Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - #402: Color Pie Conflicts

Episode Date: January 20, 2017

There are five conflicts between the five colors. In this podcast, I discuss them all.

I'm pulling on my driveway. We all know what that means. It's time for another drive to work. Okay, so today is one of my favorite topics. So a while ago for you guys, recently for me, I wrote an article called Pie Fights, where I talked about the conflicts of the colors in the color pie. And I love talking color pie, so today, today's about conflict. So I'm going to talk about the five basic conflicts. And so A, we'll talk about what they are, and B, talk about how they actually connect. And one of the things I find really neat is when you look at how the color fights its two enemies, the conflict

that a single color has with each of its two enemies is related. And it's all very interconnected. And that is cool. So I'm going to talk about that today because I love Talking Color Pie. interconnected. And that is cool. So I'm going to talk about that today because I love talking color pie. Okay. So quickly recap. Let me talk about what the five colors want, just to put the context here. White. White wants peace. White looks around and said, look, if everybody had what they needed, we have the resources that everybody can have what they need, that everybody can be happy, that we can live in a world where there's no conflict, where there's no suffering, that we have the tools to live in a utopia. We just need to do that. And White says part of doing that is creating a structure to make sure that people are thinking of the goods, the good of the group over the good of the

individual. And so White is all about figuring out and finding out the ways by which we can be a better people and that we can create systems. We can create laws. We can create moral guidance. We can do things so that people are living correctly and making sure that everybody can be

happy. Blue seeks perfection. Blue believes that everybody's born a blank slate and they have the ability to become whatever they want. They need, you know, with the right experience and teaching and tools that people can become whatever they choose to be. And so to Blue, Blue wants to use knowledge to have people learn things and through the knowledge understand what they are capable of and transform themselves into the best version of themselves that they can be. And so blue really wants people to each figure out what is the ultimate thing

and then become that thing. Black, black wants power. Black believes that the world is a greedy place. Not that black made it greedy. It inherently is greedy. And that the key to happiness in life is being able to do the things you want to do. And that is power.

Power is the thing that allows you to do the things that you want to do in place of others. Because people each have their own separate, their own personal thing that they want. Because people look out after themselves. People are inherently selfish. That's not a bad thing. Like who better to think about you than you?

And black is like, look, that's just the way the world is. People are the way they are, you know, and black is like, we need to work within that structure so that we can be, you know, if we want to find happiness, we have to create our own happiness. We have to be willing to take the opportunities to do that. Black very much believes in that each person, it's up to them to define what their life is, that you have within your control, that you need to grasp the power possible. Take the opportunities.

Do the things you need to do to make sure that you have a happy life. Red, red wants freedom. Red looks deep in its heart and it says, I know what I need to do. My, you know, I'm constantly reminded, my emotions, my impulses tell me what I want. And Red wants to live a life that's happy, that follows its heart, that is doing what it wants to do. And so to do that, Red has to make sure that it's not, there aren't things in its way that's preventing it from living its life the way it wants to live it. And Red wants to be, to be free to sort to sort of follow its heart and find its passion. Green wants growth.

Green believes that everybody else is looking to change the world, where green says, you know what, we need to accept the world the way it is. We need to realize that the perfect system is already here. And all we need to do to find happiness is accept that fact. Is accept that there is a perfect way. And accept what that way is, is how we should embrace it. It embraces nature and the natural order. And the green is like, look, if everybody can accept how this is.

And just let nature do its thing. Just let nature be. Let the world grow. Things would be at its best. So, okay. We have five grow. Things would be at its best. So, okay. We have five colors. They each want different things. So when the colors come...

Now, one of the neat things is, if you look at the back of a magic card, the colors go in order. White, blue, black, red, green. And the idea is, each color is next to its two allies. So white, its allies are blue and green. Blue's allies are white and black. Blue's allies are white and black. Black's allies are blue and red. Red's allies are black and green. Green's allies are red and white. So every color has two allies. And the two colors that aren't its allies are its enemies. Then inherently there is a conflict between the two colors opposite it. So what I'm going to do today is talk about sort of the key of what those conflicts are,

how the colors see them, and then talk about how they connect when you get to sort of looking at the conflicts next to each other. Okay, so let's start with white-black. So white-black is about the good of the group versus the good of the individual. Okay, so white on one side says, you know what? You know what's the most important thing? That we all get along. That everybody is the best that they can be.

And to do that, we have to make decisions based on what the group needs. That if you make selfish decisions, people get hurt. And that everybody can be selfless and think about, you know, if everybody can make the right decision that's good for the group, everybody, you know, in the end, everybody will be the best they can be. Black, on the other hand, says, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. My responsibility is not looking up for others. My responsibility is looking up for myself. Who better to understand what I need than me? And in the system that black wants, black wants to give everybody opportunity.

Black wants a merit-based system where anybody has the ability to get what they want through their own hard work. But black believes that the reason you gain something is not because it's given to you. It's not because, you know,

black does not believe in coddling people. Black believes in merit. Black believes in you earn what you have. And so black wants everybody to have opportunity, but then it's up to the person to achieve that. So when white meets black, you know, white looks at black and says, oh, well, this is good versus evil.

Look, there is, you know, one of the things that talks about morality is the idea of are you doing harm or are you doing good? You know, and that if you are not helping making things better, you are harming things. And White is like, I'm trying to create a system by which we enable everybody, we protect everybody. You know, yes, we do have to help the meek. We do have to help the ones that don't have things. They're the ones that most need our help.

Because the system, they're dying under the system. They're losing under the system. And that we have what we need for everybody to have something. So when you are looking out for yourself and not others, you are being selfish. You are being immoral. You are doing something that is breaking the moral code. So white looks at black and says, look, what you are saying is,

it's just a moral issue to white. You know, what I am saying is good. My moral laws tell me that what I'm doing is good and what you are doing is evil. Black looks at it and black says, no. What's going on here is, I'm trying to encourage people. It's encouragement versus coddling. I am trying to strengthen people. How do you strengthen people? By giving them the things

they need. Not by giving them the things they need, but by making them earn things. That when you say to somebody, hey, you have the potential to do anything. You have opportunity. You have the ability to earn what you need to earn, but you have to do it yourself. You have to find the strength to do it. And what Black says is, if you don't reward people, if you don't, how do you train them? That if you just give people things, what's the incentive? Why would anybody ever try to do anything? You know, that if you just sort of say to people, hey, weakness is okay, then people will be weak.

But if you say, look, there's a brass ring. There's things you can get. You know, you can encourage people to do their best. Now, the reality is there will always be weak. Why? Why support the weak? Why push the weak? That doesn't help the greater system. It doesn't help society if the weak, you know, are encouraged. You know, if you encourage strength, if you encourage merit, then the best, the cream rides to the top. And so black is like why we're creating a system where we reward mediocrity. So that is the white-black conflict, is the idea of, you know, who are you supposed to be looking out for? And a lot of people I know when they look at white black, it's very easy sometimes to look at the conflict through one of the color's eyes like I know a lot of people want to think of it as good versus evil

but good versus evil is a very white way of looking at the conflict it implies you know a lot of people I know sometimes look at black and they sort of think like oh black's just right black's just evil but no no no a lot of the ideas of what black wants, like a lot of the core of capitalism, you know, the idea that everybody has the ability that, you know, anybody can become anything, you know. Black, a lot of black's idea is self-empowerment,

of the idea of the worthiness of the individual and the idea of creating opportunities for the individual, of creating a system where we say, hey, people have the ability to achieve something if they put the work into it. And so anyway, I know black gets besmirched a lot, but this really is a different idea of how do you want to help people?

Do you want to help people by making sure that everybody has the same thing? You know, that's White's thing. White is like, look, we don't need, people only need so much to survive. You don't need to give them extra. That if I give somebody more than they need and somebody else gets less than they need, that person, they don't need more than they need.

You know, everybody can have enough to have a happy life. person is, they don't need more than they need. You know, everybody can have enough to have a happy life. Why are we, you know, creating a system where we somehow over-reward one and punish somebody else? But on the flip side, black is sort of like, look, don't we need opportunity? Don't we need to, you know, don't people thrive because you give them the chance to earn something? And then if you take away, you take away the drive.

So anyway, that take away the drive. So anyway, that is white versus black. Okay, blue versus red is head versus heart. So blue believes in the power of the intellect. Red believes in the power of emotion. You know, blue is like, look, you have the ability to become whatever you want to become, but to do so, you have to think carefully about things. You have to evaluate life. You have to think through every option.

You need to sort of weigh things and be careful in making decisions. Because once you make a decision, if you're trying to reach your potential, be careful that you're making the right decision. Because the wrong decision can cut you off from your potential. And so blue is like, look, take your time. Think things through that your intellect is what's important. Red says, no, no, no, no, no. The key to life is following your passions, is listening to your heart, is being spontaneous,

is being in the moment. That if you are constantly putting things off, you're not living life. You're not living, you're not, you know, you're not being spontaneous. You're not, you're not, you know, grabbing the, you know, grabbing life, grabbing the gusto of life, you know.

And so blue looks at red and sees carefulness versus recklessness. Blue is like, look, I'm going to be very exact in what I do because there are ramifications for every action I take. And I need to think through the ramifications of what I do for if I don't, I can make the wrong decision. I could have, you know, if I think things through, then every decision I make will be carefully planned and that I won't make mistakes or far less likely to make mistakes. And I can think about the ramifications of what I do. I can think through each decision and understand how it affects others. Red thinks of this as passion versus indifference. Red is like, look, you know, to live a life in

which you never get to act. Red is about action. Blue is about thinking. Red is about doing. How do you find your passion? You go out and you try things. Will you make mistakes? Of course you'll make mistakes, but that's how you learn things. There's nothing wrong with mistakes.

If you try something and it fails miserably, well, then you've learned something. And so red is very much about learning through doing, learning through action, learning through taking chances. Blue is, I mean, red very much about learning from doing, learning through action, learning from taking chances. You know, blue is, I mean, red looks at blue and just sees overly caution. It's like, well, if you're living in a little bubble, how are you ever going to learn anything? You got to get your hands dirty.

You got to go do things. And that red is all about experience. Red is all about lived life, about doing things. And that the conflict between blue and red is really about sort of how to live one's life, you know, how, what is important. And like I said, all these conflicts are pretty basic conflicts. They go into the core of sort of humanity, that if you look at stories, these are just the conflicts we've told stories about since the beginning of humanity. That if you look at stories, these are just the conflicts we've told stories about

since the beginning of time. You know, the idea of, you know, do I want to be intellectual? Do I want to sort of think things through? Is being emotional reckless? Or is being intellectual cold? You know, and each side sees very different things.

Okay, let's get to the black-green conflict. Black-green is free will versus destiny. So black believes in opportunity. Black believes that you, an individual, have control over what you do. And that one of the keys to life is taking control of things. It's not being told by others that you can't do something. Black is all about self-empowerment, of realizing that you are capable of more than you understand. And that part of realizing this is finding opportunity and capitalizing on that opportunity.

Green, meanwhile, believes that you were born to a path, that you are part of a system, that you are part of the web of life, and that you, the key to happiness is understanding what role you play and then playing that role. You were born into a system. You were born into a role and that you have to understand what it is that you're supposed to do. What is your place in the web? How do you, you know, that if you think about the animal kingdom, like, the reason, you know, there's an ecosystem, and that each element in the ecosystem plays a role in that

ecosystem. And then if you disrupt the ecosystem, you throw everything out of balance. So, Black looks at this and thinks of it as opportunity versus superstition. Black is like, I can be what I want to be. No one can tell me. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I wasn't forced into something without any knowledge.

I was not like, well, you were born, so this is what you have to do. Black rejects that. Black is like, no, I can do whatever I want to do. I can, you know, I have the opportunity to become whatever I want to become. I have the opportunity, and I just have to seize those opportunities to do that. You know, that if I want to do something, no just have to seize those opportunities to do that. You know, that if I want to do something, no one can tell me I can't do that. That's not my place.

That's not my role in the social web or whatever. Black's like, no. If I need to do something, I can do it. I need to take action. That too much, I'm told what I can't do. I'm told what I'm not supposed to do. And that black's about finding opportunity and not being restricted by what you

are, you know, by what others tell you. Like, don't take on restrictions of others. Don't let other people tell you what you're capable of. But green looks at this as truth versus skepticism. Green's like, look, the world is the way it is and, you know, you are part

of a system. You can ignore that you're part of a system. You can pretend as if the interconnectivity of the world doesn't exist. You can just ignore your role in the ecosystem. But when you do that, you're disrupting things. And not just yourself, you're disrupting other things. That if I go and I take steps, you know, if I kill something when it's not supposed to be killed, you know, if I go out and I kill all of a certain animal, let's say I go hunting and I just kill all of a predator,

well, then I'm throwing that ecosystem off balance. Maybe those predators have to exist for a reason. Maybe if they don't, the prey will get overpopulated and cause problems and cause an imbalance in the system. The system works. Nature works. That when you gum it up, when you think you're better than nature, when you try to take it on yourself to choose what you want,

you cause great harm. So the black ring conflict really is, has to do with the role you live in life. What are you supposed to be doing? You know, is it predetermined? Are you born into a role? Is it something you're supposed to be doing? Is your path in life predetermined?

Or, no, do you have the ability to choose where you go? And that don't let others tell you what you have to do. Don't let others dictate what role you need to play. So that is a black-green conflict. Okay, red-white is freedom versus security. So red is like, look, you got to let people, you need freedom. You need to let people have the ability to find their own passion. That a world in which everybody can find their passion is a wonderful world. It's a world where people not are just excited, but are energetic, where people are,

you know, that the best thing in the world is for somebody to find their passion and live their passion. And then interacting with a world where everybody's found their passion, where everybody's doing the things that they want to do. It's a beautiful world. It's a happy world. But White says, no, no, no, no. There's a reason that rules exist. There's a reason that you have to restrict things. Because people, left to their own regard, will do horrible things. That people will follow their impulses destructively. That if you don't have rules set in motion, people will kill other people. People will harm other people.

People will do things. The reason that rules exist, the reason that laws exist, is to protect people. And so this conflict, this free will versus, I'm sorry, not free will, freedom versus security, I read the whole thing.

It's freedom versus security. And the idea is, it boils down to seatbelt laws. Like, is seatbelt law a problem? Like, is it up to, it should be up to me whether I wear a seatbelt? Who's the law to tell me?

Look, if I want to take risks, if I want to do something where I can get harmed, I should have the right to do that. Or is it like, you know what, if we make a law that says you have to wear a seatbelt, guess what, less people die. You know, and that if we can do something and that forces people, that forces their hand, but hey, as a society, it's just better for us. Isn't that make sense? Shouldn't laws exist to protect people on whole?

So Red looks at this and sees it as democracy versus fascism. Like, should I be able to do what I want to do? Or is somebody telling me what I have to do? You know, and that Red says, look, this is dangerous. Somebody else telling me what is in my own best interest. You know, when I, shouldn't I decide what I want to do? Shouldn't I have the freedom to make choices about what is right for me? Who are others that aren't me telling me what I need to do?

Now, White looks at this and sees order versus chaos. White's like, look, you know, if we don't have things in an orderly system, if there's, that is anarchy. That is, you know, if anybody can do anything they want at any time, who's to say that a lot of harm won't come about? You know, that one of the things that keeps society civilized is that we have rules, is that we have laws, is that people just can't follow any impulse they have. That is dangerous. And that to do that is dangerous. Okay, so freedom versus security, red, white. Okay, our final conflict is green versus blue,

nature versus nurture. So the idea here is green is like, look, you, who you are as a person comes from your genetics. You were born with certain qualities. You were born with certain traits. And that defines who you are. You know, that if you sort of look at somebody, so much has to do with certain traits. And that defines who you are. That if you sort of look at somebody, so much has to do with your genetics.

How long you live, and what things you're more likely to do, and just elements about you, and who you're going to be attracted to. And it's all these things that are really built in to your biology, and to your genes. And Green was like, let's just acknowledge that.

That we are who we were born to be. That we are, as a person, the elements of the things that make us up. Blue says, no, no, no, no. Anybody can become anything. That yes, you were born with certain traits and qualities. And maybe that pushes people in certain directions, but you're not beholden to that. That just because you're somebody who might not have the and qualities, and maybe that pushes people in certain directions, but you're not beholden to that. That just because you're somebody who might not have the natural qualities, look, that's why we have tools.

That's why we have education. That's why people can experience things and grow. That just because you might not naturally be good at something doesn't mean you can't learn to be good at it. It's not like everybody naturally has to have some natural system that they know. Maybe what happens is that people can learn to do something. That it's not like the only piano players are people

that naturally can play the piano. You can learn to play the piano. And that the best of something might not be the person that necessarily has the base raw skills for it, but they can learn through practice and experience. Now, Green looks at this and sees this as acceptance versus denial.

Green's like, look, you are what you are. You can pretend you're not. You can pretend you don't have your genes, that you don't have your biology, that your parents weren't your parents. You can ignore that, or you can say, you know what? I have natural qualities.

Let me follow what I naturally do. That if I'm someone who inherently has rhythm, maybe I will be a better piano player. Maybe that's the person who plays piano. Maybe if I don't have that, maybe if I struggle, maybe that's just not for me. That why am I trying to embrace something that inherently I'm not?

So blue looks at this and looks at it as an opportunity versus stagnation. Blue's like, if you can only be what you know, what your genes say that you are, you are so limited in your possibilities. It's like, if you can only be what, you know, what your genes say that you are, you are so limited in your possibilities. It's like, oh, well,

you know, I'm tall, so I must play basketball. You know, maybe I don't want to play basketball. Maybe I want to do something else. You know, who's to tell me what I am

because of things, you know, I'm not locked in to things just because I was born with something. That doesn't lock me in. So, blue versus green has this very much fight. You know, I'm not locked in to things just because I was born with something. That doesn't lock me in. So blue versus green has this very much fight. You know, it talks about who you are and what makes you you. Okay, so now what I want to do is take all the colors

and talk about how the conflict that the color has with one color is very much the same conflict it has with the other. So we'll start with white. So I talked about white wants peace. White wants everybody to be happy. White wants to live in a world where everybody can have what they need. Not what they want, what they need. Okay, so white is trying to create peace through order.

So there's two things that cause white problems. One is the idea that people can be selfish, that people can prioritize their own needs over the needs of the group, or people can be reckless. People can hurt the group in that they are making decisions. I mean, on some level, white sees it both as an issue of selfishness across the board. The white looks at black and sees someone that doesn't respect its moral codes, that says, you know, you are willing to do things that are wrong, that I have a system, there's a system set up, there's moral imperatives, that there is good, there is evil,

and you are just taking the path of evil. And white looks at red and says, you are being reckless. You are making decisions without thinking of the ramifications of your decisions on other people. That white wants to create a perfect system, and what white doesn't want is a system that breaks down. Well, its two enemies are the ones that are breaking down that system. That, you know, when you talk about the good of the individuals versus the good of the group, or freedom versus security, that's basically the same issue for white. White is like, I'm looking out for what's good for the most number of people.

That the conflict white has with black and the conflict that white has with red is the same conflict. White wants to do what is good for the group. White wants to do what protects the same conflict. White wants to do what is good for the group. White wants to do what protects the most people. White is like, look, every decision we make should be about what advances everybody as a whole. And the two colors that don't do that are black and red. Okay, let's go to blue.

Blue wants perfection. It seeks it through knowledge. Okay, well, what are the things in the way of it getting perfection? One is short-sightedness of people sort of getting distracted by impulses, by things that aren't, you know, that you have to make careful decisions. And one of the ways to ruin things is by not making careful decisions, is by, you know, being impulsive and doing things that cut off opportunities from you because you don't think them through.

And Blue looks at Green and says, you deny, you deny the premise of my, you know, you can be whatever you want to be. And Green goes, no, you can't, you know. So Blue is like, I want to perfect myself. And one way is leading me astray by not thinking it through. And the other way is denying the premise that you have the ability to change yourself. So one is against thought and the other is against change. You know, that's at the core of what blue wants.

So blue's conflicts with red and green really aren't that different from each other. Blue is trying to maximize its ability to be what it wants, to perfect itself. And the two ways that keep you from doing that are represented by its two enemies, by red and green. Okay, black. Black wants power through opportunity. That black wants to do what it wants to do. That black wants to be able to, you know,

black understands that happiness is you being able to have the power to do the things you want to do. That we live in a harsh world. We live in a world that is going to restrict you unless you take the upper hand. In order to do that, you need, in order to get what you want, you need to understand, like, black is about self-empowerment. Black is like, okay, we live in a world that's, it's a rough world.

You know, everybody can't have everything. That's just an illusion. But you know what? I should look out for me. And if everybody looks out for themselves, then there's somebody in their corner. There's somebody championing them. And what I want to do is, I want to create a world of opportunity where anybody has the ability to make something of themselves. It requires dedication, requires work, it requires you putting the effort, but you know what? Why

should the people that don't put in the effort get the same rewards people that put in the effort? So black look at its enemies, it looks at green and it looks at white and it says, are you allowing me the chance to achieve? Are you allowing me self-empowerment? And with white it goes, no, you prefer mediocrity. You prefer that instead of giving myself self-empowerment, that I'm supposed to make decisions for other people. I'm supposed to coddle the weak. Rather than reward merit,

rather than reward people that are putting the work in, I'm supposed to just reward everybody, that there is no merit. I'm supposed to deny merit. And black looks at green and says, oh, you know, you're saying that I don't even have, you know, I don't even have the opportunity, you know, that in some ways green is the enemy. Look at both blue and black. Green denies.

Blue wants to change themselves to become the best they can be. Green says you can't do that. Black wants to blaze a path where it does the things it wants to do to get the opportunities it wants. And green says, yeah, that's not possible. And so black says, okay, what keeps me from self-empowerment? What keeps me from being the best I can be? Well, people that tell me that I'm not supposed to look up for myself or people that tell me that I don't have the ability to choose opportunity.

And so black looks at its enemies and says, you are trying to stop me from doing what I want to do. You are trying to stop me from my self-empowerment, from being the best that I can be. Okay, red. Red is all about, it wants freedom through action. It says, you know what? I want to do the things I want to do.

I want to follow my passion. I want to live in a world where I am doing what speaks to me, that I'm able to live in the moment, to be spontaneous, to embrace who I am. And Red looks at its two enemies and says, okay, well, Blue, I just want to embrace the moment. And Blue says, don't do that. Blue won't let me do that.

Blue wants to force, you know, Blue wants to take away spontaneity. Blue wants to take away any sense of impulsiveness. Blue doesn't want me to be true to who I am. The blue doesn't want a warm world. Blue wants a cold world, an emotionless world, a world in which there's no, you know, blue wants to snuff out what's in my heart. And red looks at white and says,

look, white doesn't want me to act out either because white is saying, white is prioritizing, look, it's better if, you know, it's better for everybody, you know, that me acting the way I want to act has the potential to hurt people. And red's like, yeah, it does. It does. But the world is not, you know, we can't live, like, both blue and white want to live in the sterile world where we maximize things not going wrong. And red's like, you know what, that's not life. Things go wrong. But things going wrong is not a bad thing. You learn from things going wrong. And so red looks at its two enemies and they're like, look, I just want, I want the ability to make mistakes. I want the ability to try things, to do things.

And then white and blue go, no, no, no, you shouldn't have that opportunity. Okay, so green. Green looks at its two enemies. Green's enemies are blue and black. So green is like, look, the world is perfect the way it is. You know, green seeks growth through acceptance. It wants the world to continue to do what it's doing. And it wants everybody

around it to let nature be nature. Let the world be the world. Green's problem is when other people step in and believe that they know better than the world. That they know better about themselves. They know better about their role. That green is like change is problematic.

Or no, I'm sorry. Unnatural change is problematic. You know, natural change is great. Things will evolve. Things will change. But when you try to subvert that, when you try to take something that is not, to make somebody something they are not. You know, if you try to, or have somebody, if you don't respect the role that you are in,

that you cause problems, you cause unhappiness, that you take somebody that fundamentally has certain qualities and blue tries to turn them into something else, they're not in the end going to be happy. Because they're not going to be true to who they are. You know, and that, look, you were born with certain qualities for a reason. There's nothing wrong with that. Don't be ashamed of that.

Own up to who you are. Embrace who you are. Accept who you are. And that blue wants you to deny that. Blue wants you to not own up to who you are as a person. And black, black won't accept your role, won't accept what place you have in the world. You know, black won't accept your role, won't accept what place you have in the world. You know, black won't, I mean, one of the things Green says is, look, you want to find happiness, accept who you are,

accept your role in the world, accept the piece that you play. You know, that happiness does not come from rejecting who you are. Happiness comes from accepting who you are. And Green looks at his two enemies and says, look, they're in denial. They don't want you to be who you are. They propose lies that try to say that you can be something else, and that's not true.

You are who you are. Accept who you are, and that when you fight that, when you fight that acceptance, you just create problems for yourself. Okay, so one of the things about today, hopefully as I walk through this, that you will see is that one of the neat things about the...

I mean, obviously, if you ever listen to this show, I love the color pie. I'm a huge fan. But what today I'm trying to show you is a lot of times I talk about the colors in isolation. And one of the neat things is talking about the colors as they connect to one another.

Now, I will do a different podcast at some point about the interconnectivity between the allies. I didn't do that today. But the neat thing about the conflicts is that the conflicts are not the conflicts are core to what is going on. One of the neat things about the color pie

is not that each color has its own identity. That is cool. But they fit in a system against each other. That who white is as a color, what white wants, is diametrically opposed to its two enemies. That there is no way for white to live its life and do what it wants if red and black are allowed to live the life they want to live. That red being red causes white problems. That red being red causes white problems. That black being black causes white problems. And so white has to look at this and say, oh, well, inherently in me getting what I want is me stopping these two forces, which are my enemies. And this is why this is important. It's not just like, I mean mean you can imagine a world in which all the colors are like

well I just believe my thing, okay but it goes beyond that and this is when you think about the color pie the colors get into conflict with each other because what they want is opposed white can coexist with green or blue but there's a way like I said we'll do a different podcast about why

the colors get along but white cannot get along. But white cannot get along with red and black. Now, people always ask me, by the way, that obviously we make red and white cards and white and black cards. How do we do that? And like, you know, there is, in character, you can have duality. You can have characters that sort of represent inherent conflict, and that's okay. I mean, you can do neat characters. The idea that, you know, people don't have

internal conflicts is just wrong. People are torn by things. People want things within themselves that contradict themselves. That is fine. There's nothing wrong with having conflict

within people. And a lot of when we do colors also is there is overlap between the colors. Even the enemies, there's areas of common ground. And when I talk about that, when I talk about the alliances maybe we'll hit on that a little bit.

But the neat thing today and the thing that I want people to understand is one of the cool things about the color pie is it's not just about the colors philosophies in a vacuum. It's the idea that the color's philosophies run into conflict with one another. And that is a really neat thing about it.

That white can't be white and live the life that white wants if red is red and lives the life red wants. Or black is black and lives the life that black wants. That inherently, they're going to come into conflict. And that's one of the cool things. The color pie does all sorts of great things for the game. It's the underlying

structure for both the mechanics and the flavor. But more so than that, it lends an ethos. So the one story I'll tell about the color pie is, I'm on the team that is doing the movie, that's consulting with the people making the movie.

And one of the things I begged when we first went down there is I said, please, please, please, I need to give them a little presentation on the color pie. Give me half an hour. Let me talk about the color pie with them. Because I said, once you understand,

like, this is the lifeblood of our game. This is what makes Magic Magic. Let me explain that. And it was fun. The people I was pitching to, these are people who make movies, who make stories, who are like, this is their life. This is what they do. That the idea of motivation and understanding and all that

is core to their identity, to them, to do the job they do that's very important. And that we can come and say, look, our game has built into it this ethos, these philosophies, and not just these philosophies, but these interconnectivity philosophies, these philosophies that live and breathe with one another. And the idea is, if I make a white character and make a red character, there's an inherent conflict between those characters. And I pointed out in my article, by the way, there's a lot of ways to express

the conflicts. I brought up white-red. In the article, I say that Ferris Bueller's Day Off is a white-red conflict. The Dark Knight is also a white-red conflict. Now, in each case, for example, in Ferris Bueller, the protagonist

is the red side, andris Bueller, the protagonist is the red side, and in Dark Knight, the protagonist is the white side, the villain is the red side. So the idea of these conflicts is, it's not as if, you know, there's a lot of way to express it, there's a lot of nuance in the conflict, you know, there's a lot of different ways, I mean, I didn't even get into all the different ways to express the conflict. I went into one version to hit the major things. I was trying to play out how the conflicts between the colors are similar between the things. But there's a lot of ways to express it, and there's a lot of different ways to look at it.

And it's neat to say that there's no right way. It's not like when red fights white that red's always right, or that white's always right. Each one can be right in the context of what kind of story you're telling. What's the philosophy of your main character, you know? If your philosophy of the main character is all about embracing the day, take Ferris Bueller, it's like, look, he just wants to have an awesome day. He just, you know, he goes to school all the time, and what is he learning from school, you know? And it's like, I just want to have, I mean, I'm not going to miss school all the time.

One day, for one day, let me do something that forever will, you know, give me this moment in life that's an amazing day. How often do you have a day that you remember for all your life? This is going to be Ferris Bueller's day off. And so he's trying to embrace that. He's following his heart.

He's doing a very red thing. But meanwhile, he takes a joker in Dark Knight and like, he is embracing chaos. He is embracing chaos in a dark and dangerous way. And that he, you know, the idea that each person embraces things, you can be a hero, you can be a villain. You can embrace something in a positive way or you can embrace it in a negative way. And that's one of the neat things about these conflicts. There's no right or wrong in these conflicts. The conflicts are not like one color is,

you know, that's the great thing about it is you can give me any color in any conflict and I can fight for that color. You know, like one of the things I love doing is voicing the colors. You know, doing dialogue. I love writing dialogue. And it's neat.

Like, one of the things I find very interesting is I like taking the colors and then talking about it from the perspective of the color. You know, that it's very easy to look at white versus black and go, oh, well, good versus evil. Okay, clearly white. But, you know, when I give the speech and I talk about self-empowerment and I talk about the idea of merit people start going whoa whoa whoa whoa I mean I like merit, merit is good that's very interesting that you can dig in and dig deep and go wow I get that side

and that's one of the things I'm hoping today is I want you to see that both sides have really valid arguments that it's not as if one side is 100% correct each side has their point and depending on who you are, I mean, I do think we as people will lean towards certain colors. I do

say, okay, when I talk about this conflict, you go, well, I kind of, you know, like take the blue versus red, the head versus heart argument. I do believe that people, you know, on a personal level, some people are more follow your heart, some are more follow your head. And that when you look at the conflict, hey, maybe you you lean a little more one way than the other. Because

you personally go, well, here's how I see things. But anyway, that's the big thing about the color pie. The reason I love the color pie is not only is it the ethos of magic, the foundation of magic, it's just cool. It's cool. It's neat. And that today I just wanted to sort of talk about the conflicts and get you to see part of the interactivity of the color pie. Like I said, I will spend endless probably podcasts talking about it because it is a deep, deep complex thing. And it's a really, really cool thing. And so I like to get as many people exposed to it as possible.

So anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed a different vantage point of the color pie. Looking at conflicts, which is a little bit different. Like I said, I will do another podcast where I look at why people get along. Today was more about why they don't. But anyway, I'm now driving up to my daughter's school. So we all know what that means. It means it's the end of the drive to work. So instead of talking magic, it's time for me to be making magic.

So I will see you guys next time. Bye-bye.