[MtG] Kano's Neo-New Color Pie

[Delibirb]

 

Yes, I added the colorless portion myself.

 

No, it's not particularly nice-looking.

 

More just to stir up discussion. Colorless has been given a pseudo-identity in the game. I say pseudo not because it won't be seen often (though it won't) but because it has very little data to give a more definitive identity to, unlike the true colors.

 

So, taking the limited info we have from BfZ block's Eldrazi, both devoid and truly colorless, I've laid out the generalizations of what it means to be colorless. Because colorless cards have some bleeding from the true colors, the pie is oriented to exemplify this, but this does not mean the concept of destruction can only be prevalent on a devoid card requiring red mana, just as the concept of logic does not have to appear on a card that is both blue and white, but not black.

 

For further information on the word choice, however, and what that means in terms of effects...:

 

Most of the true colorless identity revolves around the idea of equivalent exchange. Cards like Kozilek, the Great Distortion require you to give something up to have something of an opponent's of equal value be lost. Thought-Knot Seer steals an opponents resource as it arrives, but returns one when it leaves. Reality Smasher forces the opponent to discard a card in order to use a spell against it. Most colorless cards which require colored mana follow this same theme, though to less impressive degrees.

 

There is very little to go on in the white-associated colorless cards, as there currently is only one, but we can glean that it is concerned with deception. Eldrazi Displacer can be used to protect creatures quickly from harm, to remove a creature from combat, or to flicker them to reuse and abuse their abilities. Regardless of its intended purpose, the creature will always return, under its owner's control. More information will be needed to properly fill this area in, though.

 

Colorless cards that have blue bleeding into them make use of blue's disruption. They are indifferent to the opponent and can protect or quickly recollect themselves in the event this indifference was misplaced. Further, they are the colorless cards most focused on ingest, as they seek to prevent their opponent from accessing cards from their library that could be detrimental to them.

 

Black-aligned colorless cards focus on black's cruelty to others more than to their owner. These cards generally inflict pain to the opponent, either in the form of loss of life, creature sacrifice, or unforgiving swings. They are also some of the most likely to alter reality, exiling cards from the field or graveyards as opposed to the top of the library.

 

Destruction in the colorless sense often relies on being situational, and can be in the form of literal removal or blind rage, borrowing these aspects from red. Consuming Sinkhole can destroy creatures, but only if they're lands, and otherwise can deal 4 damage, but only to players. Eldrazi Aggressor has haste, but only when there is another colorless creature on your side. Immobilizer Eldrazi can keep creatures from blocking, but only if they have more toughness than power.

 

Life is the product of colorless cards reflecting green's interests. Often, this is in the form of token generation, but this concept can also concern preservation of existing creatures, and lands-matter abilities, though to a lesser degree than true green. Like red, these abilities are frequently situational, though more in regards to timing than to conditions. These cards' abilities tend to apply either during specific phases, or only when they enter or leave the battlefield. 

 

What more do you have to add to the associations of the colorless identity, or what changes do you have for my conclusions?

 

Also, for clarity, I am aware, as so should you be, that all of these may simply be the way of the Eldrazi, and that if we get another colorless tribe(s) in the future, some or all of these may not apply to them. But presently, the Eldrazi are the best source we have on colorless magic beyond artifice, as Ugin, though a user of colorless magic, is not a particularly good source. His planeswalker card was more or less designed to mirror Nicol Bolas, with his +2 ability as such only to reference Ghostfire, on which he was first alluded to, so he only really portrays the colorless identity in his use of exiling, or disrupting reality. Cards associated with him are either not colorless, lands, or in Scion of Ugin's case, near-vanilla.

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

I am very much into the color pie.

 

I love your concept here, will add more thoughts later.