Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - #1082: Blue-Red-White

Episode Date: October 27, 2023

This podcast is the ninth (of ten) of my three-color philosophy series. In this one, I talk blue-red-white.

I'm pulling in my driveway. We all know what that means. It's time for the drive to work. Okay, so I've been doing a series of three color philosophy podcasts. Thus far I've done eight. I'm up to number nine. So today is blue, red, white. So it's the wedge in which red is the center color. So wedges mean there's a color and there's two enemies. And so we're up to blue, red, white. Okay, as with all these podcasts, I will start talking about the color.

Then I will talk about the pairs of colors. And then I will talk about the three colors, how we do these things. And I've been trying to change up a little bit how I talk through the individual colors, just since for those of you that are listening to all of these, I try to switch up a little bit. I mean, the main point is the same, but I'm trying to just not sort of explain it exactly the same each time. Okay, so let's start with blue. So blue's big thing, fundamentally, is the idea of potential. fundamentally is the idea of potential.

Blue wants to sort of find the ultimate version of itself, right? Blue wants perfection through knowledge. And what that means is, is that blue understands, or blue believes, in the idea of potential, in the idea of, hey, I could be many things. I could do many things. And so the key element of what Blue wants is it says, hey, how do I reach my potential?

It's born a blank slate. How do I get to be the best version of myself that I can? And what Blue says is, well do I get to be the best version of myself that I can? And what blue says is, well, I got to learn things, you know. And the reason blue values knowledge is like, well, the more I understand of the possibilities of the things I have access to, the more I educate myself, the more I understand the technology and tools available, the more that I maximize and understand how the world works, the better that I can become, the better my potential, the more I can reach perfection. And when Blue talks perfection, it really means it at many different levels.

You know, it wants to figure out how to be the best it that it can be. And there's a lot of, there's a lot of means to doing that. Knowledge is the most important because fundamentally what Blue believes is if I wanted to be the best that I can be, I have to understand the possibilities. I have to understand what can I be? What skills can I gain? What knowledge can I learn? You know, Blue has to understand all that.

And so that is the key to blue realizing its full potential. Okay, red. Red believes that like fundamentally, you have to stay true to yourself. You know, follow your heart in the sense that red believes that like, internally, you have a little voice heart in the sense that Red believes that like internally you have a little voice inside of you that kind of knows what it wants. You have a gut. And the key is to listen to your gut. The key to be happy is, you know, so many people are swayed by other factors that they let other things move them from what they fundamentally want.

And Red is like, I got to listen to that little voice. That little voice is telling me what it needs. That I have this little voice that is telling me what it wants. And I just have to feed that little voice. I have to follow that little voice. I have to do what that little voice is telling me. And so what that means is when red has impulses,

it follows its impulses. You know, if I am sad, then I need to be sad. I need to feel sad. I need to do what sadness wants me to do. If I'm angry, I got to act on anger. I got to do something. Red is very much about action. So it's freedom through action. And what that means is Red is like, not only do I want to follow my heart, I want every person to be able to follow their own heart. And Red understands that, look, there is chaos in that. But Red is like, do not fear the chaos. It is through chaos that amazing things happen. That all chaos is, is people are afraid of things they

can't understand. And chaos is scary to people because they don't understand it. You don't know where things are going. But in chaos is beauty. And Red really believes that if everybody can sort of do their thing, will conflicts happen? Yeah, conflicts are part of life. If I want something and you want something, maybe we fight over it.

But that's okay. That's how we figure out who gets it. You know, that Red really looks at it. And it's like, fundamentally what I want is I want everybody to understand they have this little inner voice and feel free to follow that little inner voice and do what they need to do.

And yes, that does mean on some level, you know, there are maybe extra conflicts, but it means those conflicts get resolved. It means that people come to grips with what they're doing. And red is really big, you know, red is big on passion. Red is big on emotional connections. You know, red really believes in having friends and lovers. And, you know, it cares about other people.

You know, it doesn't care about strangers quite in the way that white does. But it cares about people that matter to it. And that red really is, I got to do what I got to do. I got to act. And fundamentally, red's big belief is the idea that I have to take my future into my hands. I have to do things about it. That the future won't change unless I'm active about it.

That I'm proactive in doing what I want to do. And so red is very much about, hey, I got to recognize my needs and then I got to take actions to meet my needs. Okay, we get to white. So white really says, look, what I want is I want everybody to be happy. I want everybody, if you look at the world and you look at all the resources of the world, there are enough resources to give everybody what they need.

If we sort of treated this problem at large and said, okay, why is there crime? Why is there poverty? Why is there starvation? Do any of these things need to happen? And the answer is no. White says our problem is that we are so focused on our own individual needs that we don't understand that we have the power of working together and solving all our problems. There's enough food for everybody to eat. You know, there is that, you know, what is crime but people needing something they don't have access to? You know, what is, why are there, why is there injustice in the world?

It is because we as a people have been taught wrong. We have impulses and things that lead us astray. But if we could just say, you know what? If I'm thinking not about just myself, but about all of society, all people together, and I say, hey, if I make choices that think about the good of everybody, all of us can benefit. All of us will reap the benefits of that. And that is just White's idea of that people suffer alone and they don't need to. That if people work together, there's so much that we can do as a society, as a group of people.

That peace, White is peace through structure. White is like, look, if we can just get together and just understand the power that we have as a group. Now, white understands that people get led astray by all sorts of things. So white is like, you know what? I'm going to make things easier for you. I'm going to create structures that remind you of the right thing to do.

I'm going to make laws, civil laws, that say, hey, if you do something that you know you're not supposed to do, there's a penalty for it. You can go to jail, or you can get sued, or there's a structure that says, hey, you do things you're not supposed to do, there's a consequence for that. And then I'm going to make rules that are moral rules as well. I'm going to make religion. And I'm going to teach you, hey, there's right and there's wrong. And right helps your fellow person.

Wrong is selfish and hurts people at your own expense. And so White says, I'm going to make these rules, these civil rules, these moral rules, I'm going to make these rules to help people. Because people can be led astray. But through structure, through people learning, I can get people to do what is right for society as a whole. Okay, those are the three colors.

Okay, so let's now look at the pairings of the colors. So I will start with the two enemies. Wedges are two enemies and an ally. So let's start with the enemies. Okay, so first up we got blue-red. Okay, blue is like, hey, I'm trying to find perfection. I'm trying to do the right thing. I'm going to be careful. I want to use my intellect to be very exacting in how I'm acting because I don't want to miss opportunities. I don't want to find out that I could have had been,

I could have missed out on an element of perfection because I wasn't paying attention. So blue is slow and thoughtful. And most of all, blue is cerebral, that it thinks through its choices. At every level, it wants to understand the ramifications. So blue is very, very core centered in the intellectual, in the thought. Red is like, look, I got to live my life. That how do I find answers? I act. I do something. And red is very much lives in the moment. Red is all about emotions of what do you feel and acting on those feelings. So, for example, I mean, with any conflict, there's a bunch of ways to think of the conflict.

One of the ways to think of the blue-red conflict is intellect versus emotion. You know, blue wants to sort of think things through, where red wants to sort of feel things through. Blue is all about going slow and carefully, and red is about acting in the moment and being spontaneous. You know, blue wants everything to be done with precision. And red wants everything to be done with precision. And red wants everything to be done with passion. And precision and passion are very different things. So blue looks at red

and just sees red as reckless. Like, how are you finding your potential when you're just not thinking through ramifications? You know, blue sees red as short-sighted. Like, you're doing things that maybe make you happy in the moment but are going to cause you problems in the long term. That you're just not, you're not being careful. And red looks at blue and sees blue as being aloof. How are you ever going to, like how are you ever going to find your life when you're afraid to do anything? When you're afraid of action? When you're, you know, you're so inflexible and not willing to be in the moment. And so blue and red

look at each other and say, hey, you know, you are very much the opposite of what I want to be. Okay, red and white. So red is like, I want to embrace people being true to themselves. I want each person to listen to their own inner voice and act on it. White is like, I need all of us not to lead to our personal impulses, but to think of the group, to think outside ourselves,

to think of how our actions affect other people. So red looks at white and sees white as unfeeling, as unfocused. Like, Red is like, hey, you know, White is sort of too afraid.

Red looks at White and says, you're afraid to sort of experience life. That everything you do, there's a rule for everything. Red wants freedom. White's all about rules. Red, you know, Red is sort of like, hey, white, you are just making arbitrary rules that are keeping people from being true to themselves. That you are being, you know, red looks at white and sees white almost as being

fascist, right? Red is like, what are you doing? You are preventing people from seeing their freedom, of being free. Now white looks at red and sees chaos. You know, that red is trying, I mean, white is trying to make peace. And red is like, hey, if you feel mad, punch somebody. That's very much at odds. That white's whole shtick is the way we as a society get what we need is that we get beyond our own impulses. And red is nothing but impulses.

And so, very much so, red sees white as being this fascist force that is restricting people. And white sees red as being this source of chaos that is endangering all. Okay, now we get to white and blue. So white and blue are the two enemies of red, so they are allied colors. So blue and white is very much about the importance of larger structure as a means to aid civilization, if you will. Blue, for example, wants to perfect every aspect of his life. One aspect of his life has to do with the world it lives in.

Hey, if I live in a society, if I live in a place in which people are advancing each other, like blue very much understands the need of society. If I want to become the best that I can be, doesn't it help if people are working together? Because people working together can do things that individuals can't do. That there is a lot of potential that comes from working as a group. Now, blue has its personal side. Blue leans toward black also.

But it definitely has this desire and need to try to look at the group as a tool for perfection. That not only do I have to perfect myself, not only do I have to perfect who I am as a person, but I want to perfect my society. I want to perfect my civilization. I want to perfect my civilization. I want to make cities. I want, you know, there's so much good that comes from working with other people. And white looks at sort of civilization and says, hey, you know, part of what I have to

offer people is say to them, hey, there are benefits of working together. And yes, I mean, some of the benefits is you don't go hungry. But that's very much, you know, it's hard to see the thing, like if you've never gone hungry, it's hard to, you know, like yes, if you've gone hungry and then have food, you realize how important that is. But if you've never gone hungry and you've always known food, it's sometimes hard to understand that, right? So there's a lot of tangible things that you can see in society

that White understands. Like, civilization gives people connection and purpose. And, you know, White sees that civilization is a nice tool. It's another thing to draw people into doing the right thing. That if I get to know my neighbors and I care about my neighbors, now I want to act in the best interest of my neighbors. That creating a civilization where there is power that comes from the group makes you more inclined to want to help the group. So like I said, blue and white approach civilization kind of a different means. That what they're getting out of it is slightly different. But they have a shared interest in that civilization is very important for them,

that it's something that they want to have. Okay, so now we've gone through all the two colors, so let's get into the three colors. Now, I will explain this, I already explained these. Normally, with any sort of faction or group, you have ends and you have means. And what that means is, an ends is a goal.

What do I want? The means are the tools that I can get there. Traditionally, you can only have one goal. Like, you have to be focused on one thing. One thing's your primary purpose. You can have many tools. So, when it's two color, one's the ends, one's the means. When it's three colors, usually one is the ends and two are the means. So let's start with red as,

once again, let me stress that wedges in their natural state, it's the enemy color that's kind of the center. That's the most, that's the low-hanging fruit. The first time we did wedges, which was Khans of Tarkir, the block structure we were using had the clans change over time, and at the end, at Dragons of Tarkir, they ended up being allied color. Well, the only way to keep the clans but get there was to drop the enemy color, so we couldn't center them in the enemy color. So Jeskai, which was the wedge from Khan's Dark Year, is actually

centered in blue, not centered in white. So I'll get to blue in a second. Okay, so red, what does red end? Red wants freedom. Red wants a world where people can act on their impulses. Red wants

a world in which people are not only can, they're inclined to, they're encouraged that it's a society in which people like value following their heart above all else. Okay, well, how do you do that? Well, let's look at the tools of white and blue. So blue provides the idea of knowledge, right? Blue says you can learn about things. You can understand things. So in a world in which you want to be true to yourself, well, knowledge is not a bad thing. Now, the interesting thing there is when you talk about red,

the knowledge you're most interested in is actually internal knowledge. You want to understand what, like, the thing about red is red wants to follow its impulses. Well, if I can learn more about it, the funny thing is when you get blue and red together, you start getting into psychology, right? Is I want to understand my, I have all these emotions, I want to understand them. So the tool of blue, red can really say, okay, I want to understand my, I have all these emotions, I want to understand them. So the tool of blue, red can really say, okay, I want to, you know, I want to be true to myself. Well, how do I be true to myself? I first understand myself. So when you, when you have red ends and blue means, you start having a lot of introspection. You start to have a lot of time where you're looking in to understand what's going on. And that is something that is, not that blue doesn't look internal.

It does. It does. But a lot of blue traditionally is kind of looking without and understanding what exists. You know, what can I do that I don't know about? Where red's a little bit more of trying to understand the nature of who you are and what you are and then being true to that. Okay, now white is all about structure. And so if red uses the tools of white, meaning if I want to live in a world where I want to act on my impulses, well, it helps if the world is structured that way. It helps if, like one of the things that white does really well is it sort of says, hey, people are motivated by the means by which they live, the structure in which they live.

So red with white resources says, I'm going to make a world in which the way to live is to live your truth, is to live your impulse. So red with a white influence, with white tools, says, okay, I'm going to now make a world where everybody's living to their truth. They're using the blue part of it to look within and understand themselves better.

And in a white, the white element means I make a society where people understand that is what we prioritize. And so in that world, it is not as chaotic as a mono-red world, because there's more introspection, and there's more structure for the way that things are supposed to work.

One of the problems with mono-red in a vacuum is when everyone just acts in the moment and there's no pre-planning of any kind, you get total chaos. Red with white and blue helping it gets more of a controlled chaos. Yeah, there's still some chaos. Internal can be somewhat chaotic. But you're living in a place where people are spending time and energy looking within. And it's a society in which people are encouraged to do that introspection

and encouraged to act on such a way. So a red ends with white and blue means is definitely a lot more of a place that is more in touch with itself. That is more, that blue, red, white as a group is probably the color combination that is most in tune because it wants to understand,

it has this need to explore and understand. It has this, it cares about this internal thing. I mean, blue, red, white, I think, is about finding your true self and maximizing it, especially with red means. How do I be the best me that I can be?

You see that little edge of perfection. How do I make a society in which I'm mastering what things could be? So, you know, red with white means that it is not total chaos, that there's structure to what it wants. But then you get red looking within and red sort of trying to find internal happiness. So in this makeup with red ends and blue and white, you really get some sort of, interestingly, almost a place of spirituality, a place of truly valuing how you feel and what you need and what you want and finding the means to do that. And a society in which everybody understands and values those goals. Okay, now let's take a blue center.

So blue center says, I want to reach perfection. I want to be the best that I can be. Okay, so using red as a tool, red very much, the thing that red has to offer that blue doesn't is red is willing to sort of make choices in the moment. Red is willing to explore things. And red very much has an attitude of, let's try it. I want to try something. If it doesn't work, I'll try something else.

Blue's nature in a vacuum, mono blue, is I'm going to examine every element. So by the time I try something, I think I have the best chance of success because I've thought through every ramification. Red, though, says, you know what? I'm going to go with my gut. I'm going to try the thing that works. And if it doesn't work, I'll try something else. So red offers blue a little bit more of a hands-on quality, a little bit more of a willingness to experiment

in a way that blue in a vacuum doesn't. Blue really wants, my parallel here is, in design, for example, there's a lot of theory crafting, meaning we make a mechanic and we think through the mechanic. We try to understand the problems the mechanic will have by kind of thinking it through, comparing it to other mechanics and such. But at some level, theorycrafting only gets you so far, right?

We need to playtest. We need to actually put the rubber to the road. We need to, how is this mechanic going to work when we actually play with it? And I think the playtesting part of it is very much a red influence. The theorycrafting's the blue influence. Let me think through what I know. But I think what red offers blue is this practicality. It's this actual in-world use that I'm not afraid of trying things

because red's whole philosophy is, hey, if I mess up, I'll just try something different. Blue really has this kind of fear of if I take action, maybe I do the wrong thing. And then forever I've gone down the wrong path. And red has a very different attitude. Red's sort of idea is, hey, you learn by trying. You learn by doing. And so when blue has a red element to it, it is trying to do things. It really has a more element to it, it is trying to do things. It really has a

more hands-on approach. Now, when you add white into it, the thing that white has blue for blue ends, once again, is structure. White can really say, whatever you add white to, it's sort of like, okay, let's create a system where we prioritize this output. Normally white wants to bring peace to everybody. That's normally the way it's output. But imagine if the output was perfection. White might say, okay, let's, you know, white is very methodical and white could say,

let's build the entire structure so that it leads to, that it has everybody going in the same direction, that society as a whole wants to find perfection. And that's the thing that White will add to any ends, is that it figures out how to create the tools and the structure to encourage everybody to want to do that and move in that direction. So you combine Blue's end of perfection, with White's ability to sort of encourage the group and push the group in a certain direction, and Red's ability to experiment,

and you get a blue that's a blue's perfection that is much more practical, it's more hands-on, and it definitely is somebody who is willing to sort of learn along the way.

Now, blue-centered, what, Jeskai was blue-centered. And there was this very much about this idea of perfection in the Jeskai and trying to be the best that you could be. But, unlike sort of mono-blue, they were very much in the idea of it comes through experience. It comes through trying and testing and doing things. And there was a more hands-on quality to it. And a more structural quality to it.

Okay, the final one is what if my end is white? What if what I want to do is end, you know, make world peace? I want to end crime and hunger and I want to end all the things that cause people pain. Okay, well, first off, I'm using blue and the knowledge of blue to say, hey, I want to, what causes people to commit crime? You know, what causes starvation? Why, why, like, it allows white to examine all the things that it wants to stop. And rather than like, a lot of the way white functions is very much on

well I know if people are disincentivized to do that I can cry to encourage them but the thing that adding blue to whites and is blue really craves knowledge right blue wants to understand so if white wants to stop crime why is crime happening what causes crime what are the main factors that makes crime exist? So adding blue into white's mix, it really gives white a lot more knowledge and understanding of the things that need fixing. And so it allows white to use its tools much more pinpoint to solve things. The other thing is red.

And I think what red adds to white is that white very much is afraid... White sort of fears the individual and fears the impulses of the individual because white doesn't understand it, right? White is like, all I know is if you follow your impulses, it will make you want to do selfish things.

That's contrary to what we want. So let's just clamp down on that. Don't think, you know, white is so much think the group, think the group, think the group, that it doesn't let the individual express itself. But you add a little bit of red in. You add somebody that says, hey, I need to care about myself. I need to follow my heart. And you mix that into the structure.

And so, well, if I'm trying to find, for example, let's say I'm trying to lessen crime. Well, what in turn, you know, like, for example, trying to understand, like, finding the emotions that get there. For example, maybe if people are more sympathetic, maybe if people understand each other more, you know, red really, emotions can be used for positive. I know white sort of fears, because white doesn't understand emotions, it fears the downside of them. But with white using red means, you get the upside of emotions, right? For example, the idea of sympathy and empathy, that one of the ways you might stop crime

is by getting people to understand what crime is doing. That if you realize that my actions might cause others pain, and I can feel, I understand that. I can cause others pain. And I can feel, I understand that. I can feel their pain. It allows you to act in a different means. And the thing that red adds to sort of a white structure is this internal looking, this is using of emotions as a resource.

And that I think what happens when white ends with red means is white is a little more willing, instead of being afraid of emotions, it will embrace emotions. And there are a lot of emotions, especially, like I said, there's a whole range of emotions that are about understanding other people

and feeling for other people. You know, something like empathy or sympathy, the idea that like, oh, I don't like to be in pain, so to see others in pain causes me pain because I can relate to that pain, and I don't want them in pain. So with white ends, you know, using the sort of internal looking of red, along with the knowledge of blue.

That's another big thing I want to get. And this is kind of true for all red, white, blue, that there's an introspection that comes. Blue has knowledge. Red has this emotional sort of intelligence. And white has this need to try to find the good of things, to think of the implications from a larger group. And you bring all those things together and you really get a color combination that is kind of the most in tune with itself. There's a spiritual, I'll agree, I guess it's not here, but very much of someone that says, I'm looking within, I'm understanding within, and I'm understanding how that impacts the people around me. how like it it's nice in that it marries the introspection and emotional intelligence of blue and red

with the desire to understand the larger community of white and I think when you get them together it's definitely a group I mean it's no mistake that like um Jeskai is a bunch of monks that are like really coming in tune with themselves and understanding and you know that thereai is a bunch of monks that are really coming in tune with themselves and understanding

that there really is an element to blue, red, white that is very internally understanding, that has a sense of motivation and is trying to make the better person in a way that is both with looking within and looking without. That taking the knowledge of blue and looking both directions, because red likes to look in, white likes to look out, and having that balance between the two really creates a faction that

is introspective in a way that the other three-color factions are not. Anyway, guys, I'm now pulling up to my building. So we all know what that means. It means it's the end of my drive to work. So I hope you guys are enjoying this. I have one more of the three-color philosophies to go.

They're a lot of fun to do, and I hope you guys are enjoying them. But, as it's time for me to go to work, I will say bye-bye. So I'll see you guys all next time. Ciao.