Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - #709: Black-Red

Episode Date: January 31, 2020

This is another in my two-color philosophy series. This time I talk black-red.

I'm pulling out of the parking lot. We all know what that means. It's time for another drive to work. And I dropped my kids off at school. Okay, so today is another in-mass series of two-color podcasts. So, last time we talked blue-black, so it's time to talk black-red. Okay, so, first off, let me explain a little bit about black and red. So black is the color that cares about power. Black wants to do what it wants to do. And black's big thing is it is willing to do what it takes.

Black likes to think of opportunity. likes to think of opportunity. That the thing that separates most colors from black is that they create rules that keep them from doing things. But black is like, I will do whatever it takes to get the job done. Red is a color about passion, about freedom, about emotion, about following one's heart. Red believes that within you is, you know, that your body fundamentally knows what it wants to do. And all you have to do is listen. That if

you listen to your heart, then you can find happiness. That the key to happiness is just being able to understand what it is that your body is asking for. And if you are happy, you can laugh. If you are sad, you can cry. If you're mad, you can punch somebody. And that red really wants to live in the moment. Okay, so what happens when black and red get together? Okay, so the way we do this, they are allied colors. So the way I always like to start is look at their shared enemy. So red and black's shared enemy is white. So white is all about order, structure, and the

good of the group. Well, black and red are a little bit more about individual motivations. Black wants to do what is good for black. Black wants to do what will advance black's cause. Black is very much about selfishness. And I know selfishness is often talked about in the pejorative, but there's a certain amount of selfishness that is good. There's a certain amount of selfishness where, hey, it's important that I look out for myself. And red very much comes from a very center focus. It's like, what am I feeling? Let me act on my emotions. So both black and red

very much are acting out of trying to do what it personally wants. So white is very much about the group. So black and red are very much about the group, so black and red are very much about the individual and the individual, you know, I like to say that black and red sort of are more self-centered, where white is more center of the group. So what does black and red have in common? So what does black and red have in common? Black and red really believes in taking care of oneself.

Now, like I said, I know sometimes when we sort of look at things, it's very easy. You know, like society as a whole has a very white perspective. So sometimes like, oh, looking out for yourself, you know, and like, no, no, no. There's a lot of things talking about how a lot of self-care is being willing to advocate for yourself and look out for yourself and, you know, acknowledging your feelings. And, you know, the, the idea that, that black, you know, black and red are really like, look, I want to be in touch with who I am. I want to be cognizant of my needs. And I want to make sure that I'm taking care of myself. And black-red is probably the colors on some level are the most tuned in to what they want.

They're the most aware of what they desire. That in many ways, if you look at the other colors, desire. That in many ways, if you look at the other colors, you know, the other colors are more, have a lot more of external looking. I mean, blue is probably the one in the middle. Like, if you start to talk about who looks at the group versus looks at the individual, white and green are more community-based, black and red are more individual-based, with blue kind of sitting in the middle between them. So when you get black and red together, they very much are about having a good time, being content in who you are.

You know, black red is the color most confident in who it is. The most like, I am me. I like me. I know who I am. And, you know, black red is probably the color combination of the most self-assuredness. Probably the best self-esteem. That, you know, black and red are the colors that, like, really do sort of look within and understand the needs of within. Also, an offshoot of that,

black and red are the colors that are the most willing to sort of take action. That red is very much about living in the moment and acting with spontaneity. And black is very much in seizing opportunity. So what happens when you have seizing opportunity along with a desire, a willingness to be spontaneous is you have people, you know, black red is very much about living life with no regrets.

Black red, not only is black red of good self-esteem, it has no regrets. Black red is living the life it wants to live. regrets. Black and red is living the life it wants to live. And the other thing about black and red in general when they get together is that they're willing to push boundaries. Like red is all about sort of doing what you want to do and black is about being willing to sort of, you know, not cutting yourself off from things. Like one of the things that black is very much about is saying this idea that things are off limits is just self-limiting.

That when you sort of set rules and say, well, you can't do that. Well, you can do that. You can't do that because you've convinced yourself you can't do it. And Black is very much in the mindset of, look, part of the freedom, you know, part of what opportunity means is recognizing the power you have within you to affect the things around you. And black really is like, you know, once you remove the shackles of morality or of right and wrong or of, you know, once you're really able to say, look,

here's what I'm able to do to affect the things I want to affect. You know, once you sort of take the shackles away of things you shouldn't be doing, there's a lot you can do to affect your life. Now take that sort of do-what-it-takes attitude of black and then add in red's impulsiveness. Red is like, act now. You know, if I'm feeling something, I act on the feeling in the moment that I am feeling it. And red really is the color of sort of living life to its fullest. Okay, well, if you take living life to its fullest

with the willingness to do anything, you get a pretty wild color pair. So the thing about black-red is black-red has really no constraints. You know, black-red is willing to do just about anything. And so black-red can be very dangerous in a very, like, I talk about how blue-black is dangerous in a subtle way. Like, you don't want to piss blue-black off because they'll get back to you, although not in a way you'll be aware of. You don't want to make, you don't want to upset black-red just because black-red can be pretty vicious. You know, black-red will protect itself.

It'll do what it needs to do. And it doesn't have any qualms, you know. It's got the impulsiveness with red and the willingness to do whatever of black. That's a potent combo and a dangerous combo. And I think when you see black and red get together, they're definitely a very, um, a very, uh, what's the word I'm looking for? You know, they, they're impetuous in a way that can be daunting.

And so, I mean, black and red are definitely not the colors you want to upset if you don't have the ability to deal with black and red at the moment. Because black and red will not put up with stuff. Black and red is willing to go toe-to-toe with whoever. Okay, so now let's look at the conflict between red and black. So the way we do this is we look at the allies of red and black, the other allies, and see what the conflict is between them. Okay, so red's other ally, other than black, is green.

Black's other ally, rather than red, is blue. Okay, so what's the fundamental difference between blue and green? The fundamental difference is the nature nurture. Blue believes that you are born a blank slate, that you can become anything you want to be, that how you choose to be what you want to be is by

knowledge of learning, education, training, getting the right tools, that anybody has the ability to be anything. Green believes you are born the way you are and that the key to life is understanding what it is the what role you were born into and living up to that role and living up to that purpose and so you know blue believes that you are that the environment is what matters you know that that nurture matters. Green believes it's who you are, it's your genes, it's nature that matters.

Okay, now let's apply that to black and red. What that means is black takes the blue side of the argument. Black definitely believes that you have the ability to change who you are, that you have the ability to be what you want to be, that nobody can tell you who you are. That you have the ability to be what you want to be. That nobody can tell you who you are. You have the ability to be what you want. And black very much, sort of leaning toward blue, has this attitude of if I want things, part of opportunity is understanding that you are not constrained

in any way. Just because you are a certain way and people tell you you're a certain thing doesn't mean you have to be that way. Just because you've done something a certain way doesn't mean you have to do it that way. And so black really embraces blue's sense of you can be what you want to be. Now red, on the flip side, leans toward green.

Red is like, I have emotions. Those are my emotions. I didn't make the emotions. The thing that drives me are not something I've created. It's something I'm following. And red really much believes, look, I want to follow my heart, but I don't decide what my heart wants. I don't make a conscious decision. And so red is like, hey, what I follow is something that is. You know, that my nature, my impulses are there. It's not as if it's something I create.

So black is kind of like, I can choose what I want to be. And red is like, I am what I am. And so that's probably the biggest conflict between black and red is sort of a nature of who are you and what makes you what you are. So when black and red get together, you get a mix of that. That red really much embraces who it is and the emotions that it's following, but black really has this attitude of, I can be what I want to be. So what tends to happen with black Red is Black Red follows its emotions,

but it really is willing to take that wherever it needs to go. That, you know, for example, Red might be, oh, I'm mad, I'll punch somebody. Where Black says, okay, I'm mad, I'm mad. I want to do something about this because I want to make sure that I'm addressing my anger. But just hitting somebody, that seems, you know, I can do better.

You know, and so black, the reason black red gets pretty dangerous is it has the wild impulses of red with the more vicious side of black. That if red is angry and goes, I'm angry, I'll hit somebody, then okay, I'm not angry anymore, I hit them enough.

Where black goes, no, no, no, no, no. If I'm angry, there's better ways to exact revenge. You get a much more dangerous, the black-red is much more dangerous than just red by itself but the reason the red I mean the reason it's extra dangerous is black by itself isn't particularly impulsive

and while black is willing to do things it at least doesn't do it impulsively where red while it might not do the dangerous things it is impulsive so having an impulsive nature with the willingness to do pretty dangerous things makes black red a mightily dangerous things, it is impulsive. So having an impulsive nature with the willingness to do pretty dangerous things makes black-red a mightily dangerous color. But it's important to understand the

dichotomy between them and that part of what any color combination is doing, especially allied color combinations, is it's a balance. And the black-red balance is very much about identity and who you are and what you want to be. Okay, so next, the next question is, what do they care about? What is their end goal? Well, the key to understanding the two colors is to look at their individual goals and then join them together. Okay, black wants power. Red wants freedom. So, black and red aren't, I mean, they vary in some regards, but

both of them fundamentally want to do what they want to do. Red wants the freedom to act out its emotions. Black wants the power to be able to, you know, affect things it wants to affect. And so, when you combine those together, you very much have a color combination where the end result is one of, I'm going to do what I want to do. Nobody's going to stop me.

And whatever it takes to do what I want to do, that is what will happen. And this is why red-black is quite dangerous, in that it will get impulses that are literally driven by whatever the impulses of red-black is, and it will do whatever it takes to accomplish that, and whatever it takes. Like, one of the things about red is, well, red is impulsive. Red is not necessarily vicious. You know, that Red is not out to, I mean, Red might accidentally kill somebody, or, you know, but Red

doesn't get into a fight expecting to kill somebody. It might happen accidentally, but it's not Red's plan. Where Black, when Black kills somebody, it meant to kill somebody. And so that impulse on Red's sort of in-the-moment nature. The other thing that Black and Red do is

that Black and Red very much embrace the idea of sort of the, how, if I act in a way that my opponent has trouble understanding, if I'm unpredictable, that there's power in unpredictability. unpredictable, that there's power in unpredictability. That one of the things that both red and black believe is, I don't want to be, well, red tends to be chaotic because red embraces chaos. Red is like, I'm going to do what I'm going to do and I'm based on impulses, so it's hard

to read me. You don't know what I'm going to do because I'm not consistent necessarily. Meanwhile, black is hard to read because black is consciously trying to get the upper hand. That black, you know, wants to keep you off balance. So that black is trying hard not to be easy to read. So when you combine those two together, you get a color combination that is unpredictable in a dangerous way. And,

because of the nature of how the two colors function, it is willing to make decisions very fast. That's another big thing about... Now, given red-green is the most instinctual color combination. Black tempers red a little bit. Green... As I'll get into on the next podcast when I do red-green.

Red and green are the wildest colors. They're the ones that are least constrained by any sort of planning. So black constrains a little more. But the dangerous thing there is red has an impulsified that wants to act in the moment and black doesn't have the safety guidelines. Black is just, like, so for example, if in the moment Black Red decides that somebody dying

is in Black Red's advantage, it'll kill them. You know? Now on the flip side, Black Red also has a lot of fun in that it's, you know, it's Black Red really, fundamentally what Black Red wants is it wants to, it wants to experience things in a way that allows it to, you know, it wants, how do I put this? black red is wants to live a life of pushed boundaries. Wants to live a life where it never doesn't do something because there's some external reason

telling it it can't. You can tell what black and red is the enemy of white. That black and red are like there are no rules per se. Black and red is the color combination that's kind of,

is the rule breaking colors. It's sort of like, I don't accept the authority, whoever is telling me that rules exist, I don't accept that authority. Black and red is pretty anti-authority. That black-red isn't going to let others tell it what it can or can't do. Black-red is going to do what it wants to do.

And it is very hard to cage in black-red. Okay, so black and red want to do what they want to do. Okay, but what is... Oh, how do they achieve those goals? Okay, so black and red wants to do what it want to do. Okay, but what is... Oh, how do they achieve those goals? Okay, so they... Black and Red wants to do what it wants to do, and it wants to have... It wants to live a life it wants to live, and it wants to do the things it wants to do in the moment. Okay, but how does it do that? Okay, well, first off, it has the tools of Black and Red.

So, Black is... black and red are two much destructive colors. That both black and red have this attitude of, how do I deal with something that's problematic? I destroy it. Black will kill things. Red will blow things up. That black-red has a very destructive nature in that if something gets in my way,

I'm going to get rid of it, and I'm willing to use violence to do that. And so black-red is the most destructive color combination. Black-red is like anything that gets... I will destroy anything that gets in my way. If I'm able to destroy it, I will destroy anything that gets in my way. If I'm, if I'm, if I'm able to destroy it, I will destroy it. And so black red is, um, makes great use of, um, all the tools at its disposal that can get rid of stuff. It embraces death, it embraces fire, it embraces, you know, any, anything available to it that allows it to get what it wants.

And so it really uses all the destructive powers available to it. And if you look at black and red, they're the two colors that just have the most ability to destroy things, especially living things. So there's a huge arsenal of things available. Black will use death, will use disease, will use fatigue.

Anything that can weaken something, it will make use of that. Red is all about sort of being destructive by nature. So it has a lot of different ways, whether it's fire or electricity or earth. Whatever tool it has available, it will use those

to get rid of the thing that's in its way. And so that's one of the things that's a very telltale sign of black and red is it has a large arsenal of destructive qualities. Okay, so what don't they like? What are black and red against? They really do not like structure. They do not like rules.

They do not like someone telling them that they can't do what they want to do. And they bristle. And not only do they bristle, they'll bristle at any rules. It's not like, you know, as far as black and red is concerned, rules are the enemy. And if black and red finds itself up against rules, somebody trying to imply rules, they'll just try to break them for the sake of breaking them.

One of black and red's problems, and we're talking into the sort of the negatives of of black and red is black and red really has a hard time with somebody else telling them what to do. Black and red is not a particular team player. Black and red is not, does not take kindly to looking out for other people. You know, I mean, red, red leans toward green. It can get a little bit more community minded to it. But when red leans toward

black, when red really embraces the selfishness of black, it could care less about other people. And that's one of black red's biggest problems is it is so self-centered that it is it doesn't do a good job of understanding other people. It doesn't do a good job of caring about other people.

It doesn't do a good job of acknowledging other people. It doesn't do a lot of accommodation. Black Red is very selfish and very inwardly focused. And so one of its biggest negatives is it never harnesses the power of groups. It never harnesses the power of cooperation. It never harnesses the power of the mini outweighing, the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. And that is its biggest weakness, is that it assumes that everybody acts like itself. That black and red is very, very self-centered. And so

it assumes that everybody's motivations function the way its motivations are. And it really has a hard time dealing with something where people are making noble gestures or thinking about others or, you know, probably the biggest problem that Red Black runs into is a group that's working together. Because Black Red itself does not work all that much together. I mean, Black and Red will hang around other Black and Red people because they enjoy their company, but it's not as if they can depend on each other to be there for them. When the going gets tough,

black and red will... I mean, if black and red is the one that's in trouble, it will fight to the death, and it's very dangerous when cornered. But when black to red, it's not black-red itself that's getting harmed. It's somebody adjacent black-red. Black-red will cut ties. Black-red does not have great loyalties.

And that, I think, is its greatest weakness. It's its lack of loyalty. Its lack of willing to think about others. It makes it very isolated, and it makes it something where black-red often is not having the support that it needs. Okay, so what are Black and Red's greatest strengths and greatest weaknesses? I think its greatest strength, or it has a couple strengths. One is

it's very focused. It knows what it wants and it is, it both knows what it wants and it's not willing to let things stay in its way. So black-red has a laser focus. Now, what black-red wants can change. Black-red is not necessarily consistent but it is focused. And black-red is very in the moment. The other thing about black-red is black-red

is one of the color combinations that is the most willing to act quickly. That black-red, you know, does embrace spontaneity, does embrace making quick calls fast. You're not just making them fast, but they're not living with a regret. That's another big thing of black red.

Black red has no regret. Black red is like, I'm living life, I want to live it, and I'm not going to regret anything. I'm just going to do what I want to do, and things are going to happen, and that's my life. That's the way it is. So its greatest weakness is that black-red is not particularly good at

thinking long-term. Black-red is... I want... Well, black-red is like, I'm going to deal in the moment with what is causing me problems, and I will make drastic solutions to solve it. You know, I'll do whatever I need to do to solve it.

But black-red can often get itself in trouble. Black-red is definitely a color combination that will often do things impulsively in the moment that cause ramifications down the road. That when black gets together with blue, it's very careful and thought out in how it functions. But black gets together with red and it makes a lot of very in-the-moment decisions. And so one of black-red's biggest

weaknesses is that it doesn't have restraint. That it doesn't have the ability to sort of think through what it's going to do. Now on the plus side, it's fast to do. Now, on the plus side, it's fast. It is something where it can act in the moment and really make sort of definitive decisions. But those decisions aren't always the right decisions. The willingness to make very split-second decisions

means some of the time you're doing the wrong thing. And the other problem for Black-Red is Black-Red doesn't really accept responsibility. Black-Red isn't really believing in morality. So Black-Red is doing what Black-Red has to do. And if Black-Red does something wrong, if it makes a mistake, Black-Red is just like, well, sometimes you make mistakes. It doesn't really have much remorse. And that's important to understand is that because red black does not have a lot of personal connections

that it is not grounded. It doesn't have things around it sort of, you know, black-red definitely gets a little caught up on itself, but it doesn't have anything to sort of bring it back down. There's no larger picture at play. And so black-red can be very lonely and black-red can be very self-destructive. You know, that black and red are not the colors that are being introspective. Um, and so black and red kind of live in the moment and then have to live with its consequences.

And that... One of the downsides of black-red is that it will make decisions that it's unhappy with and then have to live with them. And, um, it will. decisions that it's unhappy with and then have to live with them. And it will. I mean, Black Red really doesn't stew necessarily on what has happened. But it does recognize that sometimes it will make mistakes, and the mistakes will have an emotional toll. And Black Red accepts that as kind of the cost of doing business.

What else? Let's see, what else I can say about Black Red? How are we doing on time? Okay, I'm at 30 minutes. What else? So one of the things about Black and Red is that black and red, um, they, they, they like to have fun. Um, probably of all the color pairs, black red is the most fun, I think. Um, just like it's going to do whatever it needs to do

to get what it wants. Some of the times what it wants is to be happy, to enjoy itself. And so when that goes on, red-black will do whatever it takes. Black-red will do whatever it takes to enjoy itself. It'll throw the wildest parties. It is really...

But it means it has a fun side. You know, blue and black, for example, get very serious and sort of never embrace the fun side. Black-red embraces the fun side. Black-red says, here's who I am, here's what I want to do, and let's do those things. That sounds like fun.

And so black-red really has an air of want to do. Let's do those things. That sounds like fun. And so black-red really has an era of fun to it. It has an era of... It can be... Well, yeah. So it can be very focused in the moment. But red-black will not be focused, like, it's very focused in the micro and never focused in the macro.

You know, black-red is not the color that really thinks through what is going to happen. It sort of does stuff and then acts accordingly. So that's another way to talk about it. Black-red is the most spontaneous color in the sense of, you know, the two trends of spontaneity is it does things that sort of,

in the moment that it's impulsed by, and then that is how it shapes its things. Now, on the plus side, being very spontaneous means that you're very loose and limber and can deal with things as they happen because you're used to experiencing with life as it's constantly changing on you. So it's black and red is much more comfortable with dealing with things that

are unexpected. But because it doesn't think things through because it doesn't take the time to really understand some of the ramifications that it does, it can get itself in trouble. Red-black often gets itself in trouble. Anyway, I'm trying to think of anything else to say about red-black. Let me look at my list and see what I've covered. Okay, so I've talked about what they have in common.

I've talked about how they differ. I've talked about what they have in common. I've talked about how they differ. I've talked about their internal conflict. I've talked about what the two colors care about. I've talked about their end goal. I've talked about what means do they have to accomplish it. I've talked about what they despise, what negatively drives them. I've talked about their strengths and weaknesses. So that is, I think I hit all the major points of black and red.

So I'm almost at work, but the point I want to make out about black and red is that it is a vivacious color combination. It is a color combination that really tries to maximize what life can be. And so it is one, like I said, the red block feels good about itself most of the time. It has, it is focused on what it wants and it is very, although I should say, it's focused, but that focus can change

based on lots of criteria. I mean, whatever it cares about, it cares about, but that thing can change from time to time. So that's another negative of red-black is there's a little bit of inconsistency in it. And there's also a little bit of that red-black can go overboard, that one of the things to watch out for with black and red is that black and red can definitely sort of in the moment do something and then have it spin out of control. And it can spiral sometimes where it kind of does something it wasn't supposed to do, but then it's got to, you know, like someone is going to be mad, so I kill them because I'm black and red.

And then like, oh, but I'm going't get in trouble that I killed this person, so I will have to take ramifications to, you know, like, black-red definitely sort of can get itself buried in layers of problems because it acts so impulsively that it can have to come back and then solve those later. Anyway, I hope that gives you a general good sense of what black and red are. I think it's a fun color combination. It is definitely, you know, when you play it, it's a very distinctive feel. That, you know, when you have a color combination that's willing to sacrifice whatever it needs to,

or do whatever it needs to to get what it wants, you get a pretty impulsive and aggressive call-up. Anyway, I'm now pulling into work. So we all know what that means. It means it's the end of my drive to work. So instead of talking magic, it's time for me to make it magic. Hope you guys enjoyed today's show. See you next time.