Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - #1072: Green-Blue-Red

Episode Date: September 22, 2023

This podcast is my seventh (of ten) in my series on three-color philosophies. Today, I talk all about green-blue-red.

I'm not pulling out of my driveway. We all know what that means. It's time for the Drive to Work at Home Edition. Okay, so I've been doing a series where I talk about the philosophies of the three-color triplets. First, I went through all the shards or arcs, and now I'm going through the wedges. So last time, I did red, white, black. So today, I'm doing the blue-centered one, green, blue, red. white, black. So today I'm doing the blue centered one, green, blue, red. So the way this works for those that haven't heard these, I'm going to talk through the individual philosophies of the colors. I'll talk through the pairs of philosophy as the colors, and then I will talk through what happens when you get all three together. Okay, so let's start. So I'm going to go in order that they are listed in Manicast. So we're going to start with

green. Green is always last, so green gets to be first. So green is growth through acceptance. Basically, the idea is, the way green sees it, is every other color wants to change the world. They want to make it different than it is. Green is like the world is perfect just the way it is, that the key to happiness is not to try to change the world, but to accept the world and understand the world for how it is. And green is like if you just let the world be, the natural form of things is perfection.

Everything has a role and a purpose, and there's a great web of life. And that part of the role of any individual is to understand that web of life, understand their role in that web of life, play into that role and become part of that web of life. And then through that, you will help the world grow and become even better than it is. And, you know, nature constantly adapts. So it's interesting. We talk a lot about green disliking change, but it's green dislikes unnatural change. The nature does change over time. Adaptation is part of nature.

So it's not that green doesn't think that things can't change. Things can adapt. Green's all fine with that. It's just it should naturally happen and not forced. And so green's big major philosophy is stop, look around, and accept your surroundings. Accept your role. Accept your purpose. You know, the idea for Green is it's not your role to change things.

It's your role to accept things. You need to understand, like, part of accepting is realizing what the larger picture is and how you fit into it. There's a lot of Eastern philosophy, I think, in how the green sort of sees the world. Very much so like be one. Be one with the world. Be part of the world. And that you are not separate from the world. You are an ingredient of the world.

Okay. So blue wants perfection through knowledge. So blue believes you're a tabula rasa, a blank slate. That when you are born, you have the potential to become anything. And that it is through education. It is through gaining any kind of knowledge. It is through the use of tools. It is through the use of tools. It is through the use of experience

that through you have the means to learn how to do or become anything. And that sort of your goal in life is to figure out what, what is, you know, how do you perfect yourself? How do you make yourself the best that you can be? And obviously we'll get into the blue-green conflict in a second, but blue is very much like I am not born in a specific role. I can determine what my role is. I can determine who I am. And that part of living life is first taking the time to understand things. Now, green and blue overlap that a little bit in the desire to understand things.

Green believes that understanding, you know, you have to ask things. Now, green and blue overlap that a little bit in the desire to understand things. Green believes that understanding, you have to ask things are, and blue wants to understand what could be. So they're different in that regard. But blue's idea is if I really take my time, observe everything, understand everything, absorb all the knowledge I can, get all the experience I can,

make use of all the tools available to me, that I can find the right path to become the best that I can get all the experience I can make use of all the tools available to me that I can find the right path to become the best that I can be. And that is why blue wants perfection. Perfection through knowledge. Red, red believes. So red is freedom through action. Red believes that internally that you you have an internal sense of what is right for you. That you feel things and it guides you.

And that part of true happiness is accepting, is learning to accept yourself, learning to accept these impulses you have. As I like to say, if you're happy, laugh. If you're sad, cry. If you're angry, go punch somebody. That green, not green, sorry, that red wants to be in the moment, experiencing what's going on, and follow through. And red's big thing is the way you sort of, like, red ultimately wants freedom.

Red believes that everybody should have the ability to follow their own heart, their own thing. Now, what happens when people want to follow their own heart, but they conflict with one another? And red's like, oh, well, fine. That just leads, you know, if two people want the same thing that leads to action, well, one person will get it. One won't.

And the one that doesn't get it, we'll have to figure out another way to get what they need. You know, that red wants everybody the opportunity to follow their heart, but hey, conflicts are going to happen. And that, that is part of life that it is. And you know, Hey, you'll, you'll resolve it when you get there. If you and somebody else both want something, you'll figure it away to who's supposed to get

and who's not supposed to get it. And that Red really is very much about feel something, act on something, do it now. I'm feeling this emotion. I'm going to act on the emotion. I'm going to do something about it and I will fulfill that emotion. And that is how Red really feels that life is about sort of living your own truth,

living your own, like, understanding what you want and then following through on that. And that Red really believes in following your gut and it's in spontaneity and that, you know, you will find what you need to find if you just listen to your inner voice, if you follow your heart, as Red would say. Okay, now, the way that wedges work is that wedges are a color and two enemies. So two of the three pairs are enemies and one is an ally. The arcs or shards are the opposite, where two are allies and one is an enemy.

Okay, let's do the enemy ones first. So green and blue. So the green-blue conflict is nature versus nurture. So green is like you are born the way you are. Your genes, you know, you are born, the role you're going to play is known from the moment you were born. Maybe you don't realize it right away, but internally, the things you are good at, the things you excel at, are genetic things, are things that you were made to be. And so green is like, look,

you are what you are. Life is about figuring out what you were born to be. And blue is all about your tabula rasa, your blank slate, you can become anything you want. So green and blue really have this core essence of who you are and what your role is in the world really tend to fight.

Green is like the goal of life is to discover what you already are. Both blue and green – interestingly, both blue and green are about knowledge. But the knowledge that green wants is sort of internal knowledge And the knowledge that blue wants is more external knowledge. Green wants you to look within and understand yourself, understand, you know, what is going on and what strengths you have. And green wants you to sort of self-evaluate to figure out, OK, given what I inherently am, what does that make sense for me to be? Where blue is looking external saying, hey, what are new things I can learn? What are new tools I can use? You know, blue is looking for external to sort of build upon what you have.

So the idea, and this is where nature versus inertia comes in, is green is like, I was born, you know, I have natural strengths, and I should be thing X. And blue is like, well, I could become thing X, because that's the best thing that I could become. And anyway, green and blue really have a big fight of sort of this identity idea of who you are and what you be. And they really very much fight against the idea of, you know, of are you looking within or without to sort of figure out what your ultimate role in life is. Okay, next up is blue and red. So blue and red is intellect versus emotion

or thought versus action. Blue is like, look, I'm trying to become the best that I can become. I want to perfect myself, but I don't want to make a mistake. I don't want to do something, like I don't want to choose something or miss an opportunity

and later realize, well, I could have been even better, but I missed perfection because I wasn't paying attention. So blue is very much about thinking things through, that you don't act until you've well thought out all the possibilities. Red is like action. Follow your heart. Live in the moment. Do what you're feeling right now. And so red is very much about trying to like be spontaneous. Oh, the one thing I didn't do real quickly on green versus blue. I like to talk about how each color sees the other. Green looks at blue and sees someone that is lost.

That they're looking in the wrong place. That they want to find the answers, but they're looking elsewhere. And blue looks at green and sees someone that is sort of caught in the past, that they're living through things, you know, that they're not open to what could be. And so green looks at blue and considers them to be lost, and blue looks at green and considers them to be sort of stuck.

Okay, now blue and red. Blue looks at red and sees utter chaos, right? Blue looks at red and says, here's somebody that's constantly wasting the potential. They are acting on impulse. They are making decisions without thinking things through. And so they are just primed to sort of miss opportunities. That there's all these opportunities and that they aren't doing it.

And they consider them sort of hot and irrational, that they're not thinking things through. Red looks at Blue and just thinks like sort of a cold, indifferent person, that they can't live or enjoy life and that they're so caught up in thinking things through, they don't have the time to enjoy it. And so blue sees red as a hothead that is making huge mistakes. Red sees blue as cool and aloof that isn't living life. Okay, then we get to red-green. So red and green are the one ally pair. So the interesting thing in wedges is the ally pair have a shared enemy, which is the third color in the triplet.

So red and green is enemy is blue. So one of the things that you'll see in the green-blue and the blue-red conflict is there's this idea green is very much about – it doesn't want blue to think out external. It doesn't want blue doesn't want red to act external, right? That red and green are looking within. Maybe that's a better way to think of it. Red is

like, I have these impulses. I need to understand these impulses. I need to act on these impulses. So I guide my behavior by looking within to understand what it is I want. Green also looks within. Now, green is looking more at instincts and natural abilities. And so kind of what red and green are looking at inside is a little bit different. But it's the same sense of I will find my answers internally, not externally.

And blue is all about external answers. Blue is all about looking and finding the world and understanding everything. And so red and green really eschew at some level thinking things through. They're like the correct answer comes from a feel, comes from an impulse, an instinct. It's kind of acting on something that you understand is right. And so when red and green get together, they're very – they're the color combination, two-color combination that is the least sort of thoughtful, if you will. They're the most – no, they're the most aggressive. They if you will. They're the most, I'm now, they're the most aggressive. They're the fastest.

They're the quickest thinking. Red and green definitely is very much about do it, do it now, do it in the moment and play into your inherent natural strengths. But they just don't, neither one of them is about sort of, it's about taking pause. Neither one of them is about doing a lot of thinking. And so you really, when red and green get together, you get just acting on pure instincts and impulse and just doing what seems right. And just – it's about sort of being what you are and not trying to be something beyond what you are. Okay.

So now we get to the fun part, the triplets. Okay, so as I explained in other podcasts about three-color philosophies, the core is when you get to three-color, usually one color is the end goal and two colors are the means. Meaning one color is this is what I want and it's using the tools of the other two colors to get it. So let's start with blue as the end goal.

This is, the interesting thing is the very first time we did a wedge set, which is in Kanzu Tarkir, Teemer was green, blue, red. We centered them not on the shared enemy color, but on one of the ally colors

because of the nature of the cons block, we had to drop a color for the dragon's character and the dropped color was the enemy color. So we couldn't center it in the enemy color. So the very first time we did it, the major time we did it, we didn't center it in the center color. So just a point.

I'll get to that in a second when we talk about green centered, which is what Timur was. Okay. So blue centered is the key to understanding philosophy is look at the ends and look at the means. Okay. So what does blue want? Blue wants perfection. Blue wants to be the best that it can be. Now, when it makes use of green and red, it is making use of the tools there. So green does have the ability to sort of understand the world. Like, it's interesting. When I talk about green and blue, they both have the sense of look around and understand the world around you.

Green wants you to see the interconnectivity around you, where blue wants sort of the component pieces, if you will. But when blue is making use of green, it really sort of takes advantage of understanding those interconnectivities. That when blue and green get together, you see a lot of sort of like scientific discovery, right? It's the knowledge of blue with the desire of understanding that green has. Yeah, in some ways, green wants to understand and blue wants to know. Those are similar but slightly different.

Okay, so if blue is trying to get perfection, it is making use of green's knowledge of both the external world and the interconnectivity of those worlds. Green is very much about symbiosis, of understanding the symbiosis of the world. And when blue shares itself with green, it has a little better

understanding of sort of within. I think blue, when it's using green and using red, takes advantage of some of the instincts and impulses in a little bit more controlled way. But if blue

wants to be the best that it can be and green has some knowledge, I think when blue and green get together, blue is willing to take the knowledge that green can get, the understanding that green can provide, the symbiosis that green understands, the sort of larger structure. And so I think blue, when it has access to green, is really making use of some of the knowledge that green inherently has. And like I said, I wanted to stress that blue and green overlap a bit. And both of them really are inquiring you to learn more. Just they're wanting you to learn about different things.

So when blue gets green as a resource, it is making use of that kind of knowledge. It is making use of that kind of knowledge. When blue gets together with red, blue by itself in a lonesome is a little bit – like one of blue's weaknesses, mono blue's weaknesses is inactivity. That it could get so caught up in not wanting to do anything that it sort of takes no action. It's like I don't want to take a wrong action and if I don't take any action, I can't take a wrong action. It's like, I don't want to take a wrong action, and if I don't take any action, I can't take a wrong action. And so one of the things that happens when Blue gets together with Red is it gets a little bit of Red's desire for action. And so

there is knowledge to be gained if you're a little bit more aggressive. And so when Blue teams up with Red, it's a little bit more willing to sort of search out the information, or even take actions that can lead toward information. One of the things that red is very knowledgeable about is sometimes the way you learn is by doing.

You know, red is very much about action. So there is knowledge to be gained through action. And so that is the interesting part when blue is the core and red and green are the, you know, blue is the end and red and green are the means, that blue is taking advantage of tools of red and green are the blues the end and red and green the means that blue is taking advantage of tools of red and green to learn that aren't blue's

normal tools it's much more prone to action it's much more willing to sort of look external and understand connectivity that when blue gets together with red and green it has a little bit of different sense it's not that it's not trying to find perfection, but it's also – well, another important thing is that blue leans toward the mental and red and green lean toward the physical.

Red and green are very much about – there's a physicality that red and green have that blue doesn't have. And so one of the interesting things is when blue gets together with red and green, normally mono blue in a vacuum, when it talks perfection, it more talks about perfection from an intellectual standpoint. But when blue gets together with red and green, there's also this idea of physical perfection. I want to be the best that I can be. And so with blue ends and red and green being there, you might see blue saying, okay, yeah, I want to mentally be the best I can be. I also want to physically be the best

I can be. What can I do? What exercise regimen can I do? You know, that there, when you start mixing blue with red and green, that the desire for perfection sort of gets a little bit broader and takes on more of a desire of the physicality of it. So somebody, for example, who's really into working out constantly to physically become the best they can be, there's a lot of blue perfection in that. But it leans toward red or leans toward green because blue in a vacuum doesn't quite have the physicality. Okay, next up. Let's talk green. Okay, so green basically wants growth through acceptance, right? So it wants the world to be at its natural state.

It doesn't want things changing. to be at its natural state. It doesn't want things changing. So using the power of blue, it's like, okay, I want to learn everything I can about those that are trying to change. I want to become knowledgeable. You know, what are the dangers?

If my goal is to keep things from changing, how do I do that? And part of that is being a willingness to, you know, take time and energy to understand the problem. One of the things that blue does really well, better than the other colors, is mapping out what the problem is. Mapping out, okay, I want to do thing X. What are the obstacles? Who are the people in my way? What are the things in my way? Like, Blue really wants to understand, when it picks a goal, what are the things that are preventing it from happening?

So you take a green center and say, OK, now I'm using Blue. It's like, OK, I'm going to figure out who's trying to change things. How are they trying to change things? Why are they trying to change things? And those people, what are their weaknesses? You know, how can I stop them from trying to change things. And those people, what are their weaknesses? You know, how can I stop them from trying to change things? And so it uses blue's knowledge as a means to inform what it's trying to do. Now, when you take green and mix in red, once again, red is much more about taking of the

action. So where blue is going to sit back and figure out solutions to problems, red is going to act on those solutions. Red very much is about if there's a problem and I recognize the problem, I'm going to deal with it right now. So the interesting thing is when green mixes with blue's knowledge to understand the problems and red's action to solve the problems, you really get somebody who is being very proactive about making things happen. So in a green-centered thing, where the idea essentially is prevent change, what you'll see is it'll be very much identify the causes of change and then be very aggressive about stopping that change. And so basically what happens is in a green-centered thing, there's a default of what should be.

And then there's a lot of energy spent to try to stop people that want to interfere with that. And so green sort of defines something and says, this is what I see of the right way. This is the natural way. And I'm going to make it my duty to stop any and all that are trying to interact, you know, interrupt the natural way. And so, um, green, it's not that green at times won't take aggression. Green has some aggression in it, but you add in red and it gets even more so, um, you know, green and black and red are probably the three colors that have the most aggression to them. Um, and so when you, especially red, so we mix it in, it's sort of like, I don't want the

world to change. I will identify, I will use the blue to identify the things that can make the change, and I'll use the red to stop them. And hopefully the blue part tells me how to stop them. Okay, now if we take a red center. So once again, red wants freedom, right? Red wants everybody to be able to act the way they want to act. So in a red, where red is your goal, you're going to use the knowledge of blue to understand who's in my way, like what are the threats, who's stopping me. And then it's making use of sort of the idea of green.

Like green has a lot of understanding of interrelationships. And so if red is trying to sort of create freedom, you know, the blue part could identify where there's problems or where there's opportunities. And the green part can sort of show you the connectivity of how do you sort of build upon what's there. I think red in a vacuum is much less attuned. Like red in a vacuum is I just want what I want. red in a vacuum is, I just want what I want.

I'll get rid of the things that seem to be a problem. But you mix green in the mix, and it's a little more of trying to... Green and blue give red a bigger picture. Both blue and green, in order to solve their problem, need to understand the big picture in a way that red just... Red is not big picture. Red is as small picture as it gets. Red is very in the moment, in the now. I have a problem I have to solve, I will solve

the problem right now. Might my solution to the problem right now cause problems later? That's later, that's later's problem. That's not, I'm not going to worry about that now. But you mix in blue, which is the longest looking forward color, and green, which is a little bit more big picture in the symbiosis

and the connectivity between things. And you get a red that, while seeking freedom, sort of looks at it in a much more structured way, that red with blue and green tools is aggressive because it's red, but it is aggressive in a little bit more long-reaching way. That it is definitely thinking more like red in a vacuum just does what seems right in the moment. Red mixed with blue and with green is definitely thinking a little bit more big picture.

It's like, yeah, I want to do what I want to do, but it is, it's using its aggression a little more, it's a little more controlled, I guess. A little less. When you get the tools to allow you to have a bigger picture, it's not that you don't, I mean, it's not that red doesn't act. Red will act. It's a core of what red is.

But it definitely is about trying to sort of figure out how to do that, but in a way that is more thinking about ramifications of what you do, which is not what Red in a Vacuum does. Okay, so green, blue, red is definitely one of the trickier colors to understand. Mechanically speaking, red and green are more mid-ranging colors. You know, red and green are the two colors best at ramping. Oh, that's a good point to point out. Red, green, and blue are the three best ramping colors. Green is number one at ramping.

Red is number two at ramping. Blue is number three at ramping. So when you get green, blue, and red together, first and foremost, you both have the means to get mana faster and you have the ability to get out bigger things. So part of the... I think when green, blue, and red get together, as I talked about before,

there's a physicality to the perfection. There is more of, I will be the best that I can be, not just mentally, but physically. And you just get larger... Green, blue, red in general are going to be larger creatures on average than most three-color combinations.

The colors have access to bigger things and it has the mana to get those bigger things out. So when green, blue, and red sort of come together mechanically, it has the tools really to try to almost see the perfection of size, perfection of body,

that there's a physicality that you see. Blue and red in a vacuum are very spell-oriented, where blue and green get a little more permanent-centered, mostly about sort of green and then using blue spells to help adapt green. Red and green, you tend to be more mid-range. So when you mix these together each of those combinations is sort of different

the thing that is cool about green blue red is it has the ramp tools and it has it has more spells so the spell colors meaning percentage of spells versus creatures goes blue then red then black then green then white so you have

number one and two and number four. Blue, red, black, when we get there. I'm sorry, I forgot to talk about blue, red, black. Blue, red, black is the most spell-centered because it's the most centered in what spells are. But blue, red, green is second to that, to blue, red, black. And that, in addition to having a lot of spell focus,

it has the ability to get a lot of the beefier things out. And so green, red, blue, red, the way I like to think of it mechanically is it's kind of perfecting your deck to get the optimal what you can get faster. It's sort of like, I'm going to optimize, and when you play against green, blue, red, it is going to sort of perfect

what it can get out as fast as it can. And so you tend to get ramping decks that play into bigger creatures that tend to win more by attacking with a singular big creature than a lot of little creatures. That's some other colors. The other fun thing about

green, blue, red is there's a fun dichotomy to it in that um one of the things that's neat about the wedge in general is that there's a shared like whenever you you show opposites like blue is all about sort of uh the looking without and blue green red and green are looking within that there's a kind of interesting balance there. One of the things I like about sort of colors that have some conflict to them is there's about this weird balance. And the balance of green, blue, red

is trying to balance the ideals of without with the ideals of within. It's like, I want to make perfection, but maybe I look within for perfection. Maybe part of perfecting is having an inward sense that blue doesn't normally have, and that there's a nice balance

between those two things, of having red and green's internal sort of niffs, but with blue's ideals of perfection. And you mix those together, and you get a combination that is pretty fun. And like I said, the reason that I took a while to do the three-color philosophies is they get tricky.

When you have three different colors, they bend in different directions depending on sort of what you're doing with them. In a way, more so than two-color do. And so, anyway, that is Green, Blue, Red. So it is definitely a color combination that has its own distinct feel. And it is fun to play. So anyway, guys, I hope you are enjoying this. This is my seventh one. I have three more Wedge ones to do.

So I hope you guys are enjoying the three color philosophies. But anyway, guys, I can see my desk. So we all know what that means. It means this is the end of my drive to work. So instead of talking magic, it's time for me to be making magic. I hope you guys are enjoying the Three Color Podcast and I will see you all

next week. Bye-bye.