Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - #706: Blue-Black

Episode Date: January 17, 2020

This is the second, of ten, in my two-color philosophy series.

I'm pulling on my driveway. We all know what that means. It's time for the drive to work. Okay, so recently I started doing a series on two color pairs. And so I have done white-blue, so it's time to do blue-black. Okay, so let me start by talking about what these colors have in common and why they're together. Okay, so real quickly, let's run through blue and black. So blue is the color that wants perfection. It does it through knowledge. The idea being blue believes that the goal in life is to be the best that you can be. And to do that, you have to learn, you have to understand that being best that you can be. And to do that, you have to learn,

you have to understand that being the best you can be takes training, there's education involved, there's training involved, there's experience involved, there's the use of tools. Blue is like, what can I do to be the best version of me that I can be? Blue is like, what can I do to be the best version of me that I can be? And that because that it believes that, you know, that everyone's born a blank slate, that can become whatever they want to be through the proper education and such.

It really values knowledge because the key to becoming the best you can be is understanding what that is. It's understanding what is your potential and then meeting your potential. Black wants power. Black wants to do what black wants to do. And that black believes that the ultimate goal of life is having power over every situation. life is having power over every situation. And as such, Black is willing to do whatever it needs to do. Black believes that life has lots of opportunities and that the problem for most people is they are not willing to do what it takes to get what they want. And Black does not have that restriction. Black is like, I'm going to get what I need to be able to do what I want

and whatever it takes for me to do that, I'm going to be willing to do that and that black believes that there are a lot of external things and some internal things that people do to prevent themselves from getting what they want and black says, no, no, no, I will take every opportunity afforded to me.

There is no taboo to black. There's nothing that black goes, that is off limits. There is no off limits. Anything black can do to get what it wants. Okay, so what happens when blue and black gets together? So the first thing we do when we have an ally-colored pair, as blue and black is, is I like to look at their shared enemy to understand what they have in common. Okay, well, blue and black's shared enemy is green.

Green is all about the status quo, about accepting the world the way it is. So essentially, where blue and black get together and where they contradict with green is the idea of change. Blue believes you can become anything that you want to be. Green believes, no, you are born the way you are and you need to accept your role. You cannot become anything. You are born, nature versus nurture. You are born the way you are,

and the ultimate of life is not to become something you're not, but rather accept what you are. Black believes in free will. Black believes that you can do whatever you put your mind to, and that you can, whatever, your role in life is the role that you carve out for yourself. Green says, no, no, no, no. You're destined, you have destiny.

You are destined to do something. You don't have exactly the free will in the sense that black wants it. Green is like, no, no, no. The key to life is understanding what your responsibilities are and then living up to them. That you have a role that you were born into filling that role. And blue and black both are like, no, no, no, no, no. You have the ability to dictate who you are and what role you play in life. So blue and black get together on the importance of change.

Blue and black both believe that it is through the process of change that you can get the things you need now blue's change is a little more internal blue's change is about changing who you are black's change is a little more external about changing things around you to get the you what you want so for example blue might, okay, I want to become better. I will learn about stuff. I then will take classes. I will train myself. I will seek out tools.

I will do the things so that I, over time, can change who I am to become the better me. Black is like, I want something. What's in my way? Well, you know what? I'm going to eradicate the things in my way. And that might be killing people or, you know, whatever you need to do. And so, you know, if the situation in life you have is not right, well, change the situation. Maybe somebody's in your way. Yeah, get rid of that person or dissuade them.

Or, you know, I mean, black's not always about killing. Black's more than happy to kill, but sometimes dissuading does better. You know, sometimes influence does better than just killing somebody. Anyway, both of those ideas are against green. And so that is the core idea that blue and black can bond over, which is that you need to step up to get what you want. That blue and black really has this attitude of, hey, if you want something, it is up to you to get it. You have the abilities to make that happen. And you need to be the change in the world that you want to see. Okay. Now,

and a lot of this, we've been talking about sort of the overlap of the, of what they have in common is, okay, so let's look at their enemies for a second, because that'll help delineate between them. So, blue's other ally, other than black, is white, so let's look at their enemies for a second, because that'll help delineate between them. So blue's other ally, other than black, is white, and black's other ally, other than blue, is red.

Okay, well, what's the conflict between white and red? Oh, the conflict between white and red is ordering, is the idea of order versus chaos. Or, I guess that's a white way of putting it, the idea of the importance of being careful and deliberate in what you do. You know, white very much says, you know, the idea of order is there's a process and there are, you know, like White is very much looking out for the group as a whole and saying, what can we do to ensure that the most people are benefited as possible? And part of that is everybody being very deliberate and exact in what they are doing and that there being rules in place that maximize the greater good.

Red, on the flip side, is very much about freedom, about embracing the internal narrative. And the idea is, red wants each person to be what they can be. Red wants people to embrace, you know, white is thinking very much of every action you take should be benefiting the group as a whole.

And red is very much, I'm going to take the actions that benefit me and the people I care about. Meaning, white is very much saying, hey, maybe there will be laws and things that aren't the best for me,

but they tend to be the best for society in general. And red is like, I want to make sure that people have the ability to follow their heart. Red is very much about, I want people to follow their passion. And so less rules. I don't want people to not be able, I don't want, ironically, red tape to get in the way. I don't want, you know, the last thing that red likes

is for somebody to be prevented to do what they do out of byproducts of things that don't directly matter. You know, and that's why red very much embraces the idea of people doing what they need to do for themselves.

Where white is very much about people doing what they need to do for the good of everybody. So we get to white, we get to blue and black. So blue definitely understands the idea of the need for order. Blue wants to be structured.

You know, and so when blue looks at how it's going to organize things, blue very much wants to take some caution to it, right? Blue wants to slow things down a little bit. Obviously, when blue and white get together, they sort of contradict red's sort of reckless nature. And that, you know, blue definitely, blue is a color that says, I want to be careful and exacting in what I do.

White's a little bit more, because I want to make sure everybody's taken care of. But blue, the reason blue likes structure is I want to be the best that I can be. If I rush through that, if I don't take my time, if I'm too impulsive, I might make the wrong decisions. You know, part of being the best that you can be is taking the time and energy to understand what you need to do. And so blue is very exacting. Blue is very, I want to make change, but I want to make change carefully. I want to make change thoughtfully. I want to make change that is, you know, I want to think through every change that I'm making.

Black is a little more in, embraces Red's spontaneity. That black recognizes that you can't sort of necessarily plan everything out. That black is a little more on the idea of you have to sort of be willing in the moment to act. That black recognizes the importance of spontaneity

and the importance of speed and action. Because sometimes if you sort of take too long to think things through, it becomes harder for you to get what you want. That things can solidify with time. And black understands that one of the strengths, when black says it's willing to do whatever it needs to take whatever it needs to do um part of that is acting quickly you know acting with that black understands the need to make impulsive decisions that will get you what you want and that blue is like i want to change i mean blue and black are all about change but blue is like, I want to change. I mean, blue and black are all about change. But blue is about, I want to make change carefully and with precision.

And black is like, I want to intuitively understand what I'm doing, but I want to make sure that I'm being exacting what I'm doing, but be willing to be brash in its decision making. And that one of the things that Black has come to realize is that when you do things slowly, one of Black's big things is what are the problems that people have that prevent them from doing what they want?

And one of the problems, when Black looks at white and blue, is this desire for exactness, this desire for precision. And that while Black can appreciate at times it needs precision, it recognizes that sometimes what you need to get the job done is being willing to act, you know, that sometimes you need speed. Sometimes you need to be quick in your decision making and that some problems get solved because you're fast and exacting. And now black is not quite as reckless as red. Black does think things through a little more than red does, but black doesn't believe that you need the amount of thought that blue and white seem to think you do.

And once again, blue is more about maximizing its decisions to make sure it's making the right decision, where white is sort of maximizing, slowing things down to make sure that everybody, that the group as a whole is safer. But one of the big conflicts between blue and black, when you get right down to it is how

how structured are the decisions that you're making how exacting are the decisions how much do you have to think things through and white very much has the thought process of you need to be careful about what you're doing. Where red has this essence of a little bit of recklessness is good. A little bit of spontaneity is good. That part of getting done what you need to get done is willing to make moves, is willing to do things in the moment.

done is willing to make moves, is willing to do things in the moment. And so blue is very much long term and black is more in the moment. That's one of the biggest conflicts between the two. Okay. So what fundamentally is their internal conflict? I think their internal conflict is this idea of how change, they agree, they agree that change needs to happen. But they fundamentally disagree in sort of the means by which you do that, the importance by which you are making decisions, and the importance by which you are making decisions and the importance by which you are

making change. Blue, for example, definitely believes that the way to get the best output is carefully weighing all the decisions. Blue craves knowledge. So blue is like, I want to make sure that I'm doing everything I can so that my decisions are the best decisions possible. Black really understands that there is a need for speed. That there is one of the advantages that Red has that Black really taps into is the idea that you have to be willing to sort of follow your gut. You have to be willing.

That part of making things happen is not letting other factors slow you down. Not letting, you know, black does not have this. Black's belief is work in the moment, do what you need to do. And if that causes problems, well, you need to do, and if that causes problems, well, you'll solve that. Black is like, okay, if I kill somebody and me killing them, okay, that ends up

being a problem, okay, whatever, I'll kill somebody else. I'll solve that down the road. Black understands, so, okay, this is one of the other big differences between blue and black. Blue fundamentally believes in a sense of order in the universe understand. So, okay, this is one of the other big differences between blue and black. Blue fundamentally believes in a sense of order in the universe and that if you take your time, you know, that there is, blue is very much in the mindset of things want to be neat and orderly.

That there are systems, you know, like blue loves when it studies things with information of understanding the system, of understanding how things work. And blue is very much a master of working within the system. Black is very much about breaking the system where it needs to. That black understands that,

black realizes that life is kind of messy. Blue sees life as relatively orderly. Blue sees life as there are things that happen and if you can understand all the pieces moving together, you can affect them and fine-tune things and create change. Blacks realize that life is inherently messy, that people's decisions are biased. You know, black looks at the world and says, look, people inherently are greedy. People, you know, people are making decisions based on their emotion. You know, black recognizes that it's not a neat and orderly world and that to get done what you got to get done,

it's not a neat and orderly world. And that to get done what you've got to get done, sometimes you've got to break some eggs. And that black recognizes, black sees itself as someone who understands that black's whole take on it is black's the color

that is willing to look at the world as it is. Not as you want it to be, but as it is. So blue definitely has a little bit of wanting to see the world as you'd like it to be. And black has a sense of looking at the world as it is. And so that is another big sort of fundamental difference between blue and black. Okay, so what does blue and black care about? So we understand that blue and black is trying to change the world. Um, but blue and

black understand that part of, of changing things is understanding, um, you need a couple things. One is, blue and black understand the value of information. That blue and black both realize that if you are going to bring about change, it is going to happen because you are willing, essentially, blue is like,

I want to learn everything I can learn. And black is, I want to do whatever it takes to do. So combine those two things. Have an attitude of knowledge matters and of I will take the steps I need to take to do it. So a lot of blue and black is looking at the system, understanding the system, and then being able to take advantage of the vulnerabilities. And that is one of the key things, is that blue says, blue and black says, as a color pair, okay, I want to bring about change.

I want to be, you know, I want to put myself in the best possible position that I can be. You know, I want to both improve myself and improve my situation. Blue and black together. And the way to do that is get a knowledge of the systems and then when willing to play at the weakness. So for example, blue studies things, understands what makes them work, and then black says, okay, now that I understand them,

what can I do to turn it in my favor? So when blue and black together, they're very sneaky. They understand the importance of people not being aware of what you're up to. Blue is very knowledge conscious. So the idea that knowledge is power and that me knowing something you don't has value to it. And then black comes along with the idea that I want to work from, I want to have the advantage. I want to always have the advantage. So the idea of me knowing something you don't puts me in an advantage over you. So blue and black very much of the color pairs are the ones that use knowledge as a weapon.

They use knowledge as a means. So, for example, blue likes to learn things. Black likes to use whatever resources it can to get what it wants. Blackmail, for example. Using information as a weapon to get what you want. Blackmail, for example. Using information as a weapon to get what you want. Very blue-black. Using somebody's preferences

or using somebody, you know. Another thing that blue and black will do is understand what motivates somebody and then use that understanding and motivation to lean on people. Black is willing to do whatever it takes, right? So, think of blue and black as this. Blue gathers the knowledge so it understands things.

Black takes advantage of that knowledge. Right, maybe it's blackmail. Maybe it's, I know something about you that if other people know would cause problems, so I can now have influence over you. Maybe it's, there know something about you that if other people know would cause problems. So I can now have influence over you. Maybe it's, there's something that you value that if I understand you value, I can put, I can threaten you with that. You know, maybe there's somebody you care about and I understand that's what you care

about. So I can threaten that thing to get you to do what you want. I can manipulate you. So blue black is all about using knowledge as a weapon and as a means to influence other people. The other thing that blue and black are very much about, so if blue craves knowledge, which black will then exploit, black is also willing to take opportunities which blue can be smart about. So we can flip that.

So the blue tools, which is blue learns knowledge, black executes on them, is use the knowledge as a weapon. Okay, now flip the script now. Black says, okay, I'm willing to do what it takes. Now combine that with blue's processing of, okay, well, if you're willing to do what it takes. Now combine that with blue's processing of, okay, well if you're willing to do what it takes, let's think through how to best effectively do that. And blue-black, when you get together,

it's the color that's going to get the job done in a way that everybody else is least aware of. For example, in Magic, the way I like to describe the blue-black deck archetypally is that it's going to get advantage on the opponent, but in ways that the opponent might not be aware it's getting advantage. For example, black and blue love getting very subtle card advantage, where I'm answering your threats in a way where I'm going up cards, but in a way that's kind of subtle, that on its surface does, like

black and blue is the kind of color where it just slowly kind of wins and it's not really advertising what its strength is it is not, like, if you don't understand the nature of the game like black and blue kind of takes advantage of the nature of the game, saying, okay

I'm going to use card advantage to my advantage, but in a subtle way where a player that's not really aware of what I'm up to is not going to even understand how I'm beating them. It's like, oh, I'm answering your threats while going up in cards. So little by little, I just have more and more answers to the point at which I gain control of the game. And then I can do whatever I need to to get at you. Now, another area that blue and black take advantage of is blue and black understand the importance of thought.

So blue and black are also the colors that are most willing to go after the mind. Now, blue tends to want to study the mind and tweak the mind. Blue, for example, is very much into making people forget things or creating false information that will mislead people. Black, a little more blunt. Black is like, you know, if I can just remove a memory from you or if I can damage your brain in a way that you don't think as well. And so when blue and black get together, they're very much the colors that will mess with other people's heads. And so, for example, they're the colors that will make you forget things, the colors that

will implant false memories, the colors that really will mentally mess with you. So what is the end goal? What does blue-black care about? Well, once again, blue-black cares about change, and it wants to get what it wants in the most efficient way it can. It wants to sort of, like once again, it is seeking perfection and power. It is trying to be the best that it can be in an environment that's the most conductive to it being able to do what it wants.

And so, blue and black are very much about study and learn, recognize the situation, and then take advantage of it at the best that you can. And because of that, blue and black very much appreciate stealth. They very much are the believer that knowledge is important,

but also, not only is knowledge important for you, but the lack of knowledge also is a tool. Not only do you knowing things is valuable, but your opponent not knowing things. Whether that's you learning things that you don't inform them about, whether it's you taking away knowledge so they don't know it anymore, whether it's you misleading them so they think something that's not true,

blue and black will use whatever those means necessary to get the things that it wants. Okay, so what does blue and black not like? What negatively drives blue and black? Once again, you can go look at their shirt, Enemy Green, which is this idea

that any sort of thing that prevents change, any sort of thing that prevents change, any sort of thing that propagates the idea that you shouldn't be allowed to change yourself or to change others or to change situations. When blue and black face something in which change can't happen, in which things are locked up, like blue and black are something in which change can't happen, in which things are locked up, like, blue and black are not big fans of tradition.

They're not big fans of sort of preset rules. They're not big fans, you know, blue and black do not like it when their ability to change things is hampered by the idea that built into the system is a resistance to change. They do not like any kind of resistance to change of any, of any, you know, the, for example, the idea that there's systems set into place that have been that way forever and that you can't change them because that, like, you want to make blue-black drive up the wall is the idea of unflexibility and

when green and black face a system that is unwilling to change because of the familiarity and the people get very much set in their ways because of the familiarity and the... People get very much set in their ways. And systems can get very much set in their ways. Blue and black do not like things set in their ways. Blue and black do not like things

that by the nature of what they are are really carved in and immovable or inflexible. And that is why blue and black, when they run into things that they think are obstacles, are willing to remove those obstacles because it sees it as a barrier to change. Blue and black together

as a color pair, so black very much is about death. And as you see when we get to black-red, black-red is not afraid of doing what needs to get done and if things die, they die. But that's more of actions leading to death, where blue-black is thoughts leading to death, meaning you figuring out who is in your way

and removing the things that are in your way. Blue and black have no problem. You know, assassination is a very blue-black thing. And when I say assassination, meaning blue-black is very much about pinpoint killing. Not brute killing, not in-the-moment killing, but premeditated, thought-about, planned on, killing for a purpose and a reason to advance your agenda. Oh, is something in your way? And if that something wasn't in your way, you would be able to change what you wanted to change? Okay, well, guess what?

We'll remove that from the equation. Blue and black are very much willing to do that. Blue and black are very much willing to do that. Okay, so what is blue and black's greatest strength? What is blue and black's greatest weakness? Okay, so I think blue and black's greatest strength is its willingness to understand systems and take action to do what it wants. Blue-black as a color pair on some level is the most dangerous color pair. Blue and black have no, they're not held back by morals. They're not held back by feelings. It's funny that if you look at white, white is all about morality, where black is about amorality. White believes there is a system of goods that must be followed, that there are laws to behavior. Blue is all

about intellect. Red is all about emotion. Blue believes that you have to follow your thoughts. Red believes you have to follow your feelings. Okay, now let's take the intellectual part of blue and the morality part of black. Imagine a color pair that doesn't believe in morality and doesn't believe in emotions. Meaning, I got to do what I got to do, cold and calculating.

So when you mix blue and black together, its greatest strength is it's got the cold calculating part of blue with the do what it takes part of black. And that is a dangerous color pair. That is a color pair that will do what is in its best interest long term. So what is its weakness?

Its greatest weakness, I think, is that blue and black do not appreciate tradition, do not appreciate the value. So on some level, if you look at the white and green, their shared thing is about community. They very much look out for community. Red and green, their very thing is looking out for the importance of instinct and impulse, of sort of living in the moment. instinct and impulse of sort of living in the moment. So the problem is, when you look at what blue and black aren't about, is it's not about community. It's not about thinking about others. So blue and black, one of their weaknesses is they can't understand the importance and value

of looking out for other people. That there are systems that get set in place that the strength from the system comes from looking at the larger group. Blue and black do not get that. Likewise, red and green are very much about the willingness to hit instinct and impulse. Blue and black do not want to do that. Blue and black very much want to think everything out and plan everything. And so I think the greatest weaknesses of blue and black is that they do not understand the strengths of the group and they do not understand the strengths of the internal to the individual. That they tend to look at the external and they tend to look at the individual. So one of the things, for example,

is there's a lot of benefit that can come. Like blue-black is very isolated. Even blue-black as a group, even when blue-black gets together, there's no closeness between that group. That blue and black is a group that any member of the group could turn blue and black is a group that any member of the group could turn on any member of the group at any time. That

there's no allegiance to the group. And so one of the problems is that blue and black are always on the guard, are always on the lookout, and they always want to believe the worst because they have to act that way. You know, if no one ever has your back, you have to always live in a world where you assume someone could stab you at any moment. So there's no peace for blue and black. There's no, that blue and black are, you know, while they might be the colors that look out

and are willing to take whatever, you know, to do whatever it takes to get done, they live in a constant state of fear because they live in a world where, you know, if you believe you're willing to stab anybody in the back, you believe anybody could stab you in the back. So there is no, there is a, blue does not have any sense of closeness or bonding.

You know, blue is probably the color combination that is the least connected to others. Also, because blue and black are so much methodical in how they function, that they really are immune to the idea of doing something without thought. doing something without thought. That there is a lot of value and strength that comes from embracing your instinctual, impulsive side. And blue-black never does that.

So blue-black, blue-black is just not the color making impulsive decisions. And there's no real spontaneity to blue-black. And so the problem that blue-black gets into is that when things go awry, when things don't quite go according to plan, that blue and black is not quite as good on its feet as other colors because it relies so much on understanding the situation

that when it gets into situations it doesn't understand, it has larger problems. So it also means that it's not particularly fast in action. It's not quite as slow as blue-white, but it is pretty slow, comparatively speaking. And so that is something that very much impacts blue-black. The blue-black, because it relies so much on understanding the situation and really taking advantage of its knowledge, that when you put it in a place

that it's unfamiliar with, it does not have tools to adapt very well. That blue and black blue and black is not the colors that if you put it in a foreign situation where it doesn't understand it, it has the most problem sort of understanding what's going on and adapting quickly.

So one of the cool things about blue and black as a color pair is, it is definitely the color pair that makes sure that the other color pairs don't understand it all that well. That it values it knowing what's going on. In general, blue and black is at an advantage when it knows more than its opponent. And it's at a disadvantage when it doesn't. And so blue-black thrives when it can craft the environment. When it is king of knowing what's going on, blue and black is one of the most dangerous color pairs. That, for example,

if you said to me, what color pair do you least want to upset? You don't want to upset black-red. That's also pretty bad. But black-blue is going to get back to you in a way that it's not in your face. Red-black is probably just going to get in a fight with you. Or red-green might get in a fight with you. But black-blue is going to get back at you when you least expect it in a way that you're not expecting. That black-blue is the sneakiest, trickiest of the color combinations. And it is something, it is very dangerous that when it is doing its thing there's no color that has a chance to stand up to it but on the flip side it is very dependent on on

prep and very dependent on it understanding the situation as soon as it gets outside of the situation that understands it is a huge weakness it is not have the flexibility it does not have the spontaneity. You know, it relies on making the right decision because it understands what needs to get done. When you get out of that situation, it is not good. Anyway, that, my friends, is blue and black. So I hope you guys are enjoying these hookahs. Like I said, I'm going to do them every once in a while. It means that, I don't know how long, my guess is I'll do them every couple weeks, so in a matter

of months time I'll get to all ten. And I'm doing them in order, so next up will be red-black, or black-red. Anyway, that, my friends, is blue. I'm driving up to work as we speak right now. So, as you guys all know, I love the color pie. And so it's fun talking to the colors and what the colors care about and like about each other.

And, you know, why they're good together and bad together. And, you know, I find all that fascinating. But, now at work. 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'll see you guys next time.