Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - #1051: Blue-Black-Red

Episode Date: July 14, 2023

This is another podcast in my three-color series. Today, I talk about blue-black-red.

I'm pulling my driveway. We all know what that means. It's time for another drive to work. Okay, so today is another in my three color series. I'm going to be talking about blue, black, and red. So this is the arc or shard with black in the center. So as I do with all of these, let me quickly recap the colors. I'll recap the color pairs, and then we'll get into what happens when you start mixing

them all together. Okay, blue is perfection through knowledge. Blue believes that you were born a tabula rasa, a blank slate, and that you could become whatever you want to become. Basically, your job in life through education, through experience, through technology and tools is to figure out what you are capable of and then meet that potential. But Blue is a big believer that in order to do that, that you have to be very careful. You have to think things through, that you don't want to be rushed. You know, you don't want to miss an opportunity because you weren't careful enough about it. And so blue is very methodical. Blue also believes that the key to sort of getting what it wants is understanding the nature of what makes things tick. So blue is the color that most, you know, part of the power of knowledge is knowing what part of something is important.

And blue is not beneath trickery or misdirection. Blue is willing to sort of manipulate things to get what it wants. But fundamentally, its goal is to be the best that it can be. To be the perfect version of itself. Okay, black.

Black is power through ruthlessness. Basically, black believes that it is the job of each person to look out for themselves and that you should be able to get as much as you are able to get. That, you know, life is, black considers life to be a merit-based exercise and that, you know, the key to getting, black wants to be able to do what it wants to do. Black wants to be able to have the power to control things. Black does not like powerlessness, does not like others controlling what it can or can't do. Black wants, black wants to decide

what it can or can't do. And the key to doing that, the key to gaining power, black has learned, is ruthlessness, is the willingness to do whatever you have to do to make something happen. And black is not guided by any sense of morality. Black doesn't believe in morality. There's no taboo to black. In fact, things that other people find taboo, black gets great use out of. Most people find death to be a bit taboo. Black finds death to be an

awesome tool, a very powerful tool, in fact. And so black will do what black has to do. Black will take risks, especially calculated risks. Black is willing to pay costs. Black is like, what do I need to do to get what I want? I will do those things because if I have the power, if I can control what is happening, then I am master of my own fate. Black wants to be master of its own fate. Black wants to make sure that it is deciding what it is doing, not other people. Red is freedom through action.

So red believes that the goal of life is to follow your heart. You know, that your body speaks to you and it tells you what it wants. And the idea, Red truly believes, is that the key to happiness, the key to living life to its fullest, is to embody and embrace what it is your body is telling you it wants. That if you are happy, laugh. If you're sad, cry. If you're angry, punch someone. You know, Red believes that a life left unlived is a life unfulfilled. And that the key to having a successful life

is to not be restrained from things. That Red believes in action. Red believes in, in the moment, do what you need to do. And don't be, you know, don't let things stop you just because you're, you know, embrace the moment. And

Red is very spontaneous, and Red is very much about living in the moment. Red does not tend to think long term. Red is much more about short term. But the idea Red believes is if I follow my heart, if I do what my inner voices tell me, I will be happy and I will live a happy life. And fundamentally what Red wants is Red wants the ability for everybody to live the life the way they want to live. Red is very much about freedom.

About, you know, everybody can be happy if they do what makes them happy. Well, I want a world in which everybody can act on what they want to do, that everybody has the freedom to be who they want to be. Okay, now let's start mixing these two. Okay, so when you mix blue and black, you get the perfection of blue with the power-hungerness of black. And so the idea there is, it is, and once again, as I talked about with two color, with two

color, either one, one of them is the goal, and one is the means to get to that goal. So if blue is the means, blue wants to perfect itself. Well, with black's ruthlessness, it's like blue will do whatever it takes, whatever it takes, to become the best version of itself. Even if that includes other suffering. You know, like, whatever it takes to be the best that I can be. You know, if I have to take, if in order to be the best me, I got to take somebody from somebody else.

And I deserve it more than they deserve it. Well, I will take that thing. You know, so blue with black, you know, blue's desire for perfection with black's ruthlessness is literally doing whatever it takes to get what you need. Now, swap those. If you take Black's end goal of power with Blue's goal of knowledge, well, there you get something that says, okay, the ultimate key to power is understanding what's important and using the knowledge that Blue has access to to be able to get access to things you might normally not. And so when you're trying absolute power through knowledge, knowledge becomes a commodity.

And you use it as a weapon to get the things you need. And you understand that realizing what matters is key to getting power. So Blue and Black, regardless of which ends and which means, Blue and Black is very much about embracing manipulation, embracing trickery, embracing understanding calculated costs. That blue and black is going to do what it wants to do. But blue black is sneaky.

It's probably the sneakiest of the color combinations because it wants what it wants, but it understands that part of getting power is getting power from people in a way that people might not understand they're giving up the power. That a big part of what black and blue does, it says, hey, if I can get what I want in such a way that other people aren't even aware that I'm getting it, that is quite powerful. And so blue-black is very, very sneaky and very underhanded

and very much to do whatever it takes to get what it wants. But to do it in a way that is calculated and careful and think through the things. Okay, black-red really plays in, black-red has a, so black and blue's shared enemy is green. And black and blue is very much about wanting to be what you can be. You know, blue wants to be the best version of itself. Black wants to do the things it wants to do. It really embraces the idea of change and fights against green's idea of, you know, green believes you are born to a destiny and born to a role. Blue and black do not believe that. Blue and black believe you define your destiny. You define your role. You make your life what you want it to be. So black and red share an enemy's white. White's all about

the good of the group. Well, black and red are the two colors that care more about the individual. About black is like, black is very selfish and red is very hedonistic in that, hey, I'm thinking about what I want and how to get what I need. So when black and red get together, that's the ultimate hedonism. That is definitely like, I'm going to enjoy myself, and I'm going to do whatever necessary to enjoy myself. Now, if it is a black goal with red means, that idea is power through action. And so the idea there is, that is really saying,

hey, if I want to take something, I want to get something, I can't just sit by. I got to do it. So black and red is really in the moment. If killing this person advances me, I kill this person. I don't wait to kill them. I do it now. And so black red is very much about grabbing power in the moment, grabbing, you know, doing what you need to do. And red is all about action.

So black red is like, hey, I will, whatever function I need to do and red is all about action so black red is like whatever function I need to do I will do that thing and I will do it and I will be ruthless and I will be the spontaneity that red brings to it allows you to be to have kind of a

efficiency to your ruthlessness that you act so fast that people aren't even prepared for what you're doing. And so black-red really has the ability to grab power quickly. Now, if it's a red goal, the black means red wants freedom. So freedom through ruthlessness is the idea that I want to do what I want

to do, and whatever I have to do to make that happen. Whatever means to do. And so, black-red very much is the idea that I matter, and I want what I want and what other people want is less important. Red in a vacuum by itself is about freedom for everybody. But black and red get together. It's more about I want the freedoms that I want. And there's a big overlap between black, you know, I want the power to do what I want to do and

no one can tell me. And red's freedom of I want the ability to, you know, do what I want to do and no one can tell me and red's freedom of I want the ability to do what I want to do. You combine those and this is hyper-efficient of I want to do the things I want to do nothing will stand in my way I will do whatever takes things out of my way and so there is a raw ferocity

almost when black and red get together. Do not stand in their way black and red will brutally take out whatever stops it. Okay, red and blue. So red and blue are enemies. They basically, blue is all about thought and carefulness and thinking things through. And red is about action and spontaneity and doing things in the moment. What tends to happen when you get blue and red together is you get the fascination with knowledge that blue has

and the passion that red has, and they sort of come together to make creativity. The idea of that I want to fulfill my passion, but I want to do it in a way that embodies who I am. Like I want sort of the perfection of blue with the awareness of red. So let's talk real quickly. So if blue is the end, meaning I want perfection, and action is the goal,

it's the idea that I want to be what I want to be, but I want to sit still. I want to be in the moment. I want to live my moment here and now. And so blue goals with red means is I'm taking the fast step to be what I want to be. Whatever is in my way, I'm willing to take action to do what I need to do to become the best that I can be. So it takes blue's sort of desire for perfection, but it adds

in red's passion and ability to take action. Now, if you flip it around, if you want Red's freedom through Blue's knowledge, what that means is it's using knowledge as a means to free things. You start getting a little more of controlled anarchy, the idea that I'm going to understand the systems and I'm going to exploit the systems so that I can get what I want. Now, the interesting thing is when blue and red come together, there is a neat dichotomy where red's passion with blue's sort of control is much more about putting it in a means that is expressible, that's not causing harm.

And that's where you end up getting stuff like art. Where like it lets red have the expression that red wants, but it's in a more controlled way that's not going to cause quite the problems that red in a vacuum by itself. Okay, so what happens when blue and black and red get together? So as I explained in previous podcasts on the three colors, it's really about who's the center color. So let's start with black as most of the time, at least the two big times we've done faction sets,

which was in Shards of Alara where we did Grixis, and then in Streets of New Compendium where we did the Maestros. Those were both black aligned. So when black is the core, black is about getting the power that it wants. You know, it's first and foremost about getting power. And when you combine sort of the knowledge and the sneakiness of blue and the raw aggression and action of red, you sort of get a color that has this mix of, yeah, I'll think things through,

and I'll carefully try to exploit systems, but I will act when I need to act. And so black, red, blue is the most power-hungry, do-what-it-takes sort of of the three colors. power hungry, do what it takes, sort of, of the three colors. And it really is sort of, it is the three, so white and green together. So one of the other things you can do is look at the enemies of the three colors, at least when there's shards. And basically it is white and green is all about community.

So black, red, and blue are not about community. Black, red, and blue are about the individual, especially centered in black. And the idea is, what can I do? What systems are in place? What actions can I take? What can I do to guarantee that, you know, the world is as I want? Now, when you get to something like Crixus, that's a world in which the philosophy of the world is every person's out for themselves. You know, the strongest survive. It's a world very much defined by the idea of, you know, you can have whatever you can take. There are no rules. There are no laws. There's no religion. There's nothing telling you that you can't do it. And so the idea in a Grixis world is the most powerful sort of survive. And that if you're weak, you will fall because stronger things will kill you. And that, you know, you have to

sort of, you have to be strong to survive. You have to be willing to do what it takes to survive. Now, the interesting thing is when you apply it to the Maestros, which is more about sort of crime center, the idea there is it's a family that says, we want to commit a crime, and there's no boundaries of what we will do. For example, black loves death. Death is a really powerful tool. Most other colors are afraid of death. Most other colors don't want to—

death is something they see as taboo but black is like hey death is super effective if someone's in my way and I kill them they are no longer in my way so the maestros are assassins and they very much are a crime family where first and foremost it is about sort of

using the tools available to itself to eliminate and because black is at its center killing death is It is about sort of using the tools available to itself to eliminate. And because black is at its center, killing, death, is sort of its number one tool. Okay, but, as I said, you can take and you can shift the center. So let's say we shift the center and make it blue. Blue is about perfection. Blue wants to be the best that it can be.

Well, what it gets from black is a ruthlessness to do what it takes. And what it gets from red is a willingness to act in the moment. And so blue, by its lonesome, while it seeks perfection, it does it in a very slow, controlling way. I want to be very careful. I want to examine every opportunity. I want to educate myself. I want to explore the technology and the tools. I want to be very methodical in looking at everything.

But black and red added into the mix sort of shortcut a lot of things. That there's things that are kind of off limits for blue, mono blue, that aren't for black or red. For example, if blue realizes that something is in their way, and they have black and red sort of philosophy guiding them, they will take out whatever's in their way. You know, it is sort of the idea of perfection with no restraint. Perfection where, you know, you are very self-centered, you're very thinking about yourself because red and black are the two inward-looking colors. Or most inward-looking. And they really have no holds barred.

Black and red, between the two of them, you know, black is willing to pay any costs. Red is willing to take any action. You know, that between the two of them, they really sort of create something that is scary in that it's power at all costs. Not power site. Perfection at all costs. Okay, if you take red and you put red in the center, red is all about freedom, right? Red wants everybody to be the way they want to be. Well, you add blue and black into the mix and it's sort of like, okay, I want a system where I can be what I want to be and I will use all knowledge at my disposal. I will take whatever steps I need to take.

You know, I will eradicate anything in the way and it's sort of freedom, but freedom in the harshest sort of sense. Freedom without, freedom in which you're sort of your first and foremost. You think of nothing but what you need and everything else falls by your desires. When you mix in white and green, you start getting care for larger groups and community. But that's absence here.

So it's very much red trying to seek freedom at whatever cost it can do that. Whatever means it needs to do that. At whatever cost it can do that. At whatever means it needs to do that. Now, like I said, pretty much whatever your central color is in your three-color faction is about your goals. Fundamentally, what do you want? The thing that is kind of interesting about blue, black, and red. So let's get a little bit into the enemy colors. So whenever we do a shard or arc, I like to look at, like, two colors are the enemies.

It means it's the enemies of the center color and then the enemies of one of the side colors and the ally of one side colors. So white and green, their overlap is community, right? White is all about the good of the group. Green is all about the internal web of life. the group. Green is all about the internal web of life. And so both of them understand that in order to function, in order to get the things you need, in order for happiness to happen, in order for you to get what you're desiring, you have to think about how you interconnect with other people. And that white and green is very much based on the sense of the power of community, much based on the sense of the power of community, the importance of community, the strength of community.

So when you get to blue, black, and red, who are the antithesis of community, you really get the idea that others exist only in the context of what they mean to you. Like in a white-green, you know, if you get to a white-green faction, it's all about understanding the power of the group, that the strength of the group comes from all the strengths of the individuals. But in a blue-black-red faction, the individuals exist to serve the needs of you.

That, you know, when I think of somebody else, now, it's interesting. While black is very, you know, when I think of somebody else, now, it's interesting. While black is very, very selfish, blue and red both have some ties to other people. Blue says, hey, I want to get better. I want to perfect myself. I want to be the best that I can be. Hey, there are other people that can help me do that.

There are teachers and there are, you know, there's people out there that might be the step to getting what I need. They're not an obstacle. They might be actually helping me. And red, red has a strong sense of passion, of loyalty. You know, red is all about its emotions. And there's people it's emotionally connected to. There's people that it will die for. There's people that it will, you know, that not only does red in a vacuum want freedom for itself,

it wants freedom for its loved one. I mean, it wants freedom for everybody, but I mean, it very much cares about the people. It matters to it. And so when red acts in an emotional way, it's not always selfish necessarily. Maybe I'll do something because somebody close to me needs something

and I'm willing to go to the mat for the person that means something to me. Where black is all about me, me, me. Black is like everybody else serves me. So it's interesting when you get blue, black, and red together, there are shades of caring about other things. You know, blue and red do bring to the table a little bit of a reason to care about others. But it tends to be overshadowed in that one of the things you find when you get three colors is they lean in toward

each other. And what I mean by that is whatever qualities are strongest in the overlap, like blue caring about sort of the good of the group is its white-leaning side. Red caring about sort of the good of the group is its white-leaning side. Red caring about sort of the importance of those near to me leans a little more toward the green side of things, right? So, yeah, blue and red have some individual I'm sorry, have some group concerns, but that's when it leads away from black. When it's sort of being pulled toward black, when black is

there guiding it. Like the absence of white and green mean the sources that are sort of making you care about the group aren't there. And so that's why blue, black, red is the most selfish of the three color combinations, the most inward looking. the most inward-looking, and the way that it sees the world is as a means for you to advance, a means for you to get what you want. And that is, like, it's interesting. So let's take a look at Grixis and Maestros. Grixis is a world in which there is no white and green, right?

So for those that don't know, Shards of Alara, the world got split in five. And each has its own little sub-world called a Shard. And the Shard only has three colors. It means two colors are absent. And the way we did it is it's a color and it's two allies. So Grixis, which is the black-centered world, is a world all about selfishness and all about grasping for power. And blue and red are there, right? Blue and red are the allies there. And so you see influences of that. But the absence of white and green really mean

that in Grixis, it's sort of a society in which only the strong survive. That there's no coddling the weak, in Black's words. That if something can't survive, it dies. That there is no system. Without white, without green, there's nothing supporting. If you can't survive on your own, you do not survive. And so Grixis is a very bleak world where, you know, if you can't survive on your own, you do not survive. And so Grixis is a very bleak world where, you know, the creatures thriving in Grixis are the ones that not only are powerful,

but have taken the attitude of, I will attack whatever is a threat against me. threat against me. And that's another big through line in Blue, Black, Red, in that the blue really adds this essence of understanding systems and understanding what's important and what matters. When you add knowledge to ruthlessness, it really says, okay, what are the people out there that are my obstacles? If I want to get what I want to get, who's stopping me? And then you add in the red, sort of the action of red, it really sort of says, okay, I'm going to figure out what's in my way, and then I'm going to take those things out. Now, interestingly, so let's just try to show how Grixis and Maestro is a little different just because it's neat to sort of see.

So Grixis is a world in which there is no real structure to say. I mean, the only structure is the powerful dictate what they want and the weaker thing, you know, like if you are not strong enough, the only way to survive is by allying with somebody who's stronger. And in that relationship, you're subservient because it's a world in which the strong survive. And so if you don't provide, you know, if the person you're serving, you're not giving them what they need, they're just going to get rid of you. And so, you know, in the world of Grixis, there's a lot, I mean, only so many things can be on the top.

So the things that survive are the ones that are willing what it needs to do to survive. So it's not as always the Grixis is always on top, but it's always willing to do the things it needs. And so the creatures that thrive in a Grixis world are definitely ones in which, you know, they understand what matters. in which they understand what matters. And then that's another big thing about black, blue, red is this sort of boiling down to what actually makes things tick. What about the world are the key elements

that are going to make things happen? And really there's a focus on that. Now, the maestros, interestingly, is the idea of let's take a world that. Now, Grixis, not Grixis, the Maestros, interestingly, is the idea of, well, let's take a world that has some inherent structure to it, right? Maestros can't live in a world, like, while Maestros do use murder as their tool, they have to be very careful about it.

That if they just killed everybody, the other families would be after them, right? They have to be very methodical in how they're using murder. That they just can't be ruthless. Or, sorry, they can be ruthless, but they can't be, they have to be careful. They can't be not careful.

And they live in a world in which, I mean, this is why the larger world matters when you're looking at sort of how a faction functions. That in the world that the maestros live in, okay, there is structure to the world. There is consequences. And so part of what they have to figure out is, okay, we can't just kill everybody. We have to be careful in our killing. So a lot of time is spent to go, okay, assuming that we only get to kill so many people, that we only get to upset the apple cart so much, what is the surgical use of that? And so

a lot of what the maestros is about, and this is where it's interesting, where you see the mix of black and red and blue, is the idea that the maestros are very much about understanding the larger structure, taking advantage of a larger structure, and using its ruthlessness in pinpoint accuracy. I'm not killing everything. I'm killing the things that matter. You know, if I want to advance in power, or my family wants to advance in power, what are the things standing in our way? Okay, now, what are the weaknesses of blue, black, red? I think the biggest weaknesses, in a lot of ways, are sort of

what's missing, is blue, black, and red really don't trust anybody, right? That just as they are out to get whatever they need at whatever cost, so is everybody else. And so blue, black, red really is a little bit paranoid in some ways, rightfully so. In Gritsys, I guess you'd be paranoid. But the idea is that it doesn't have camaraderie. It doesn't have familiarity. There's not really any trust.

That it lives in a world in which it has acquaintances, it has, you know, things like, from time to time, it is mutually beneficial for us to be working on the same side. So it definitely has acquaintances, but it doesn't really have friends in the sense of, you know, somebody who's willing to stab you in the back if it suits them is hard to call a friend. And so in a blue-black-red faction, the negative part of the blue-black-red faction is that it doesn't, it's not, I mean,

it's so reliant on itself that it sort of reflects badly in relationships elsewhere. That doesn't mean that there's not passion. I mean, there definitely are relationships in the sense that I get something from you and that is enough, that I value it enough that I'm willing to sort of, like I said earlier, those in power will take those less in power that can serve them. And so in a

blue, black, red world, everybody has to define and understand their place. And then there is you very much understand who is subservient to you and who you are subservient to. And that relationship is very established. And there's not... In a blue, black, red world, change comes...

Change is brutal, right? Like, if I'm subservient to someone, the day that I am not subservient is the day I kill them or is the day that I take power. And so there's a bit of instability that exists in blue, black, red. Because everything's out for itself, because everything is looking for that opportunity to get what it needs, there's no moment for rest.

You know? Also, it's a world in which things don't live as long. You know, that if you ever get to the point where you're slowed down or you're weakened, there's people there to take advantage of that. And so it definitely, it's definitely the most vicious of the three color combinations. And whenever we've shown shards, you know, that are blue, black, red they're not a shard that you can easily cooperate with maybe there's, like I said maybe there's some maybe in the moment

you have a shared advantage and so blue, black, red will team up with you if it works to their advantage but the second that it doesn't they will turn on you and so it is very, they will turn on you. And so it is very, very hard to trust blue, black, red.

And it's equally hard to get blue, black, red to trust you because that's the nature of how it is. Anyway, so that at its core is blue, black, red. You know, the thing that's interesting about each of these as we sort of go through them is that there are, um, there's a lot of nuances. As I said, one of the tricky things about three color is depending on what goals you're aligned with, who's your center, if you will, it really shapes a lot of the nuance of how it works. And so like, I think one of the things that I'm looking forward to is the default when you make an arc or shard is to have the center

be the main thing. That's kind of the default. I do think as we start making more factions in more places that going off center is going to allow us to sort of make new and different things. And the other thing that we've been doing a little bit more,

you see something like Shriek Saving, although that's two-color, not three-color, is using, oh, I'm sorry, Streets of New Capenna is a good example of this. Having the lens of crime is interesting in that the blue, black, red, you know, Shards of Alara says, okay, you're without your enemy colors, you're in a world by yourself, where Streets of New Capenna says, hey, you're a crime family in a world in which you're trying to survive and thrive.

And that each of those, you know, they're both black-centered factions, but because the larger sort of conceit of the world is different, they play out differently. And so anyway, there is a good mix there. But anyway, I'm pulling into the parking lot. So I hope you guys have all enjoyed this look at blue, black, red. It was fun to talk about. But as I'm here at work, we all know what that means. It means it's the end of my drive to work. So instead of talking magic, it's time for me to be making magic. I'll see you guys next time. Bye-bye.