creature card. That player puts the revealed card onto the battlefield.)
  • "Punisher" effects (Opponent chooses one: thing X happens or thing Y happens.)
  • Random destruction effects (Destruction where the outcome is unknown at the time of casting.)
  • "Rummaging" (Discard a card and draw a card.)
  • Sacrifice a creature.
  • Sacrifice a land.
  • Sacrifice a permanent.
  • Sacrifice an artifact.
  • Sacrifice an artifact. (Target/all player(s) sacrifice an artifact.)
  • Sacrifice an enchantment.
  • Sacrifice a permanent. (Target/all player(s) sacrifice a permanent.)
  • Spell copying (Copy target instant or sorcery spell. You may choose new targets for the copy.)
  • Spell redirection (Change the target of target spell and/or ability with a single target.)
  • Stealing permanents, temporarily
  • Treasure creation (artifact tokens with "T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color.")
  • Ward (for life)
  • "Wheeling" (All players discard their hand and draw N cards.)

Red—Secondary

  • Animating lands (Target land becomes an N/N creature until end of turn.)
  • "Bite" (Target creature deals damage to equal to its power to another target creature.)
  • Cast spells from your graveyard.
  • Cast spells out of graveyard.
  • +N/+N (on Auras)
  • +N/+N (on spells)
  • +N/-N (on creatures)
  • +N/-N (on Auras)
  • Defender
  • Deal N damage to a creature with flying.
  • Discard as a cost
  • Fight
  • Flying
  • Forced block (Target creature must block this turn.)
  • Friendly to artifacts
  • Friendly to instants and sorceries
  • Friendly to lands
  • "Lure," limited (This creature must be blocked this turn if able.)
  • Playing cards off the top of opponent's library
  • Playing cards off the top of your library, paying their mana cost (You may look at the top card of your library and if it's a [blah] you may play it.)
  • Prowess
  • Putting creatures from hand onto the battlefield
  • Reach
  • "Reanimation" (Return a creature card from a graveyard to the battlefield.)
  • Return target instant from graveyard to hand.
  • Return target sorcery from graveyard to hand.
  • Rules setting
  • Scry
  • Switching power/toughness
  • Token generation
  • Trample
  • "Tutor" for a creature. (Search your library for a creature card and put that card in your hand.)
  • "Tutor" for an instant or sorcery. (Search your library for an instant or sorcery card and put that card in your hand.)

Red—Tertiary

  • +1/+1 counter (creation and caring)
  • -N/-N (on spells)
  • +N/+N to your team, ongoing
  • Card draw
  • Indestructible
  • "Lhurgoyf" (This creature's power and toughness are equal to the number of cards in your/all graveyards.)
  • Life loss as a cost
  • "Manipulate time" (End the turn.)
  • Protection
  • Rewards for death (Whenever another creature/creature you control dies . . . )
  • "Time Walk" (Take an extra turn after this one.)
  • "Tutor" for a land. (Search your library for a land card and put that card in your hand.)

 

Green—Primary

  • +1/+1 counter (creation and caring)
  • Animating lands (Target land becomes an N/N creature until end of turn.)
  • Artifact distruction
  • "Bite" (Target creature deals damage to equal to its power to another target creature.)
  • Can't be countered
  • Card filtering (Look at the top N cards of your library and put N in your hand and put the rest on the bottom of the library in any order.)
  • Destroy target creature with flying
  • +N/+N (on creatures, single use)
  • +N/+N (on spells)
  • +N/+N (on Auras)
  • "Daunt" (This creature can't be blocked by creatures with power 2 or less.)
  • Deal N damage to a creature with flying.
  • Enchantment destruction
  • "Enchantress" ability (Whenever you play an enchantment, draw a card.)
  • Fight
  • "Fog" (Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn.)
  • Forced block (Target creature must block this turn.)
  • Friendly to creatures
  • Friendly to enchantments
  • Friendly to lands
  • Increasing counters and/or tokens
  • "Lhurgoyf" (This creature's power and toughness are equal to the number of cards in your/all graveyards.)
  • Life gain
  • "Lure" (All creatures able to block this creature must do so.)
  • "Lure," Limited (This creature must be blocked this turn if able.)
  • Mana production, permanent
  • Play extra lands/Put a land from hand onto the battlefield.
  • Putting cards from hand onto the battlefield
  • Putting creatures from hand onto the battlefield
  • Putting lands from hand onto the battlefield
  • Reach
  • "Restocking" (Putting cards from graveyard back into your library)
  • Return target card from graveyard to hand.
  • Return target land from graveyard to hand.
  • Sacrifice an enchantment.
  • "Stalking" (This creature can't be blocked by more than one creature.)
  • "Super trample" (You may have this creature assign combat damage as though it weren't blocked.)
  • Token generation
  • Trample
  • "Tutor" for a creature. (Search your library for a creature card and put that card in your hand.)
  • "Tutor" for a land. (Search your library for a land card and put that card in your hand.)
  • Untapping creatures
  • Untapping lands
  • Variable creature (This creature enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters.)
  • Ward (for mana)

Green—Secondary

  • Animating Artifacts (Target/all non-creature artifact(s) you control becomes an artifact creature.)
  • Basic land counting (Doing an effect equal to the number of basic lands of a certain type you control.)
  • Card draw
  • Color changing (Target/this creature becomes the color(s) of your choice until end of turn.)
  • +N/+N (on creatures)
  • +N/+0 (on creatures)
  • +0/+N (on creatures)
  • +0/+N (on spells)
  • +0/+N (on Auras)
  • +N/+N to your team, one-shot
  • +N/+N to your team, ongoing
  • "Curiosity" (Whenever this creature deals combat damage to an opponent, draw a card.)
  • Deathtouch
  • Defender
  • Exiling cards from graveyard
  • Flash
  • Haste
  • Hexproof
  • Indestructible
  • "Maro" ability (This creature's power and toughness are equal to the number of cards in our hand.)
  • Playing cards off the top of your library, paying their mana cost (You may look at the top card of your library and if it's a [blah] you may play it.)
  • Putting enchantments from hand onto the battlefield
  • "Reanimation" (Return a creature card from a graveyard to the battlefield.)
  • Rules setting
  • Scry
  • Treasure creation (artifact tokens with "T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color.")
  • Vigilance
  • "Warlord" (This creature's power and toughness is equal to the number of creatures you control.)

Green—Tertiary

  • +N/+0 (on Auras)
  • -N/-N (on spells)
  • Cast spells from your graveyard.
  • Counter target activated/triggered ability
  • Discard as a cost
  • Flying
  • Land destruction
  • Life loss as a cost
  • Planeswalker destruction
  • Protection

 

All Abilities with Explanations

I've included a greater explanation of the limitations of each ability below, as well as which colors it can appear in, so you can see how the colors share abilities.

A–E

Animating artifacts (Target/all non-creature artifact(s) you control becomes an artifact creature.)

Primary: Blue
Secondary: Green

Blue is the color most likely to turn a non-creature artifact into an artifact creature. Green is second most likely to do it.

Animating Enchantments (Target/all non-aura enchantment(s) you control becomes an enchantment creature.)

Primary: White
Secondary: Blue

White is the color that animates other enchantments. Blue has enchantments that under certain conditions can become animated.

Animating lands (Target land becomes an N/N creature until end of turn.)

Primary: Green
Secondary: Red
Tertiary: White, blue, and black

Green, as the color connected most closely to lands and creatures, is the color most likely to turn lands into creatures—usually still keeping them lands. When we do this, we often grant the land haste to avoid having to worry if it was the one you played this turn (which would have summoning sickness). Red uses this ability a little playing into its one-shot damage cards that come through attacking. All the colors have dipped their toe into this area, but it's infrequent and usually only involves animating their own basic land type and is most often done in cycles.

Artifact destruction

Primary: Red and green
Secondary: White

Red and green usually have one artifact destruction card in common, although green's is usually also a spell that destroy both artifacts and enchantments. (See enchantment destruction.) White is starting to get more artifact destruction at common and is usually also able to destroy enchantments.

[autocard]Banisher Priest[/autocard]–like effect (When this card enters the battlefield, exile target creature/permanent until this card leaves play.)

Primary: White

This is one of white's most efficient answers, especially in Limited. It is usually used on creatures but sometimes hits other permanents. The effect is always on a permanent, usually a creature or enchantment.

Basic land counting (Doing an effect equal to the number of basic lands of a certain type you control.)

Primary: Red
Secondary: Black and green
Tertiary: White and blue

All colors have access to this, but red does it most, followed by black and green.

"Bite" (Target creature deals damage to equal to its power to another target creature.)

Primary: Green
Secondary: Red

This used to just be a red ability, but we realized that green needed it more, as green's creature removal has to be tied to creatures and red had plenty of other direct-damage spells. So red now does this less often.

Return to library (Put a creature/permanent on top of its owner's library or some number of cards down.)

Primary: Blue

Blue does this as an upgraded version of returning to hand. Blue will sometimes put the card a few cards down into the library and sometimes shuffles it into a small pile on top. White used to also do this, but it has been removed from white.

Bring back creatures/permanents that went to the graveyard this turn

Primary: White

White, the color of mercy, is the color that saves things the turn they are destroyed.

Can't be attacked (Creatures can't attack you.)

Primary: White

We don't do this often, but this effect keeps you from either being attacked for a turn or as long as a specific permanent is on the battlefield.

Can't be blocked

Primary: Blue

We tried to keyword this ability only to discover that there are so many variations on it that we couldn't. Instead, we changed from "unblockable" to "can't be blocked" to avoid players thinking it was a keyword. (It matters occasionally.) Blue has creatures with this ability and grants it through spells and Auras.

Can't be countered

Primary: Red and green
Secondary: Blue

Red tends to have spells that can't be countered while green tends to have creatures that can't be countered. When blue does "can't be countered," which is less often, it's usually a more control-oriented card.

Can't block

Primary: Black and red

For a long time we separated black from red by making black have the "can't block" drawback on its creatures and red have the "must attack" drawback on its creatures. Time has shown that the "can't block" drawback leads to better gameplay, so we've started using it on red as much as black.

Can't lose the game and opponent can't win

Primary: White

This is a defensive ability, and thus shows up in white.

Can't win the game and opponent can't lose

Primary: Black

This ability is used as a drawback in black.

Card draw

Primary: Blue
Secondary: Black and green
Tertiary: White and red

Blue is best at card drawing. It has the most of it and no restrictions. Black's card drawing must involve paying some other cost, most often life but sometimes sacrificing permanents. Green's card draw is tied to creatures. In the past, we've also connected it to land, but that ended up making green card draw a little too much like blue, so we've pulled back from that. All colors get cantrips (spells that draw you a single card). Blue gets the best cantrip spells, white gets the best cantrip small creatures, and green gets the best cantrip large creatures. While white is still tertiary at card drawing, we have added some new abilities for white to draw cards. The big limitation is that white tends to draw over time rather than all at once, so it has a once-per-turn limit on card drawing (multiplayer does allow white on occasion to draw multiple cards tied to how many opponents a player has). Other than cantrips, red only draws cards with three exceptions: impulsive draw, "punisher" effects, and wheeling. (See impulsive draw, "punisher" effects, and wheeling.)

Card filtering (Look at the top N cards of your library and put N in your hand and put the rest on the bottom of the library in any order.)

Primary: Blue and green

Blue is the color of information, so it loves having the ability to choose what exactly it gets to draw. Sometimes card filtering looks similar to looting, where you draw some number of cards and then discard a close number. When green does this, it can usually only get a subset of permanents (usually creatures and/or lands) into its hand.

Cast spells from opponent's graveyard/exile.

Primary: Blue and black

The two sneakiest colors are the ones most likely to use the opponent's own resources against them. Sometimes blue and black will make the player discard/mill the cards into exile where they can later cast them.

Cast spells from your graveyard.

Primary: Black
Secondary: Blue and red
Tertiary: White and green

Black is the color most likely to cast cards from the graveyard, but it's something blue and red also do on occasion, especially instants and sorceries. I've listed white and green as tertiary because we do flashback with regularity.

Cast spells out of graveyard.

Primary: Black
Secondary: Blue and red

Black is the color most focused on the graveyard. Blue occasionally can cast instants and sorceries out of the graveyard. We've also let red play a little in this area, especially in sets where it can grant flashback to instants and sorceries in the graveyard.

Changing lands (Target land becomes the basic land of your choice.)

Primary: Blue

We don't do a lot of land changing these days, but the ability is still in blue in environments where we might need it. It allows blue a way to get access to other colors in multicolor environments.

Color changing (Target/this creature becomes the color(s) of your choice until end of turn.)

Primary: Blue
Secondary: Green
Tertiary: White and black

Blue can change any creature's color, including its own. Green has this ability on creatures that can change themselves, usually flavored as a chameleon-like effect. White and black have had the ability on rare occasion to make things their own color. As we've lessened the number of effects that care about color, this ability isn't used much these days.

Copying permanents, permanently

Primary: Blue

Blue has permanents that will choose a target and then remain that target for the rest of the game (or until the permanent chooses to copy a new target).

Copying permanents, temporarily

Primary: Red
Secondary: Blue

Red has permanents (or spells that create this effect) that can temporarily become another creature, usually until end of turn. Blue's cards in this category are cards that change but don't let the controller explicitly choose what they become. (For instance, one might copy the last creature played.)

+1/+1 counter (creation and caring)

Primary: White and green
Secondary: Black
Tertiary: Blue and red

Any color can put +1/+1 counters on themselves, but white and green are best overall at doing it, including putting them on other creatures.

Counterspell

Primary: Blue
Tertiary: White

Counterspelling is one of the few abilities that's almost universally used in a single color. White dips its toe into the ability with taxing and delay-style counterspells.

Counter target activated/triggered ability

Primary: Blue
Tertiary: Green

For a while this was a green effect, but we've moved it to be more in blue. Green does it on rare occasions, usually to counter artifact activations these days.

Creature destruction, single creature

  • Destroy target creature.

Primary: Black
Secondary: White

Black is king of creature destruction and is the one color that can kill regardless of circumstance. White can kill a single creature, but usually at a higher cost. Sometimes in both white and black this spell exiles the creature instead of destroying it.

  • Destroy target creature. Its controller gets compensation.

Primary: White

This ability used to be in white and blue (flavored as transformation in blue), but it's now just a white ability.

  • Destroy target attacking or blocking creature.

Primary: White

White tends to do its creature destruction in one of four ways: white can kill during combat, it sometimes will just hit attackers or just hit blockers, or white will often exile creatures instead of destroying then.

  • Destroy target creature that damaged you or a creature you control this turn.

Primary: White

White is also willing to destroy something after it has hurt white in some way.

  • Destroy target tapped creature.

Primary: White
Secondary: Black

White can also destroyed tapped creatures using a similar flavor to destroying creatures that have harmed it.

  • Destroy target creature with power 3 or greater.

Primary: White

As champion of the little guy, white will also destroy large creatures. We've moved the floor of the ability from power 4 to power 3.

  • Destroy target creature with flying.

Primary: Green

Green is allowed to kill only two types of creatures—flying creatures (as it is the anti-flying color) and artifact creatures (see artifact destruction).

Creature destruction, mass creature

  • Destroy all creatures.

Primary: White
Secondary: Black

White is the color that most often does mass creature kill, with it showing up on a rare or mythic rare in almost every set. Black mass-creature kill is not quite as frequent. Red has a similar effect where it does large amount of damage to all creatures (see direct damage).

  • Destroy all creatures controlled by one player.

Primary: Black

White believes in balance and parity, so only black will kill just one player's creatures.

  • Destroy all creatures with power 3 or greater.

Primary: White

Killing big creatures is a white thing, so it can be combined with mass creature kill. The number is most often 3 power, but occasionally can be tweaked up. White will occasionally also do mass destruction based on other criteria, but it tends to destroy all creatures of that quality.

Creature pumping

  • +N/+N (on creatures)

Primary: Black
Secondary: Green

For black this is mostly seen on Shades and usually requires black mana. Green gets unlimited pumping activations but usually only when the activation cost is high enough that multiple activations don't happen until the late game.

  • +N/+N (on creatures, single use)

Primary: Green

This is what we refer to as the [autocard]Rootwalla[/autocard] ability. It's trying to simulate a built-in [autocard]Giant Growth[/autocard]. It's almost always exclusive to green.

  • +N/+N (on spells)

Primary: White and green
Secondary: Black and red

The most common use of this is on Giant Growth–like effects in green, usually +3/+3 but it can vary a little. White's pumping is usually +2/+2 or smaller, but it most often will grant an ability as well. The three exception for white is that it can get larger pumps if counting the number of creatures you have, the number of plains you have, or is restricted to blockers. Black will occasionally get smaller buffs, usually with an ability added. Red gets buffs but usually the power is higher than the toughness. All four colors default in this ability to being on instants as it's a combat trick.

  • +N/+N (on Auras)

Primary: White and green
Secondary: Blue, black, and red

All colors have access to Auras that grant +N/+N. White, blue, black, and red tend to top out at +2/+2. Green is the one color that regularly grants +3/+3 and above on Auras

  • +N/+0 (on creatures)

Primary: Red
Secondary: White and green

This ability, as a repeatable activation, is what we refer to as "firebreathing." It's most often seen on red creatures. White tends to get one-time upgrades of usually +1/+0. Green gets +N/+0 when it's not intended for it to survive the fight.

  • +N/+0 (on spells)

Primary: Black and red
Secondary: White

Black and red are the two colors that tend to pump power as a spell without also pumping toughness. White does it occasionally as a combat trick but usually never more than +1/+0.

  • +N/+0 (on Auras)

Primary: Red
Secondary: White and black
Tertiary: Blue and green

Red is the color most often to have just power-pumping Auras (including "firebreathing" Auras). White and black do it occasionally with white tending to go no higher than +2/+0. Blue and green do it on rare occasion with blue, like white, sticking at +2/+0 or lower.

  • +N/-N (on creatures)

Primary: Blue
Secondary: Black and red

Blue tends to use this mostly on Elementals and Shapeshifters, flavored as shape-changing. Black and red use this on occasion to play up their reckless side.

  • +N/-N (on spells)

Primary: Black

As this is mostly used as a kill spell, the ability resides mostly in black.

  • +N/-N (on Auras)

Primary: Black
Secondary: Red

These tend to be flavored as "push your luck" cards that can double as creature kill. Black will go up to -3 on the toughness, whereas red tends to stop at -2.

  • -N/+N (on creatures)

Primary: Blue
Tertiary white

This is also used in blue on Elementals and Shapeshifters, often on the same cards with the +N/-N. White, on rare occasion, will have an activation that uses this defensively.

  • -N/-N (on creatures)

Primary: Black

On creatures, this effect is used almost exclusively by creatures on other creatures, and almost exclusively in black.

  • -N/-N (on spells)

Primary: Black
Tertiary: White, blue, red, and green

Black is the only color to do -N/-N abilities on spells. Other colors do put -1/-1 counters on creatures, usually in place of spots where they would do damage in sets with -1/-1 counters.

  • -N/-N (on Auras)

Primary: Black

This is an area only black tends to go, used almost exclusively on the opponent's creatures. This ability will occasionally be paired with a positive ability, making it a card you might play on your own creature.

  • -N/-0 (on spells)

Primary: Blue
Secondary: Black

In blue, this is shrinking its target. In black it's usually some form of torture.

  • -N/-0 (on Auras)

Primary: Blue
Secondary: Black

We tend to treat the Auras similarly to how we treat the spells.

  • +0/+N (on creatures)

Primary: White
Secondary: Green

White used to do this quite a bit, but we've backed off because it tends to just clog up the board. Green also uses this on occasion.

  • +0/+N (on spells)

Primary: White
Secondary: Green

Once again, white (and to an even lesser extent green) used to do this more often, but these days we'll boost power some if we're going to boost toughness.

  • +0/+N (on Auras)

Primary: White
Secondary: Blue and green

This is also isn't done often, but when it is used, it's used on white, blue, and green.

Creature pumping, your team, one-shot

  • +N/+N to your team

Primary: White
Secondary: Green

White is the color most likely to pump its team, most often with +1/+1, but it will occasionally go up to +2/+2. Green's team pump starts at +3/+3 and often also adds trample.

  • +N/+0 to your team

Primary: Red
Secondary: White

Team pump that only pumps power is most often done in red, usually affecting attacking creatures. White will sometimes pump its team's power without pumping toughness (although it more often pumps both).

Creature pumping, their team, one-shot

  • -N/-N to their team

Primary: Black

This is a common way for black to kill creatures. Sometimes this effect will affect all creatures and not just your opponents.

  • -N/-0 to their team

Primary: Blue

Just as blue can "shrink" a single creature, so too can it "shrink" an entire team.

Creature pumping, your team, ongoing

  • +N/+N to your team

Primary: White
Secondary: Green
Tertiary: Blue, black, and red

This category appears mostly on permanents, most often creatures or enchantments, and it grants a stat boost to your team. This ability is most often seen in white with just a +1/+1 boost. Green boosts are often a bit bigger. All the colors have access to this ability when making tribal lords (creatures that grant a certain creature type or types a +1/+1 bonus). This stat bonus often comes with the granting of another ability.

  • +N/+0 to your team

Primary: Red
Tertiary: Black

When red does permanent pumps, it is usually just pumping the power. Often it pumps your creatures just on attack.

Creature pumping, their team, ongoing

  • -N/-N to their team

Primary: Black

Black occasionally lowers the opponent's creatures' power and toughness, usually by just -1/-1.

Creature sacrifice, forced, repeatable (All players/opponents must sacrifice a creature each turn.)

Primary: Black

Sometimes black likes killing things slowly.

"Curiosity" (Whenever this creature deals combat damage to an opponent, draw a card.)

Primary: Blue
Secondary: Green

This ability started as a blue-only ability, but we added it in green because it works with green's creature-tied card drawing.

Damage prevention (Prevent the next N damage that would be dealt to target creature/player.)

Primary: White

We don't do a lot of this effect any more, but when we do it's almost always in white.

Damage redirection (Prevent the next N damage that would be dealt to target creature/player this turn. If damage is prevented in this way, this card deals that much damage to target creature/player.)

Primary: White

This is another effect we've cut significantly back on that is also squarely in white.

"Daunt" (This creature can't be blocked by creatures with power 2 or less.)

Primary: Green

This is an ability we've been trying out in small doses in green. I don't know if it will ever make it to evergreen status, but it's a possibility.

Deal damage when blocked

Primary: Red
Secondary: Black
Tertiary: Blue

This is an effect that goes on creatures. It is done primarily in red. When black does it, it is usually loss of life. I list blue because the afflict mechanic (from Hour of Devastation) that does this is also in blue (as Bolas's Eternal Zombie army was in Bolas's colors: blue, black, and red).

Deathtouch

Primary: Black
Secondary: Green

This ability was primary in both black and green for a while, but we found that black both had more need for it and had more flavorful ways to express it creatively.

Defender

Primary: White and blue
Secondary: Black, red, and green

Basically everyone can have defender, but it leans toward white and blue philosophically as those are the most defensive colors.

"Devil's Deal" permanents (Cards that grant you power but at a cost)

Primary: Black

Black is the color of "power at any cost," so it gets permanents (usually) that start helping you but have the potential to hurt you in the end. These are most often creatures or enchantments, but occasionally show up in other forms.

Direct damage, single target

  • Deal N damage to creature, planeswalker, and/or player.

Primary: Red
Secondary: White and black

Red is king of direct damage and has it in many forms, including the most straightforward versions. White can do damage where N is the number of creatures you control. Black will do direct damage to creatures, planeswalkers, or players and then gain life. (See drain life.) Black will sometimes deal damage to players as a punishment.

  • Deal N damage to a creature that's been damaged this turn.

Primary: Red
Secondary: Black

Black and red are the colors that prey on the weak.

  • Sacrifice a creature and deal damage to creature/planeswalker/player equal to the sacrificed creature's power/toughness.

Primary: Red
Secondary: Black

In red, this is flavored as throwing the creatures. In black, it's more treated as a sacrifice for a ritual.

  • Deal N damage to a creature/planeswalker/player where N is the number of cards in your hand/your opponent's hand.

Primary: Red

We tend to do this in sets when red has a more spell-based theme.

  • Deal N damage to target attacking or blocking creature.

Primary: White

Other than basing damage on number of creatures, white's direct damage only shows up in combat.

  • Deal N damage to a creature with flying.

Primary: Green
Tertiary: Red

As the two anti-flying colors, red and green will deal damage to fliers. Green does it significantly more than red, as any of red's direct damage to creatures can hit fliers.

Direct damage, multiple targets

Primary: Red
Secondary: White

Red will deal damage to all or a subset of creatures, sometimes dealing a small amount (1 or 2 damage, killing small creatures), sometimes doing larger amounts that kill most creatures. Red's damage in this area most often hits all creatures, including its own. White will occasionally deal damage to multiple creature if they all are attackers and/or blockers.

Discard as a cost

Primary: Black
Secondary: Red
Tertiary: White, blue, and green

While all colors have access to discarding cards as a cost, black does it most and red does it second most.

Discard as effect

Primary: Black

This is one of only a handful of major abilities to be contained to just one color. The closest a second color comes is blue, which occasionally gets targeted card filtering that can be used on the opponent.

Double strike

Primary: White and red

White and red are also the primary colors for first strike. Black, which is tertiary in first strike, does not get double strike.

"Drain life" (Deal damage to a creature/player and gain life equal to that damage.)

Primary: Black
Tertiary: White

Other colors will deal damage or gain life, but black is the color that does both at the same time. (Okay, technically, red and white together can do this too.) Black also will do triggered or activated effects that repeatedly drain the player, usually for 1. White has dipped its toe into this area in Orzhov sets (aka Ravnica sets).

Enchantment destruction

Primary: White and green
Secondary: Black

White and green usually have one enchantment destruction card in common; green's usually also destroys artifacts, and sometimes white does as well. (See artifact destruction.) We've also started to let black have enchantment removal. It's clearly at a power level lower than white or green and often forces the opponent to sacrifice the enchantment or makes you pay an extra cost.

"Enchantress" ability (Whenever you play an enchantment, draw a card.)

Primary: White and green

This ability started in Limited Edition (Alpha) on [autocard]Verduran Enchantress[/autocard], a green card. It has bounced back and forth between green and white, and now can be done by either. In white, it has the limitation of only drawing one card per turn as that's a new rule for white card drawing. The best ones are probably going to appear in white and green.

Exiling cards from graveyard

Primary: Black
Secondary: White and green

This effect is used to get rid of cards in a graveyard that might have an effect/usable activation cost. Black does it most often, but white and green occasionally do it in sets that need it.

Extra attack (Untap all creatures that attacked this turn. After this main phase, there is an additional combat phase followed by an additional main phase.)

Primary: Red
Tertiary: White

Attacking twice has always been red's domain. Thematically, it makes sense that white might occasionally do this.

F–L

Fight

Primary: Green
Secondary: Red

This is green's primary form of creature destruction. Red uses it occasionally but at a much lower volume.

First strike

Primary: White and red
Tertiary: Black

White and red are the two cards with trained fighters (white has the army and red the creatures that have gotten good through constant impulsive fighting). Black is tertiary, and uses this these days almost exclusively on Knights.

Flash

Primary: Blue
Secondary: White, black, and green
Tertiary: Red

Everyone gets some access to flash. Blue gets it the most as it plays into the color's reactive play style. In the last few years, we made it secondary in white and black, and kept it secondary in green. White tends to get the small cheap and mid-size defensive creatures, black gets creatures that can surprise kill you, often with higher power than toughness, and green gets bigger creatures. Red can get flash when it functionally needs it to get an effect to work, most often with reactive enters-the-battlefield effects.

"Flicker" (Exile target creature/permanent, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control—occasionally the creature/permanent returns at the end of the turn.)

Primary: White and blue

This ability appears in both white and blue, although we've recently been trying to push it a little more in white.

Flying

Primary: White and blue
Secondary: Black and red
Tertiary: Green

White and blue are the two main colors with flying. Blue gets the most fliers. White gets the most efficient small fliers. Blue more often grants flying, although white does it on occasion. Red's flying is mostly restricted to Dragons and Phoenixes with the occasional weak small fliers. Green's tertiary is almost a quaternary, in that it gets flying very infrequently.

"Fog" (Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn.)

Primary: Green
Tertiary: White

This effect has shown up in four of the five colors over the years. It started in green, spent numerous years bouncing around, ended up in white, and then finally got moved back to green where it has stayed.

Forced attack (Target creature attacks this turn if able.)

Primary: Red
Secondary: Blue

We don't use this ability a lot, but when we do, we use it in red and blue. Red is flavored as emotional tampering and blue as mind control.

Forced block (Target creature must block this turn.)

Primary: Green
Secondary: Red

We don't do this effect often, but green does it most, then red.

Forced sacrifice

  • Sacrifice a creature. (Target/all player(s) sacrifice a creature.)

Primary: Black

Sometimes black kills your creatures and sometimes it makes you do it.

  • Sacrifice an artifact. (Target/all player(s) sacrifice an artifact.)

Primary: Red

Red can force you to sacrifice artifacts.

  • Sacrifice a permanent. (Target/all player(s) sacrifice a permanent.)

Red can also force you to sacrifice permanents.

"Freeze" creature (Tap target creature. That creature doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step.)

Primary: Blue

This is a blue ability that R&D has grown fond of in recent years.

Friendly to a card type

This can involve a wide range of things where you either help that card type (making it cheaper to cast, enhancing it in some way, using it to generate an effect, etc.) or that card type helps you (you get rewarded for playing that card type, having a certain number on the battlefield or in your hand or in the graveyard grants abilities, you can sacrifice them as a resource, etc.)

  • Friendly to artifacts

Primary: White and blue
Secondary: Red

White and blue, as the colors of civilization, are both very friendly with artifacts. Red tends to be associated with Equipment and Vehicles (along with white) or using artifacts as a resource (interacting with things like treasure artifact tokens).

  • Friendly to creatures

Primary: Green
Secondary: White

Green and white are the main creature colors (they have the highest percentage of creatures versus spells) so they most often like you having creatures.

  • Friendly to enchantments

Primary: White and green
Tertiary: Black

White and green are also the two colors that most appreciate enchantments. Black sometimes cares in sets with an enchantment theme or subtheme.

  • Friendly to instants and sorceries

Primary: Blue
Secondary: Red

The creature colors like creatures, the spell colors like instants and sorceries.

  • Friendly to lands

Primary: Green
Secondary: White, blue, black, and red

Green is the color that loves lands the most, but every color loves its own basic land type.

  • Friendly to planeswalkers

Primary: White

White is the color that most interacts with planeswalkers. It can search the library for them and get them back from the graveyard, among other positive interactions.

Friendly to other qualities

  • Friendly to legendary permanents

Primary: White

White is the color that most interacts with legendary permanents. It can search the library for them and get them back from the graveyard, among other positive interactions.

  • Friendly to low mana value cards

Primary: White

White is the color that most positively interacts with low mana value (anywhere from mana value 3 or less) cards. It can search the library for them and get them back from the graveyard, among other positive interactions.

Gain control of target player's turn

Primary: Black

This effect is actually most often done in colorless, but black is the color that can do it in the color pie.

"Gaseous Form" (This creature neither deals nor receives damage.)

Primary: White
Secondary: Blue

We don't do this effect much any more, but years back we moved it from blue to white (and in the very early days it showed up in green as a Fog variant). White will grant the ability to creatures, whereas blue tends to have the ability on creatures.

Haste

Primary: Red
Secondary: Black and green

Haste shows up most often on red creatures. We've moved green into second place for haste. Black is still technically secondary, but gets haste less often than green.

Hexproof

Primary: Blue
Secondary: Green
Tertiary: White

Blue both has more creatures with hexproof and more often grants it as a pseudo-counterspell. Green tends to get hexproof on larger creatures without evasion. White gets hexproof infrequently, sometimes on players, in ways that feel like it's protecting the thing.

"Illusion ability" (Sacrifice this creature if it is the target of a spell or ability.)

Primary: Blue

This ability started in black on Spirits and was known as "skulking," but has since been moved into blue and attached to Illusions. The ability used to care about spells and abilities, but now just cares about spells.

"Impulsive draw" (Exile the top N cards of your library. Until end of turn, you may play cards exiled this way.)

Primary: Red

This is red's primary way of card drawing, playing into red's impulsive nature of wanting to do things now. Sometimes we let you cast the spell until the end of your next turn.

Increasing counters and/or tokens

Primary: Blue and green
Secondary: White

This effect either makes more counters or tokens as they're being made or makes more after they've already been made. Sometimes this is one for one, sometimes it just adds one or two more. Blue and green do it most often, but we've started letting white in on the fun.

Indestructible

Primary: White
Secondary: Black and green
Tertiary: Blue and red

White, and to a lesser extent green, tend to have creature that naturally have indestructible. Black and green, as the replacement for regeneration, often have activated abilities that grant indestructible until end of turn. White will at times use temporary indestructibility where it used to use protection. We allow all colors access to it when we do things like cycles of Gods.

Instant and/or sorcery triggers (Whenever you cast an instant and/or sorcery . . . )

Primary: Blue and red

Blue and red are the two colors with the highest percentage of spells (as opposed to creatures), so they are the two colors that most often care about them being cast.

Land destruction

Primary: Red
Tertiary: Black and green

Red is the one color that regularly does land destruction. Black and green are still able to do it, but do it very infrequently. Most land destruction in green these days (and "these days" hasn't been in a while) is "destroy target noncreature permanent."

"Lhurgoyf" (This creature's power and toughness are equal to the number of cards in your/all graveyards.)

Primary: Green
Secondary: Black
Tertiary: White, blue, and red

Lhurgoyfs started as a green thing and have since gone on to also be a black thing. On rare occasion, we'll have other colors play in this space, either in a cycle or by caring about some different quality of card in the graveyard. Another change is that sometimes we'll care about the number when casting and lock it down with +1/+1 counters rather than it being a stat you have to keep checking on.

Life gain

Primary: White and green
Secondary: Black

White and green are the two colors that will have effects that simply gain a player life. Black can gain life but only when either sacrificing something, using lifelink, or damaging another creature or player. (See drain life.) White will sometimes gain life when other creatures enter the battlefield and black will sometimes gain life when other creatures die.

Life loss as an effect

Primary: Black

Black will sometimes just make players lose life straight up without a drain effect.

Life loss as a cost

Primary: Black
Tertiary: White, blue, red, and green

Black is the color that most often uses life as a cost. All colors have access to it on rare occasions where the world calls for it (like New Phyrexia).

Lifelink

Primary: White and black

White and black have very different flavor rationales for the abilities, but both use it almost every set.

"Lockdown" (Enchanted creature doesn't untap.)

Primary: Blue

This is one of blue's primary creature answers in Limited. It's used almost solely on Auras. See freeze for a temporary version, also in blue.

"Lobotomy" (Choose a non-land card name. Search target player's graveyard hand and library for all cards with that name and exile them.)

Primary: Black

This ability started on a blue-black card in Tempest called [autocard mvid="23170"]Lobotomy[/autocard], but has since drifted to be just a black thing.

Looking at opponent's hand

Primary: Blue
Secondary: Black

Blue is the color that can simply do this effect. Black does it only in conjunction with discarding where it has to choose what gets discarded. We've been scaling back on this effect, as it tends to slow down gameplay. This has had the interesting effect of making the ability appear more in black than blue, as we still make the discard spells.

"Looting" (Draw a card and discard a card.)

Primary: Blue

Blue is the color that likes to go searching for answers by digging through its library.

"Lure" (All creatures able to block this creature must do so.)

Primary: Green

This ability has been with Magic since Limited Edition (Alpha), but we've started scaling back how often we do it. It's done infrequently now, and only at higher rarities because of its impact on Limited.

"Lure," limited (This creature must be blocked this turn if able.)

Primary: Green
Secondary: Red

This is the watered-down version of [autocard]Lure[/autocard]. Somebody must block your creature, but everyone doesn't have to. We started occasionally using the ability in red.

M–R

Mana production, permanent

Primary: Green
Secondary: Blue
Tertiary: Black

Besides being the land-fetching color, green is also the color with permanents that can produce mana turn after turn to help it ramp up quickly and cast large spells. Black does this infrequently, usually with some payment required. Blue has access to permanents that produce colorless man, sometimes flavored to helping cast artifacts.

Mana production, temporary

Primary: Red
Secondary: Black

Red is the color best at producing temporary bursts of mana, be it with one-shot spells, permanents with one-time triggers, or things that need to be sacrificed to be used. Black can also get mana but usually requires paying some cost, most often sacrificing something else.

"Manipulate time" (End the turn.)

Primary: Blue
Tertiary: Red

We don't do this ability very often, but when we do it's put in blue and flavored as time manipulation. Red has done it once with a "lose at end of next turn" rider.

"Maro" ability (This creature's power and toughness are equal to the number of cards in our hand.)

Primary: Blue
Secondary: Green

Blue is the color of knowledge and green is the color of wisdom, so those are the two colors that like to care about what you "know."

"Meddling" (Name a spell. That spell can't be played as long as this card is on the battlefield.)

Primary: White

This ability, named after [autocard]Meddling Mage[/autocard] from Invasion (Chris Pikula's Invitational card), is usually on a creature or enchantment and stops a specific spell from being cast. As this is proactive, it's in white.

Menace

Primary: Black and red

This ability started in red when it was an unnamed thing, but was added to black when it became keyworded because intimidate had gone away and black needed some kind of evasion other than flying. There's been some talk that a third color should be secondary or tertiary.

Milling (You/target player puts the top N cards from his or her library into his or her graveyard.)

Primary: Blue
Secondary: Black

For many years this ability was only in blue, but a number of years ago we started allowing black to do it as well. Both colors also get self-mill as an effect and a cost.

Moving enchantments/counters

Primary: Blue

Blue is the color of moving attached things. It hasn't moved Equipment yet, but perhaps one day.

Must attack

Primary: Red

The flavor of this is great in red, but we've found the gameplay is not always great. So we've been doing less of this in red overall.

Pacifism-like effect (Enchanted creature cannot attack or block.)

Primary: White

This is one of white's strongest forms of creature removal for Limited, usually in the form of an Aura. It infrequently is used on noncreatures. Sometimes the spell also prevents that creature/permanent from using activations. It also sometimes only stops just attacking or just blocking.

"Panic" (Target creature can't block this turn.)

Primary: Red

This ability mostly shows up on spells but occasionally as an activated ability at higher rarities.

Planeswalker destruction

Primary: Black
Tertiary: Green

Black is the color that regularly destroys planeswalkers, often using "destroy creature or planeswalker." Green doesn't call out planeswalker by name ([autocard]Nissa's Defeat[/autocard] being an exception), but can "destroy target noncreature." Green is now tertiary in this as we don't use this ability much any more in green. Red is not listed here because it uses damage to deal with planeswalkers rather than destroy them outright.

Playing cards off the top of your library, paying their mana cost (You may look at the top card of your library and if it's a [blah] you may play it.)

Secondary: White, blue, black, red, and green

We don't do this effect very often, so I made it primary in no color. Any color can have access to it, but it must play cards from a subset that make sense for that color. Blue is the color we've let cast any card off the top.

Playing cards off the top of library, for free

Primary: Red

This ability used to be in blue, but we moved it to red as it has a chaotic feel (you don't know what's about to happen) and red needed more stuff.

Playing cards off the top of opponent's library

Primary: Blue and black
Secondary: Red

Blue and black, being the sneaky colors, are the two that most often cast spells off the opponent's deck. We occasionally let red do it, but usually there's a short duration during which you can do it, unlike blue and black that usually doesn't have a time limit.

Play extra lands/Put a land from hand onto the battlefield

Primary: Green

We don't do either of these effects often, but they are both in green's slice of the color pie.

"Polymorph" (Exile target creature. Its controller reveals cards from the top of his or her library until he or she reveals a creature card. That player puts that card onto the battlefield.)

Primary: Red
Secondary: Blue

For a long time, this ability was a blue thing. When we were looking for more places to expand red, we decided to slice up the polymorph pie. Blue gets transformations where the outcome is known and red gets them where it is not. The idea being that blue only wants to transform something when they know what they're going to get, whereas red is willing to take a risk. Red will also do large chaotic effects where many things change all at once.

Preventing actions (Your opponents can't cast spells this turn.)

Primary: White

White is the proactive color, stopping things from before they happen (as opposed to blue being reactive, stopping things as they happen).

Protection

Primary: White
Tertiary: Blue, black, red, and green

Protection has changed back from deciduous status back to evergreen status, but it doesn't show up in every set. It's mostly a white ability that can show up in other colors, usually with protection from something the color dislikes (an enemy color, artifacts for green, etc.).

Prowess

Primary: Blue
Secondary: Red
Tertiary: White

This ability started out as a Jeskai keyword in Khans of Tarkir. It filled a gap we had in blue and red, so that's where we focused it. White has not yet gotten a prowess card outside of Khans of Tarkir block, but I believe it eventually will. For a while this ability was evergreen, but it's since become deciduous (and even then, barely). I don't list most of the deciduous abilities in this article, but as this used to be evergreen, I left it in.

"Punisher" effects (Opponent chooses one: thing X happens or thing Y happens.)​

Primary: Red
Secondary: Black

In red, one of the two abilities is usually damage to the opponent making the choice; the other option is often something red doesn't normally do in the color pie. Black does this a little, but doesn't tend to have the color pie–bending aspect.

Putting cards from hand onto the battlefield

  • Putting artifacts from hand onto the battlefield

Primary: Blue
Secondary: White

Blue does this as the "friendly to artifacts" color. White will do it when it involves Equipment.

  • Putting creatures from hand onto the battlefield

Primary: Green
Secondary: Blue and red
Tertiary: White and black

Green does this effect the most often. Blue will do it usually flavored as transformation, and will return one its creatures to its owner's hand. When red does this the creature is most often sacrificed or returned to hand at end of turn. We let all colors dip their toes in this area when messing with creature types of their color.

  • Putting enchantments from hand onto the battlefield

Primary: White
Secondary: Green
Tertiary: Blue

This is another effect we don't do that often. White and, interestingly, blue tend to do this tied to Auras, while green will put out any enchantment.

  • Putting lands from hand onto the battlefield

Primary: Green

Green used to do this all the time. It still does it, but not as often as it used to.

  • Putting planeswalkers from hand onto the battlefield

Primary: White

We haven't actually done this effect yet. My best guess is it would be in white.

Random destruction effects (Destruction where the outcome is unknown at the time of casting.)

Primary: Red

Red is the color of chaos, so we occasionally give it effects that destroy random nonenchantment permanents (sometimes a subset).

Reach

Primary: Green
Secondary: Red
Tertiary: White

As green mostly has no flying, this is one of the tools green has to deal with other players' flying creatures. We've very recently decided to make it secondary in red. White's tertiary status comes mostly on archers.

"Reanimate" permanent (Return a permanent card from a graveyard to the battlefield.)

Primary: White

White is the one color that can reanimate any permanent type, so it gets to reanimate "target permanent." It can also reanimate "target artifact," "target enchantment," or "target planeswalker." It doesn't specifically get "target land," but can do so when it's "target permanent."

"Reanimation" (Return a creature card from a graveyard to the battlefield.)

Primary: White and black
Secondary: Red and green

Black is the best at bringing the dead back to life. It has no real restrictions on what it can bring back. White tends to reanimate smaller creatures, usually with a converted mana cost of 2 or less, but we've started letting white bring back larger creatures on occasion. Red has Phoenixes. Green has creatures that can bring themselves back from the graveyard. Both black and white will sometimes reanimate a swath of creatures all at once.

Removing counters

Primary: Black

Black is the color that gets rid of counters, but only from permanents on the battlefield and not players.

"Restocking" (Putting cards from graveyard back into your library)

Primary: Green and blue

This is a means of getting cards in your graveyard back into your library. Green does it as a "cycle of life" flavor, while blue is flavored more as magical manipulation. Blue sometimes also shuffling your hand in as well and then draws you cards.

Returning cards from graveyard to hand.

  • Return target card from graveyard to hand.

Primary: Green

The ability to get back any card is mostly done in green and usually appears at uncommon or higher in rarity.

  • Return target artifact from graveyard to hand.

Primary: White

Blue used to be the color that returned artifacts from the graveyard to the hand, but the ability is now in white.

Return target creature from graveyard to hand.

Primary: Black
Secondary: White

Black can return any creature, but only from your graveyard. (We don't allow you to put other player's cards in your hand.) Black will often do this as an enters-the-battlefield effect nicknamed a "[autocard]Gravedigger[/autocard]," as that's the card that did it first. White usually returns creatures with smaller converted mana costs.

  • Return target enchantment from graveyard to hand.

Primary: White

Getting back enchantments is primarily a white thing.

  • Return target instant from graveyard to hand.

Primary: Blue
Secondary: Red

As blue and red are the spell colors (they have the highest percentage of spells versus creatures), they are the two colors that can get instants back. When there is a choice to separate them, blue leans toward getting back instants and red leans toward getting back sorceries.

  • Return target land from graveyard to hand.

Primary: Green

While green can get back any card, when the card types are divvied up, green often gets back lands.

  • Return target sorcery from graveyard to hand.

Primary: Blue
Secondary: Red

This is the same as for getting back instants.

Return to hand (Return target creature/permanent to its owner's hand.)

Primary: Blue
Secondary: White
Tertiary: Green

Blue can bounce any type of permanent, although these days doesn't often bounce lands. It also will often bounce a creature via an enters-the-battlefield effect. (R&D refers to these as "[autocard mvid="413601"]Man-o'-War[/autocard]s," based on the first card that did it.) White can only bounce its own permanents to protect them (and often to do cool combo-ish things). Green bounces creatures as a cost for playing bigger creatures.

Rewards for death (Whenever another creature/creature you control dies . . . )

Primary: Black
Secondary: White
Tertiary: Red

Black is the color that most triggers off of other things dying, usually flavored as gaining strength from others' pain. White usually gains life, creates a token creature, or helps the creature go somewhere other than the graveyard, often your hand. Red tends to create creature tokens or deal damage.

Rules setting

Primary: White
Secondary: Blue, black, red, and green

These cards are permanents, mostly creatures and enchantments, that change some basic rule of the game. Every color has some amount of access to do this, but white does it at the highest volume.

"Rummaging" (Discard a card and draw a card.)

Primary: Red

Red has its version of "looting" (see looting), but its recklessness has it discard the card before drawing.

S–Z

Sacrifice a permanent.

  • Sacrifice an artifact.

Primary: Black and red

Black and red are the most likely to sacrifice artifacts to generate an effect.

  • Sacrifice a creature.

Primary: Black and red

Black and red are the two most likely colors to sacrifice creatures. This is often part of a draft archetype.

  • Sacrifice an enchantment.

Primary: Red and green

Red and green are the two colors that most often sacrifice enchantments. This only tends to get used in sets with enchantment themes.

  • Sacrifice a land.

Primary: Red

Red is the color most likely to sacrifice lands.

  • Sacrifice a permanent.

Primary: Red
Seconary: black

Red is the color most likely to sacrifice any permanent as it's the color that can individually sacrifice them all. We are letting black do this a little more.

Scry

Primary: Blue
Secondary: White, black, red, and green

All colors have access to scry but blue gets the most. Blue also gets the largest scry numbers with red getting the lowest.

"Sengir" ability (When a creature damaged by this creature dies, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)

Primary: Black

This ability appeared in Limited Edition (Alpha) on [autocard]Sengir Vampire[/autocard] and gets used occasionally in black. Because it doesn't often result in the creature getting +1/+1 counters, we now often do variations of it.

"Specter" ability (When this creature deals combat damage to an opponent, that player discards a card.)

Primary: Black

This ability is often tied to the Specter creature type. Just as the "curiosity" ability is in the card drawing color, so too is the "Specter" ability in the discard color, black.

Spell copying (Copy target instant or sorcery spell. You may choose new targets for the copy.)

Primary: Blue and red

This ability is mostly done at rare. We bounced back and forth between whether blue or red was supposed to do it and finally let them both do it.

Spell redirection (Change the target of target spell and/or ability with a single target.)

Primary: Blue and red

The same thing happened with spell redirection as spell copying, and we ended up with the same solution—letting both colors do it. We've started letting some of these effects redirect abilities as well as spells.

"Stalking" (This creature can't be blocked by more than one creature.)

Primary: Green

This is usually used on creatures 3/3 or bigger.

Stealing permanents, permanently

Primary: Blue
Tertiary: Black

Blue is the main color to gain control of other players' permanents. It can steal any type of permanent but most often steals creatures. Black is allowed to steal things infrequently. Red also steals but only temporarily (see below).

Stealing permanents, temporarily

Primary: Red

Red takes control of permanents, mostly creatures, for the turn, gives them haste, and then returns them at end of turn.

"Super trample" (You may have this creature assign combat damage as though it weren't blocked.)

Primary: Green

We don't do this ability very often, but when we do, we do it in green.

Switch power/toughness

Primary: Blue
Secondary: Red

Blue does this most often, but red does it on occasion. Sometimes this is on creatures that can switch their own power and toughness.

Tapping creatures

Primary: White
Secondary: Blue

White is the main color of tapping creatures. Blue usually taps creatures only when also given the ability to untap them. (See twiddle.) The one exception is when it "freezes" creatures. (See freezing.)

Taxing

Primary: White
Secondary: Blue

Taxing cards are ones that force the opponent to pay some cost to do an activity they could normally do without an additional cost. Taxing cards are most often creatures and enchantments, but occasionally are done as one-shot spells. Most of blue's taxing has gone to white (it used to be primary in blue), but blue still gets taxing counterspells (such as [autocard]Mana Leak[/autocard]).

"Time Walk" (Take an extra turn after this one.)

Primary: Blue
Tertiary: Red

Blue is the main color to take extra turns. It usually does it at mythic rare. Red on rare occasion will do a "[autocard mvid="383131"]Time Walk[/autocard]" that comes with some big penalty—often losing the game at the end of the extra turn.

Token generation

Primary: White and green
Secondary: Blue, black, and red

All colors can make creature tokens. White and green, as the two main creature colors, do it most often. White tends to make smaller creature tokens, usually 1/1s, while green tends to make larger ones, from 3/3 and up. White often will make multiple tokens at once since they're smaller. Black most often makes 2/2 Zombies. Red most often makes 1/1 Goblins. Sometimes red's token creatures are a little bigger and get exiled at end of turn.

Trample

Primary: Green
Secondary: Red
Tertiary: White, blue, and black

Green is the main trample color, but red's share has been growing over time. Any color is allowed access to trample if the creature is large enough and of a higher rarity.

"Transformation" (Target creature becomes a (color) (card type) with N power and N toughness.)

Primary: Blue

Transformation can be temporary, through a one-shot spell that lasts for the turn, or more permanent, usually through an Aura. It overwrites the base power and toughness of the creature. This ability used to be in both blue and white, but we decided to focus it in blue. Sometimes blue can overwrite what the creature is currently doing and just make it the "transformed" creature. The one thing that we've taken from blue is destroying or exiling a creature and then giving the controller of that creature a creature token as a means of flavoring transformation. That is now a white ability flavored as giving compensation for destroying/exiling the creature. This means all of blue's transformation abilities are auras or limited effects on spells or activations.

Treasure creation (artifact tokens with "T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color.")

Primary: Red
Secondary: Black and green
Tertiary: Blue

As the color of temporary mana, red is best at treasure creation. Black and green can both make treasure, but black tends to usually require some additional cost. Green historically has not had a lot of treasure making cards, but it's squarely in pie for green to do so. For flavor reasons, like Pirates, blue occasionally creates Treasure.

"Torment" ability (Target player sacrifices a nonland permanent, pays 3 life, or discards a card.)

Primary: Black

We've been playing around with an ability giving the opponent some options of what to pay. This ability is being used in black.

"Tutoring" (Search your library for a card and put that card in your hand.)

  • "Tutor" for any card.

Primary: Black

Limited Edition (Alpha) had the card [autocard mvid="394025"]Demonic Tutor[/autocard], which locked in black as the color to tutor for any type of card. There's been much talk over the years that blue seems philosophically the better color to have this ability, but so far no changes have been made.

  • "Tutor" for an artifact.

Primary: Blue
Secondary: White

Blue can go get any type of artifact. White tends to focus on certain subsets such as Equipment and Vehicles.

  • "Tutor" for a creature.

Primary: Green
Secondary: White, blue, black, and red

Green is the main color to tutor for creatures. Sometimes it will even put them directly onto the battlefield. All colors have access to tutoring for specific creature types that are in their color. Red, for example, can tutor for Dragons.

  • "Tutor" for an enchantment.

Primary: White

White is the color that searches the library for enchantments.

  • "Tutor" for an instant or sorcery.

Primary: Blue
Secondary: Red

When tutoring, the two spell types are often put together and blue seeks them out. We occasionally let red search out red instants and sorceries (usually to get things like direct damage spells).

  • "Tutor" for a land.

Primary: Green
Tertiary: White, blue, black, and red

Green, being one of the colors most closely associated with land and mana, is the best at tutoring for land. It occasionally will put them directly onto the battlefield. The other four colors are allowed to occasionally tutor for their own basic land type. White is getting more tutoring for a Plains as a catch-up feature when it's behind on land.

  • "Tutor" for a planeswalker.

Primary: White

White is the color that cares the most about planeswalkers, so it's the color that can tutor for them.

  • "Tutor" from top N cards of library.

To cut down on shuffling, we've started to do more effects where you "tutor" just from a handful of cards from the top of your library, usually four or five. Anything else listed in this subsection that colors can do is what they can do here.

"Twiddle" (Tap or untap target creature/permanent.)

Primary: Blue

Ever since the card [autocard mvid="45235"]Twiddle[/autocard] appeared in Limited Edition (Alpha), blue has had the ability to tap or untap permanents. It's most often used just on creatures. Blue doesn't tend to just tap or just untap, but rather give you the choice between the two. The one exception is "freezing" where it taps creatures and keeps them from untapping for a turn. (See freezing.)

Untapping creatures

Primary: Green and blue
Secondary: White

Untapping creatures used to be white's domain, but we moved individual creature untapping off to green to give it more creature answers. White still can untap all your creatures or an individual creature on a spell that's defined as solely defensive. Blue's ability to untap is usually accompanied by its ability to also tap (see twiddle above).

Untapping lands

Primary: Green
Tertiary: Blue

Green, as the color most in tune with lands and acquiring mana, is the color that most often untaps lands. Blue does this a little.

Untaps itself

Primary: Blue
Secondary: White

This is a creature that has an activated ability (or sometimes a triggered ability) that untaps itself. It's mostly used in blue, but occasionally in white when we want to simulate vigilance because actual vigilance is problematic due to timing.

Vigilance

Primary: White
Secondary: Blue and green

White tends to get this on creatures where the power is equal to or less than the toughness, and seldom with a power greater than 3. Green tends to get this ability on larger creatures to differentiate it from white. We've recently decided to also make blue secondary in vigilance because we were looking for more creature abilities to use in blue. We're still feeling out what kind of blue creatures will get vigilance.

Variable Creature (This creature enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters.)

Primary: Green
Tertiary: Black and red

This is a creature with an X in its cost determining how big it's going to be.

Ward (for mana)

Primary: White, blue, and green

Ward is a new evergreen ability. It makes any opponent who wishes to target the item with ward pay an additional cost. The most common way we use this is ward for mana, and that's in white, blue and green. It's in white because it's both the most protective and taxing color; and it's in blue and green, flavored as antimagic, in places where hexproof used to be.

Ward (for life)

Primary: Black and red

While white, blue, and green get to have ward using mana, black and red get to use it with a life payment instead. Black can also ward for discard.

"Warlord" (This creature's power and toughness is equal to the number of creatures you control.)

Primary: White
Secondary: Green

This ability started in red with Keldon Warlord in Limited Edition (Alpha). We later moved it into green, as green is the creature color. The ability then got moved into white because white is the army color that likes giving rewards for having lots of little creatures. We still do the ability a little in green, but it's mostly in white these days.

"Wheeling" (All players discard their hand and draw N cards.)

Primary: Red

There's a big debate in R&D as to whether this is supposed to be a red ability. It obviously goes all the way back to Limited Edition (Alpha) with Wheel of Fortune, but it's a raw form of card advantage that's supposed to be something red is bad at. For now, it stays in red's part of the color pie.

Word Changing (Change a word in rules text into another word from the same subset.)

Primary: Blue

This isn't an ability we do often any more, but it's blue when we do it. The most common use is changing a color word (white, blue, black, red, or green) for another color word or changing a basic land type (Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, or Forest) for another basic land type.

"You don't lose" (Permanents that prevent you from losing the game while they're on the battlefield, usually with an alternate means to lose.)

Primary: Black
Secondary: White

This started with Lich in Limited Edition (Alpha) and has continued to be used on rare occasion. More recently, white has also started using this ability, often with the flavor of protecting the player.

Whew!

When I first made my original mechanical color pie article, I had no idea how big of a project it would become. I assumed updating it would be much simpler. That turned out not to be true. A big thanks to everyone on the Council of Colors for helping me with this Herculean task. I've gotten a lot of positive feedback about the mechanical color pie article as a player resource, so I'm happy I was able to update it.

As I said last time, if you see something missing or you think is incorrect, please let me know so I can fix it (or explain why it's correct). You can email me or contact me through any of my social media accounts (Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and TikTok).

Make sure to check out today's associated article where I go over the changes here in more detail.

Until then, may you have as much fun exploring the color pie as I do.