Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - Drive to Work #200 - Black-Red

Episode Date: February 13, 2015

Mark shares his third podcast in his series on two color-pairs, talking about the interactions between black and red.

I'm put on my driveway. We all know what that means. It's time for another drive to work. Okay, today is part three in an ongoing mega-series on the color pairs. So, I've done white-blue, I've done blue-black, and today it's black-red's turn. So, in these podcasts, what I do is I want to talk about what the colors are, how they relate to each other, how they're different from each other, and sort of, when you mix them together, what do you get? So let's talk black and red. Okay, so black.

Black wants power through opportunity. What that means real quickly is black wants absolute power. Black wants the ability to control everything, and the way that black does that is it is willing to do whatever it takes. Black believes that the other colors have boundaries, that they have self-created boundaries, that other colors just won't do things because they decide it's not okay to do them. But black says that's weakness, that the key to getting what you want is being willing to take whatever

opportunities you need. There's nothing off limits for black. Black is willing to do literally anything. Red, on the other hand, red seeks freedom through action. Red follows its heart. Red wants to do what it wants to do. Red has impulses it needs to follow. And so what Red ultimately wants is the ability to do what it wants, to have total freedom, to not be restricted in any way. And the way that Red achieves its actions, or achieves its goal,

is through action. It just, it does things. That it, you know, it doesn't sit passively by. Red believes if you want something, just, if you work for it, you can achieve it. So now what happens when you mix these two together?

So the key to understanding the similarities of a color is looking to the shared enemy. So the shared enemy of red and black is white. So white is all about the community, about looking out for the good of the group, about, you know, white believes that you have to do what's best for everybody, even people you don't know. White wants to do, take the action that will help the most

number of people. So white looks at red and black and says, these two both function out of selfishness. Black out of immoral selfishness, because black, it just does things that are wrong. There is right and there is wrong, and black just does immoral things. Now, black, by the way, black believes that it is amoral, not immoral, because black doesn't believe in morality. As far as black is concerned, that's a creation of white. You know, that white created this system for its rules. White was trying to pamper the meek, and to do that, it made a whole bunch of rules that made it harder for other people to try to take power. But black sees it for what it is. But anyway, so black, as far as white is concerned, has, you know, is immorally selfish. Red is chaotically selfish because red follows

its heart. It follows its emotions. Well, those are pretty self-centered. What are you feeling? If I'm angry, I'll get in a fight. If I'm happy, I'll go do something fun. If I'm sad, I'll cry. And white's like, well, if you're angry and you hit somebody, that's not okay. You're hurting somebody else. You can't do that. And white sees red as just breaking rules chaotically. Now, the difference between black and red, as far as white is concerned, is that black is malicious about it, and red is not. Although red is just as dangerous as black.

If I kill you out of a fit of anger versus I kill you because I'm plotting to kill you, you're dead. What does it matter? Both are equally harmful. So the thing that where black and red tend to overlie, it plays into some of white's issues, although I'll show the positive side of it. Red and black both have the following belief. This is where they overlap, which is,

I know what is better for me than everybody else. I have a vantage point that nobody else has. I feel what I feel. I know what I know. I think what I think. And I understand me better than I understand anybody else. You know, Black's whole attitude is the reason I should look out for myself

is everybody should look out for themselves. No one else has your interest at heart. Why not take the person who has the most invested interest in your well-being to look after you? And that is you. Red is like, well, I just get these strong impulses that tell me what to do. And they come from within me. That's where they come from. As far as red is concerned, your body and your psyche and your mind, it creates loud messages of what you should and should not be doing.

And that red is just like, you want to live life? Your body is telling you what to do. You have instincts and impulses and if you just follow them, that's how you can be happy. And so black and red definitely overlap in the sense of coming from a place of looking out for one's interests. Now, that doesn't mean they can't look out for others. Red, for example, can be horribly loyal. Red very much can take actions that are for somebody else.

Like if Red has a loved one, Red might risk its life for its loved one. It might put its own welfare at risk to help somebody else. Now, it's not going to do that for an absolute stranger like White would. You know, White's idea is if you see someone in danger, it doesn't even matter if you know them or don't know them. You're supposed to help them. Where Red is like, well, I'll help my loved ones. I'll help people I care about.

I'm not necessarily going to risk my life for people I don't know. You know, Red's not prioritizing other people over itself if it doesn't have some invested emotional interest in them. Black, on the other hand, Black also believes that, you know, black thinks that whatever you do should be in your own best interest. That doesn't mean you can't help other people. Now, it can't be contrary to your interest, but sometimes helping other people is in your

interest, you know, and there's reasons why helping other people will fundamentally long term help you. So black and red aren't necessarily against helping other people, but they're against helping other people unless there's some sort of, something in it for them, essentially. Either there's an emotional connection for red, or there's something to gain for black. And we get these

two colors together. So in Ravnica, we have the Rakdos, which is sort of thrill-seeking sociopaths, almost. One of the things that we do when we do the guilds is we kind of really

push to the extreme the colors to really play up what they are. Black, red, like, whenever people ask me about, like, pop culture characters, my favorite black and red character is the Joker. And the perfect example of the Joker is that the Joker really has his own example of the Joker is that the Joker really has his own agenda of his

that he's trying to get across, but he is trying to just inject chaos. That, you know, one of the greatest scenes from The Dark Knight is where, like, he steals all the mob's money and then he burns it. He burns it. The black, no black character burns all the money.

But a red character, you know, he's just a force of chaos. But Joker is very selfish and has an agenda and very much has a black component to him. But he's a nice mix of black and red. That he seeks power, but he also, on some level, seeks some chaos. And that he uses a lot of what he has to accomplish the goal that he wants. he uses a lot of what he has to accomplish the goal that he wants. And he is somebody who very much wants to get society to acknowledge that they are as chaotic as it is. That he sees, in some ways, the Joker looks at society and says,

you are lying to yourself, let me open your eyes. So when black and red get together, So when black and red get together, what black sees in red is the drive to do what one needs for oneself. And red looks at black, and black is just willing to do what it takes. And the two of them kind of had some admiration for each other, that they definitely appreciate that. Like, one of the things that I find very interesting is that when you look at ally colors, it's not that each color does exactly what the other one does, but they get it. That black looks at red, and black gets what red is up to. Black gets why red does what red does. And red looks at black and understands what black is up to. Now, there are differences, and the way I always

talk about differences is look at the allied colors, the other ally of each color. So red's other ally is green, black's other ally is blue. So what is the blue-green conflict? It's the nature-nurture conflict. Blue believes that you can change and become whatever you want to be. Green believes you are born to be the way you are. So this is a fundamental difference between black and red, which is black leans toward blue. Black believes that you can change things. In fact, that's very fundamental to how black functions. Black is a very big proponent of free will, that you are able to do whatever you want to do. Red, on the other hand, with the green as an ally, definitely believes a little more in predetermination, more in you are the way you are. The emotions you feel, you didn't choose those emotions. You were born with those emotions.

And so Black Red, the conflict that Black Red comes in is definitely this feeling of the role you play both in society and for yourself. Are you merchants beat of your own drummer? Or do you sort of have a role that you fill? And Black definitely believes the first

and Red believes more of the second. Okay. So let's get into some mechanical applications of the colors. So, first off, one of the things that black and red have in common is both of them are more than willing to use destruction. You know, neither one of them has any qualms like white. I mean, white occasionally will use violence, but white has to justify it. You cannot just use violence to use violence. Black and red have no problem there.

For example, both of them, if there's a creature and the creature causes the problem, they're willing to destroy the creature. Now, they do it differently. Black has, you know, murder type effects to destroy target creature. It also has minus N minus N. That's representing using disease.

So black tends to use death and disease. That's black's two major go-tos as far as hurting others. Black also will hurt the player by doing life loss. It can do drain life effects. So black is definitely willing to hurt things. Sometimes it's damage. Sometimes it's life loss. Sometimes it's minus N minus N. Black can use whatever it willing to hurt things. Sometimes it's damage, sometimes it's life loss, sometimes it's minus N, minus N. Black can use whatever it needs to hurt.

Red is a little more, um, red, of the five colors, red is the least diverse in what it does. Red, for example, makes great use of direct damage. Red is like, I'm angry, I can make fireballs and lightning bolts, and I can just smack you. Now Red's problem is, its damage depends upon its intangibility of what it's going after. Meaning, it wants to blow it up. Well, it can throw fireballs at a creature, it can shatter an artifact, it can torture land, but enchantments, they're not really there. It's really hard for Red to deal with that.

That's one of Red's weaknesses, because it can't really... It wants to strangle it. It wants to put its hands around it. It wants to physically destroy it, crush it. And you can't do that with enchantments. Black, meanwhile, Black is using death and disease. So Black is really good at killing living things. It can kill creatures.

It can kill planeswalkers. It can kill land. If it's planeswalkers. It can kill land. If it's living, black can deal with it. But if it's not living, like artifacts or enchantments, black has a little more trouble than destroying it. Now, black has another answer we'll get to, but black really is good at destroying living things. Death being a really, really big part of black.

And once again, black looks at death as being this very powerful tool that everybody else seems, you know, oh, that's taboo. There's no taboo. Does it win? Does it help me, you know? If I have an enemy and I use this tool and then my enemy doesn't, isn't an enemy, you know, if I can stop them, well, that's pretty effective. Death's pretty effective. If I use death and kill you, well, then you're not,

your creature's not going to come harm me anymore, now is it? Now, both colors also have mass removal. White has, like, wrath of God that just destroys everything. The one thing that red and black will do is they will destroy some lower bound of things. Red will do direct damage with a pyroclasm-like effect, or, like, do two to everything, or three to everything, or four to everything, which allows bigger things

to survive. Black has stuff like in fast, where it's minus one, minus one, or minus two, minus two. So both of them can do effects where they can wipe the smaller things on the board. The other thing about black and red is black and red are definitely both have no problem

using emotions negatively, if you will, of trying to draw negative emotions out of the opponent. Both of them, for example, are very willing to use fear as a tool. Black, for example, says, you know what? There are things that naturally make people uncomfortable. If I make use of those things, they're harder to fight against. If I attack you with something that you're inherently already afraid of,

it's just that much harder to beat me. So I'm going to make use of snakes and spiders and zombies and just creepy crawly things. I'm going to make use of things that are just intimidating because they're scary. Red, likewise, also is fine with intimidation. Obviously, both of them have the intimidate keyword.

The red is fine. Red also has spells like panic and things that keep creatures from blocking because it spooks them. And that both red and black are fine of using negative emotions and pulling them out of the opponent. Red because it really just believes in the power of emotion. And black because, whatever, I'm willing to do whatever I need to do. Other colors might think that's wrong, that it's inappropriate to do that. Black and red don't have that problem. In general, black and red have a sense, a little bit of a ruthlessness to them where they're kind of willing to do what it takes. Now, red has some boundaries that black

does not have. Black is kind of the color with the least amount of boundaries. But red is probably the second least amount of boundaries. And the other big thing is red doesn't tend to think ahead, meaning it acts in the moment. So a lot of times red does things that if it stopped to think about it wouldn't have done, or maybe after the fact it feels bad about, but it still does them. Red is super impulsive. And so when I talk about the difference between red and black, it's the difference between first-degree murder and manslaughter. So if you go to a court of law here in the United States,

first-degree murder means I wanted to kill somebody, I planned to do it, I thought about it, I executed the things I needed to do, and then I killed them. Cold-blooded, killed them. Him or her, or they. Manslaughter is, in the heat of the moment, I got angry or upset or they, manslaughter is in the heat of the moment, I got angry or upset or just,

it was never my intention to kill the person. It just kind of happened. You know, we got in a fight or something happened that got out of control and that the person got killed. Now, like I said before, as far as white is concerned, killing is killing.

But there is a difference between black and red in that black is premeditated and red tends to not... Red doesn't think that far out. If red kills something, it's because in the moment it did it, not because it thought about doing it. Okay, beside intimidate, the other key word that black and red share is haste. Red share is haste. So the idea is red and black in some ways are the most driven colors in that they

very much have an agenda. Like red will summon some creatures that are sort of just gung-ho on attacking. They're so much want to attack that it doesn't matter where they are. They're not disoriented. It's like, ah, I'm attacking! You know, a lot of little goblins sometimes are like that. Black also tends to have things that are just, they're kind of the creepy crawly stuff that's like, ah, I'm attacking! A lot of little goblins sometimes are like that. Black also tends to have things that are just

they're kind of the creepy crawly stuff that's like, I'm just attacking I'm a zombie, whatever. I'm not swayed by where I am. I'm just going to keep attacking whatever it is. Nothing will sway me. Actually, we don't put a lot of haste on zombies because haste implies speed

that zombies don't have. I guess the haste in black, though, is just sort of a mindless willingness to do what needs to be done. There's no conscience to slow you down. You know, red is caught up. Its character, its creatures are caught up in the heat of the moment, where black just doesn't care at some level. It's to reflect kind of the colors. Okay, another thing that both cards do is both of them are

the two biggest colors of sacrifice. Black, because black is willing to do whatever it takes, black's whole attitude is, if I need to sacrifice something and get something else, do I want that something else? It's like, if you sacrifice a creature, you can have this thing you want. Oh, okay, no problem. You know, black, as far as black is

concerned, everything it has is a resource that it can use. There's no moral qualms, you know, black, as far as black is concerned, everything it has is a resource that it can use. There's no moral qualms, you know. It's not like sacrificing another creature gives black a moment loss of sleep. Black is like, I need what I need, this thing will serve me, if its sacrifice helps me, hey, so be it. Red tends to sacrifice creatures less at will. A lot of red sacrificing creatures is stuff like, I'm throwing at you, and like, well, hey, you flew for the turn, but then, oh, now squash.

I mean, red, like I said, red is willing to make sacrifices too, but it's a little less calculated as black. Red also more often will sacrifice land or artifacts, that some of the stuff it sacrifices is not necessarily stuff that's living, where black is more likely just to sacrifice creatures.

But they are the two colors that do the most sacrificing, and often when we build limited archetypes, it's very common that we'll sacrifice a theme between black and red. Next, black has discard. So, well, actually, well,

maybe that's what I think of this. Red has what we call rummaging, or, uh, red looting. Um, and what rummaging is, is you get to discard a card and then draw a card. Um, so that is red's means by which to get cards. The way red gets cards is red doesn't get card advantage. It'll do rummaging, winds of change. It's sort of like, I get cards, but I don't go up in the number of cards I get. Um, and often it's throwing

things away to get other things. The red impulsive can go, I don't need this. I'd rather not have this. Let me get that. Red throws away things before it even knows what it's going to get. Where blue, for example, gets cards and then decides after it gets the cards what needs to go. So black,

when it wants to get cards, black, one of the theories of black is whatever I need to do to get the things I want it's okay if I spend an extra cost that's okay you know

getting cards is important if I have to pay life to do that I will do that blue card drawing is so important to blue that blue dedicates

a lot of its time to understand how to draw cards and thus it can do it without any drawback but black wants access to more things so one of the things black. But black wants access to more things. So one of the things black does is black has access to things that aren't as cheap as other colors, but it can do them at a cost.

So red's card drawing isn't going up in cards, where black is, but it comes at an additional cost. Now, then turn on his ear. The other way black gets its card advantage is it can make the opponent discard. Like I said before, it has trouble with artifacts and enchantments, but one of the things black believes is we're fighting a battle. It's a mental battle. Well, one of the ways I can win a mental battle is just attack you mentally. You know, if you're using your mind as a weapon, well, why can't I go after your weapon? And so black has no problem messing with other people's minds. Blue is the only other

color willing to go there. The other colors are a little more skittish about it. But, red does have rummaging which occasionally can be targeted. So, sometimes you can target the opponent, and Winds of Change will affect everybody. So, red does have the ability to make the opponent discard and draw

new cards, which isn't quite the same as black, but there's a little bit of overlap and discard there. Okay, another thing that red gets to do is red can steal control of creatures for a turn, but only for a turn. The idea in red is I can, you know, inflame emotions inside of you to get you temporarily to sort of act passionately or act emotionally so that, you know, at some point you come to and you realize what you've done. But I can sort of get you on my side in a moment of just emotional fury, right?

I play up your emotions and then manipulate you a little bit. And then for a little turn, I get you. Black and steel things, just a little tiny bit. It's tertiary in creature stealing. Blue normally steals things permanently. Red steals them temporarily. Black is the color that, after blue, can steal things permanently, but it doesn't do it nearly as much as blue.

The one thing black can do is it can animate cards out of the graveyard. And so black stealing is more like, oh, I kill your thing, and then once I kill it, I steal it. So red and black both have means to which to steal, but it's very flavorful based on what they are. Once again, death is another thing. I talk about black using death as a weapon. Black also believes, most creatures believe,

oh, once you've died, that's a sacred thing. You're put in the ground, or you're worshipped as a dead person. Black's like, no, you're not done yet. And black is more than happy to use the dead. Most other colors feel like that's wrong. Black, there is no wrong. And so black makes good use of the dead. As far as the graveyard, by the way,

black gets creatures out of the graveyard with raised dead-like effects. And red, we let red get sorcerers out of the graveyard with raised dead leg effects. And red, we let red get sorcerers out of the graveyard. Every once in a blue moon, we let it get an instant or sorcerer out of the graveyard. It's not something red does a lot. One of our tricks is when we go to like, there are certain themes we go to a lot, graveyard

being one of them. And so every color has a few things it gets to do out of the graveyard in sets in which the graveyard is important. And red's little thing is, well, two things. One is it can get sorcerers out. Sometimes it's the sorceries, usually sorceries. The other thing is black tends to have zombies that can come back out of the graveyard.

You kill it, it just gets back up. Whether it's zombies or skeletons or undead things that are kind of you can't kill. Red, its version of this, is the phoenix. Red has a creature, it's a bird made of fire that you can destroy, and then out of its ashes it can be reborn. And since it was a creature made out of fire, and it had this sort of explosive quality, it really felt red.

It's something we've given, going way, way back, that we gave to Red. So both Black and Red do have creatures that come back from the graveyard. Blacks tend to be zombies. Reds tend to be phoenixes. Red also has, occasionally will do direct damage spells, Hammer of Bogan being probably the most famous one, but occasionally it has spells that

under some condition you can get the spell back from the graveyard so that you can keep casting the same direct damage spell over and over again. Okay. Okay. Next. So one of the things that red and black used to do that recently has changed is for a long time, red and black were the two colors where power on average was greater than toughness.

And what happened was that there are two color pairs that are very similar, white and green and black and red. And we've spent some time trying to separate black and red a little bit. So one of the reasons we recently did, this happened about a year ago, or more than a year ago, you guys have seen it about a year ago, is we've started making black a little bit more about toughness and a little less about power. And we said, you know what, black would have some creepy crawly things that are hard to kill. That it's okay for black to have a 1.5 or a 2.5

or, you know, that we're starting to make some black stuff. Now, it's not that black can't ever have high power, low toughness. It has some of that, but not as much as it used to. That's more red's the color that does it consistently and black's the color that kind of does it every once in a while, but it's getting more toughness than it used to.

Now, when you get to auras and you get to, like to boosting effects, black and red still are the most aggressive there. We tend to have auras that black and red tend to boost power more than they boost toughness. And same when you see effects that affect power toughness. Usually, if it's an instant or it's an aura, the red and black tend to affect power more than they affect toughness. And that if it's an instant or it's an aura, that red and black tend to affect power more than they affect toughness. And that's still true. Another thing that they will

both do is, I'll say plus N, minus N. We used to call it, what's it called? Flowstone. That's the name of it in Tempest Cycle. So what that means is, it's plus some amount, minus some amount,

and black and red will both do that as auras. More black than red as auras, but definitely red will do it on creatures versus activated costs, where I'm a 4-4, but I can become a 6-2 or something like that. So both of them are definitely willing to... Like I said, one of the overlaps of black and red is the idea of I'm willing to get advantage knowing that there is some downside. Red does not think that through. The reason red does it is red is like, I want power,

I want it now, and it's just not thinking of ramification. So the reason red occasionally get that is it's not thinking it through and that it's a drawback that red's just not thinking of ramification. So the reason red occasionally get that is it's not thinking it through and that it's a drawback that red's just not taking into account. Black, on the other hand, black's like, I understand that there's a drawback. I accept that willingly. And so I take the advantage of knowing what the drawback is. So black and red a lot of times overlap there. The difference philosophically is red isn't up front accepting it.

It just kind of, it wants what it wants, and it takes the weaknesses because that's what comes along with it. But it's not planning it through, where black understands the weaknesses and accepts the weaknesses. Okay, so I talked about both of them. Black and red destroy land.

Planeswalkers, by the way, black straight out can destroy, literally can destroy target planeswalker. Red doesn't. Planeswalkers, by the way, black straight out can destroy, literally can destroy target planeswalker. Red doesn't technically destroy planeswalkers because it doesn't destroy things, but it does do direct damage, and there's a rule built in with planeswalkers that any damage dealt to a player

can be redirected to a planeswalker. So for all intents and purposes, you can use direct damage to kill planeswalkers. You know, you can just redirect it. And so black and red are the two colors that have the easiest to kill planeswalkers. You can just redirect it. And so black and red are the two colors that have the easiest time killing planeswalkers because they don't need to have creatures attack the planeswalker to kill it.

White, green, and blue have to attack. Black and red don't. They have other means to kill the planeswalkers other than attack. Now, they can attack. It's not that they don't have that ability, but they have other means to do it. So I'm almost at work here. ability, but they have other means to do it. So the...

I'm almost at work here. Sort of the wrap-up here is that black and red are definitely the colors that are willing to push boundaries a little more. They're the ones that are willing to take risks. They are the two... Now the funny thing is, like I said, red takes risks because

it doesn't think through the consequences, and black takes risks because they're calculated risks it's willing to take so it's funny how they overlap in cards but the thought process of how you get there is very very different that when red does something it's not that it really thought through the whole ramifications of what it's doing whereas black did but a lot of the tools are similar

one of the places black-red overlaps. Now, by the way, a lot of times, it's very easy to look at Rakdos and to see kind of the most negative version of black-red, you know, which is, right, the thrill-seeking sociopath. It is more negative.

I think the positive part about it is the positive part of black is the idea of somebody who believes in merit, that says, I believe that I can make myself better, and that I, you know, that the key, and this is a little bit of blue influence in black, but black very much believes that, it's within, you know, like I said,

black believes that it has the freedom to make the choices it wants to make. And that black believes its life is set up to choices it's allowed to make. Like, black's very big on free will. Black's very big on believing that I am the navigator of my own destiny. That I guide where I'm going, you know. And that red, red's passion,

I mean, a lot of times in the game we show anger and it being out of control. But passion is not just a lack of control. Passion is creating a sense of energy. I mean, I'm a very red person. I'm passionate and I have a lot of energy and I care and I love what I do. And that comes from the red part of me

that is not in red part of me. That it's not in any way to me a very negative thing. It's a very powerful thing and a positive thing and that red embraces what it's doing with all its heart and soul. You know, and that we take black that really believes it gets to guide its own future and red that just commits to everything and put those together.

It's a very driven person. You know, on the positive side, you can get somebody who really wants to set the path and choose to do something and is empowered to do it. You know, the black, red, I mean, it's very, very easy to see, you know, a lot of people want to look at white and see white is the goody-two-shoes color

and look at black and red and go, oh, well, those must be the bad colors. And the reality is, no. Every color has a good quality and a bad quality to it. You know, that rules for the sake of rules can get just as much in bad territory as some of the stuff that black or red

will do. And that there is a black or red character who is just someone who very much wants to set their own future and is passionate to do it. And I think that can be a very positive black orred character. So, to wrap this up here, how are we doing today? We're doing pretty good.

I think that the final thought on black and red is that black and red are the colors that really reach for the stars. That they're the colors that really reach for the stars. That they're the colors that believe they're the colors that believe

in committing to what you're doing. Once again, black believes that anything is possible. So black always explores what do I need to do to get what I want. Red, meanwhile, I believe at its core, red has an optimistic streak. I believe red is very optimistic.

And that red wants to believe that if you follow your emotions, if you're true to your heart, then good things will happen. And that red believes, I mean, red just wants to be, red wants to be happy. Red wants to live a fulfilled life. Red wants to die and want death, then go,

that was a good life. I think black wants to die and death, then go, I have it all, I have it all. But, you know, and I think when you get those two together, that there is a very powerful, that these are the two colors that are very, very motivated and very much want to do what it takes to get things done.

There's a dangerous side there. You know, the two colors that will do what it takes, well, will do what it takes. But there also is a very, I don't know, a very compelling side, a very sort of quality that is neat. sort of quality that is neat. And while white cannot see black-red as anything other than just pure chaotic evil, I think there's a lot

of fun stuff in black-red that isn't that. And so, I think there's both sides to see. Anyway, that is black-red. For those that are unaware, I'm going to be doing ten of these. This is number three. From time to time, I will do them. I'm going to be doing ten of these. This is number three. From time to time, I will do them.

I'm going to run through all the ally colors and I'll run through all the enemy colors. And my hope is to give you a better sense of what the colors are and how they think.

I think of the colors as being almost personalities. That's why I love writing dialogue for them because they very much have sort of a... What's the right word? They have motives.

They have, you know... Like, when you talk about writing characters, what characters need is they have to want something, and they have to have some sort of philosophy that drives what they want. And the colors in Magic do that. They very much want things. They have a philosophy. And so it is fun to explore. One of the things I really love about doing all the Color Pie stuff The colors in Magic do that. They very much want things. They have a philosophy.

And so it is fun to explore. One of the things I really love about doing all the Color Pie stuff is I just love exploring sort of what the colors want and what they represent. And anyway, I find that neat. So thank you very much for joining me. But I parked my car. So we all know what that means. It means it's the end of my drive to work.

And instead of talking Magic, it's time for me to be making Magic. I'll talk to you guys soon. Thanks for joining me.