Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - Drive to Work #52 - Black

Episode Date: September 13, 2013

Mark dives into the darkest of Magic's colors: Black.

Okay, I'm pulling on my driveway. We all know what that means. It's time for another drive to work. Okay, so today is part three of a meta-series I've been doing for a while on color. So the first time I did white, the second time I did blue. So if you know your color pie, today I'm doing black. Now black, I believe, is somewhat misunderstood. So my goal today is to sort of talk about what's black up to? Why does black do what black does? Okay, so let's get to the core of what black believes. So when you dig down deep, black believes that in life, nobody is looking out for you.

Except you. That, you know, it is your responsibility to be the primary person that looks out for yourself. And that Black just believes you can't rely on anybody else. Nobody else has your back completely. Because in the end, they're going to care about themselves more than you care about you. Which Black feels is fine. Look, that's the way life should work. Each person is responsible for looking out for themselves. And that, look, there's nothing wrong with that. But that's just the way life is. I mean, the way Black sees it, the other colors all want to change the world and make the world somehow something

different than what it is. And black is like, I just recognize the world for what it is. Nobody, you, you have to look out for yourself because it is nobody other, nobody else's job but your own to look out for yourself. And they, look, you need to do that. You need to be the one that prioritizes yourself. Now, part of that, Black says, is, look, Black doesn't put any limitations. Black is like, life is hard. Life is really hard. So any resource you have available, anything you are able to do, that is fair game. And anybody somebody else can do is fair game. And I think that Black's sort of opinion is, look it's a rough, rough world

Black doesn't sugar coat it it's a rough world, you've got to look out for yourself and you do what you can do okay, so let's look a little bit at how that plays out in Black so Black says okay whatever resource I have

available, I will use I don't have the luxury Black is like, I will use. That I don't have the luxury. Black is like, I don't have the luxury of saying that's off limits. You know, now black, for example, looks at his enemies. You know, black looks at white. And white, holy moly, does white like to make up extra rules, you know? Like life is hard, you know?

You don't need a set of laws telling you what you can do or can't do you don't need a you know, set of moralistic rules of what you can and can't do, and that black looks at that and just thinks white's a fool you know, why why would you make extra, life is so hard, why would you make extra restrictions

for yourself, you know and black looks at sort of all of white's rulemaking and sees it as white just making things to make them. Like, for example, black's take on morality is, there is no such thing. Remember, black is not

immoral. Black is amoral. Black does not believe in morality. Black is like, look, all you are doing is making your life difficult by making extra rules that there's no proof exists. You know, and that black is like, look, you can say this is right or this is wrong, but really all you're doing is just complicating life for yourself. And black is like, look, there is no morality. You do what you need to do to survive. And that because of that, Black is more than willing to, like,

for example, Black looks at death. And Black says, death is a very powerful tool. Why would you not make use of that? Because it's wrong? What's wrong mean? That's just White. White realizes that if it just let everybody make use

of these tools, it'd have a problem, so it outlaws them. Well, whatever, you know. Black's like, I don't want to play by white's rules. Fine, white, make life harder for yourself. I'm not doing that. And black, black said, look, there's nothing wrong with making use of death. Now, the funny thing is, green, green has a major problem with it. Green is like, look, there is a natural order.

Do not disrupt the natural order. And black doesn't understand green at all. Black is like, okay, explain this to me, green. Okay, so a cheetah hunts down a gazelle and eats it. That's nature. But a man, you know, kills another man because he needs his stuff. And that, oh, that's disrupting nature. How is that not nature?

How is man killing man any different than cheetah killing antelope? They're the same. You know, and black has great respect for the animal kingdom in the sense that, look, animals get it. They look out for themselves. You know, if you're able to kill other things and eat it, then guess what? You're top of the pile. If they can eat you, then you're not.

And black is like, hey, that's fair. Black feels it's really fair, you know. And so, for example, it likes using death. It thinks death is a fine tool, which it uses, you know. And it thinks the other colors are kind of idiots for not using it, especially, you know, looking at white and green. It's like, hey, you know, if something's in my way and a simple spell will just remove it, why would you not make use of that? You know, I mean, black is very practical. You know, I think that black is the one that says,

look, any advantage I have has to be used. Because if I don't use it, someone else will use it. If I don't take advantage of something, if I'm not willing to use a death spell or something,, someone else will use it. If I don't take advantage of something, if I'm not willing to use a death spell or something, then someone else will just use a death spell on it. And Black is, it's not as Black as Control, it's just being practical.

It's like, look, I need to survive, these are the tools, I'm going to use the tools available to me. You know? So let's look at Discard. Discard's the same kind of thing. So Black, Black, Black, here's Black's edge. Black's like, okay, let me understand this correctly. We are two planeswalkers fighting each other, and the major

weapon, our weapons, are our minds. You know? Like, for example, if two people were sword fighting, would it be wrong for me to try to get the sword out of my opponent's hand? Like, is that somehow unfair in the sword fight? No! Well, I'm having a

battle, a duel, against another planeswalker, and his greatest weapon is his mind. That is his weapon. Well, of course I'm going to go after it. I'm going to knock the sword out of his hand, you know, proverbially. Yeah, I'm going to mess up his mind if I can, because we're fighting and it's his weapon. Why wouldn't I do that?

You know? And when you, like I said, once again, it's all about, other callers are sort of like, well, that's wrong. That's wrong. No, that is not wrong.

I'm trying to win. Winning is correct. Because if I don't win, someone just beats me. Like someone else is going to take it easy on me? No. You know,

and I'm not going to be the fool that says, well, I'm going to follow by the rules when some people aren't going to follow by the rules. That's just idiotic. Why would you going to follow by the rules when some people aren't going to follow by the rules. That's just idiotic. Why would you follow rules when not everybody's going to follow those rules?

And so black's big thing is, look, there are no rules. This whole idea that there are rules is the weak. The weak make rules to protect themselves. And, by the way, that drives black batty is that white will do things that are not in its own best interest. That white will do things for the group and not itself. And Black is, literally Black is like, what are you doing? You know, literally, by the way, Black thinks white is an idiot. Is an idiot.

Because Black doesn't understand white's motivations at all. You know, as far as, white is coddling the weak. Why would you coddle the weak? How is that possibly good for society at all? Why do you want the weak to survive? Let the strong survive. The strong survive and that's who survives. We have better society because the strong survive.

Okay, so black, it'll do creature kill because it's fine using death. No problem using death. It uses discard because it's smart. Go after the wizard's brain. Okay, so let's look at some other stuff that black does. Okay, so not only is black willing to use death as a tool to kill things, but it also doesn't think of death in the same way the other colors do. Other colors are like, oh, it's dead, gone.

Black's like, no, no, no, no, no, no. If you want to survive and do the best you can, you have to make use of every resource available. The dead are an excellent resource. In fact, black believes that one of the biggest problems with most of the colors is it, like, just, it, maybe think of it this way, is that there is good recycling

to be done. You know, that the other colors kind of just take things and toss them, no, no, no, that's still good. And so, black looks at death as just another resource. Why wouldn't I make use of that resource? And I think that black enjoys going to resources that are rich, that other people somehow believe that are unusable or won't use.

Because black is like, well, more for me. Oh, no one else wants to make use of the dead? Hey, more for me. And black is willing to raise the dead, animate the dead. Like, the dead are a resource to black. And making use of that resource is literally, you know, it's like, here's a way for black. Black is like, okay, we're going to have a fight.

And there is a weapon sitting there on the table. My opponent goes, oh, no, no, I won't use that weapon. I'm like, well, I'll use the weapon. Why wouldn't, you know, what's, why wouldn't you use the weapon sitting in front of you? It's right there. Death's the powerful tool. Why wouldn't you use that? And I think black has really come to embrace death because it is so powerful and so potent and no one else seems to want to touch it. I mean, green will touch it a little bit, white will touch it a little bit, but really, it's not something that other colors seem to be willing. You know, black is like, whatever, I'm more than willing to use it.

Now, likewise, the other thing black's willing to do is, black says, I understand that in order to get things, sometimes there are costs associated with them. You know, for example, for example, let's take card drawing. Blue gets to draw cards. Well, black hasn't spent the time and energy, hasn't focused there. So he knows he can't just draw cards. But he's figured out a spell where he can pay life to draw cards.

Now, some people go, well, that's just worse than blue. But black's like, no, no, no, no. That's important. You know what? I understand. I'm willing to pay extra for it. Because I value it. You know what I'm saying?

Because I spend some energy learning other things. And so I'm willing to pay extra for it. Because I value it, you know what I'm saying? Because I, yeah, I spend some energy learning other things, and so I'm not focusing like Blue is, so I don't get to draw cards as well as Blue. But you know what? I'll pay life to draw cards. That's okay. You know, Black's like, I'm willing to pay life to get creatures or pay additional cost to get things. Because Black's like, that's the cost.

That's what it costs. Other people aren't, like, as far as Black is concerned, the other colors just aren't realistic. You know, it's kind of like, for example, you go to a store and you need some food. Okay. And, you know, the food you want and you need is just, oh, wait, last week it cost four bucks, but now it costs five bucks. And the other color's like, oh, five bucks. I'm going to pay five bucks.

Black's like, yeah, I need it. I'll pay five bucks. You know, black understands the value that you have to pay something to get something. And black has no qualms with that. A lot of other cars are like, well, I don't want to do spells if I have to pay something extra to get the spell. And black is like, no problem. You want a little bit of my life? Fine.

And then black looks at what he's getting. Now, black is careful. Black doesn't do it willy-nilly, but black's like, if I need something, I will get it, you know, and that, for example, black might get a creature that can't block, because black's like, whatever, I'm not going to block with it anyway, I'm going to attack with it, so I don't care, you know, not a negative for me, I'm going to attack, or look, I know if I buy this, I got to attack with it, because I'm not blocking with it, fine, I got it, you know, and then black is the one, black is the one most willing to wheel and deal and to take what, whatever actually comes with it.

Because black, black's whole take on it, black's entire sort of attitude is that be realistic. You have to look at what's available and you have to understand your own restrictions, you know. Now, part of that is black saying, you know, don't add restrictions you don't have, but once you understand your restrictions, look, if you need to pay something extra to get something, do it, you know. And one of the things you'll notice is black can, black more than most colors can do most things because if it's willing to pay something extra for it, it can get them, you know. Now, I mean,

there's a few things black doesn't do, we'll get to that, but black is willing to take the efforts and the steps it needs to. Okay, now, close to this is what I call the deal with the devil card. Black has a lot of these too. So what a deal with the devil card is, is it says okay, I will take

this card knowing that there is a negative down the road. Aware that that's going to happen, but I'm like, you know what? Either I believe I can make use of it before I have to pay the cost, or you know what? It's good enough that I'm willing to pay the cost. Now, the interesting thing is red and black both have these kinds of spells, but philosophically they come from a completely different place. Red's attitude is, you know, good thing up front, bad thing down the road, whatever. Good thing up front.

Yay, focus on the good thing up front. Black is like, no, no, no, I understand. Black does not walk in blindly. Red kind of walks in blindly. Red's kind of like, whatever, it's not going to matter, you know. I joke that red is not kind of future red. Red does not think about future red, you know. Future red must go, pass red!

But black, black thinks that. Black gets it. When there's a repercussion to pay, black understands. And a lot of what I call the deal with the devil is, black has a lot of enchantments and different things where, like, I really get a good bonus up front. I really get something positive.

And it's kind of like, well, this thing could burn you down the road. And black is like, I'm willing to take the risk. In fact, let's talk about risk for a second, because that's a big part of black. Black understands that there are other colors that are like, well, I don't want to take excess risk. And black is like, no, no, no, no. Not taking excess risk, that's the riskiest thing you can do.

You know, I'll take some risk. If I have a spell that's going to help me most of the time, look, no, no, no. No, not taking excess risk, that's the riskiest thing you can do. You know, I'll take some risk. If I have a spell that's going to help me most of the time, look, I take that risk. I do it. Because, you know what? That gives me extra power, and that power is going to win. So let's talk power for a second, because power is very much part of black. So each of the colors, I go, what does it want? You know what black wants?

Black wants power. So why? Why does black want power? Because black wants to do what it wants to do. Black wants no restrictions. Black wants to live a life in which nothing is cut off from it, that it has the ability to do anything it wants. And the reason power is such an important commodity is, hey, if you're looking out for yourself, well, the number one factor to see how you're doing is what power you have access to.

You know, the more power you have, the more you are able to do and the more that you are able to get. And so Black says, look, if my goal is to look out for myself, well, I want the commodity that's the most important commodity, you know, and that is power to Black, you know.

Other colors see it differently, but Black is like, you know, hey, it's awesome to know things. He respects that blue, respects knowledge. But, hey, what's good as knowledge if you can't use it effectively? So let's talk about allies real quick. So the reason black loves blue is black appreciates blue's love of knowledge. Black realizes that knowledge is very important.

It's another reason that black will pay life for drawing cards. Black understands the power of knowledge. Now, once again, blue is in it for the knowledge. Black's in it for the power that comes from knowledge. And black looks at blue and he really respects, black likes the sneakiness of blue. He likes the underhandedness of blue. He definitely likes how blue thinks a little bit outside the box and that it's willing to do things.

Black and blue are both willing to go after the mind because they're the two colors that get, like, that's it. That's the weapon. Oh, here's another interesting difference between black and blue. Let's look at milling. So both of them go after the opponent's minds. But blue says, okay, here's what I'm going to do. I'm just going to slowly wipe away your mind. So it's not painful. It's just you'm going to do. I'm just going to slowly wipe away your mind. So it's not painful.

You're going to start forgetting things. And eventually I'll defeat you because I just mill away your library. And before you know it, oh, you don't remember anything. You can't fight me. You don't even know any spells. But Black is like, no, no, no.

He respects Blue. But he's like, you are doing this wrong. Black goes in, plucks out the things that it needs to pluck out. Oh, what's causing me a problem? That spell's causing me a problem. Well, sorry, you don't know that spell anymore. And that black tends to go after pinpoint stuff, you know,

extracts and lobotomies, and that black's, the way black deals with the opponent's sort of memory, if you will, is it says, you know, I'm gonna like a surgeon go in and cut out the parts is it says, you know, I'm going to, like a surgeon, go in and cut out the parts that are problematic. Where blue is a little

more like, blue is a little less savage. Black is sort of like ruthless. Blue is a little less ruthless. Blue is kind of like, I'll make you forget. And black is like, yeah, I'll make you forget that. So black and red, well, black sees in red

is red is the one other color that gets, like, looking out for oneself, you know, that red understands that, like, hey, hey, hey, I got to look out for me. Now, red's a little impulsive

for black's taste. Red's a little, you know, red doesn't think things through, which black doesn't like. Black thinks things through. I mean, black agrees with blue that, like, look, you got to reason out

what's going on here, you know? Now, black is much more willing to take risks, you know? Like, red takes risks. Black respects that. Although black's a little more careful when it's risk-taking than red. Red is kind of, uh, red takes risks not because it's thinking through the risks, but just, you know, it just takes them when it sees them. And red doesn't think through ramifications, where black does think through ramifications. Okay, what other

abilities does black do? The Diabolic Tutor, or the Demonic Tutor for the old-timers. Tutoring. So, blue is, blue values knowledge, and so blue has a lot of tutoring, a lot of searching for things. Black is a little more specific.

Black's kind of like, okay, I'm willing to spend the extra mana or whatever because I want what I want. In fact, that's a big theme on black. Black's high maintenance. Black wants what it wants. And that black has thought long and hard about what it needs. For example, black is the one that sort of says, okay, let me figure out what is the easiest route to victory.

Now, the other colors will take other things into account. White will figure out the best route to victory, but not killing innocents. White has a lot of other rules that it applies to itself. And black is like, no, no, no, no, no. What is the easiest way to win?

What, you know, Black is not looking for anything roundabout. Black is like, literally, I want to defeat my opponent. Let's cut to the heart. What's the best way to win? And so Black, part of that, like Black's tutoring is, why would I look for anything? Why would I not get the best? Why am I looking for anything other than the absolute spell I need?

And so Black doesn't do tons of tutoring. It does the one thing. It gets what it needs. And if it needs extra mana for that, fine, fine, fine. Whatever. That's better for me. Blue understands that there's incremental value of knowledge, that you don't have to raise your knowledge 100%, that you just

keep eking 5%. That's good. And blue understands that all knowledge rises, all tides rise the boats. And that, hey, if you keep getting little bits of knowledge here and there, the net gain is good. Where black is kind of like, if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it. I'm going to go get what I need. Okay, other things is... Oh, so black...

Not only is black willing to make sacrifices itself, it's more than happy to sacrifice others. That's another big thing of black, which is black feels like, look, part of my resource is everything else. So if I get people who are willing to come to my aid, well, they are fools. I mean, they too are a resource. You know, like some colors might say,

oh, well, if I get things to come help me, then I owe it to those creatures to help them. And black's like, no, if I get these things to come to my aid, they are yet another resource. Everything is a resource. That might even be black's mantra. Everything is a resource. Everything, anything that can be used should be used, and by black will be used. And so one of the things black will do is it'll have creatures that are like, well, hey, if I need to get better, I might need to eat another creature. Well, there's other creatures.

And mechanically, one of the ways we separate black from white, by the way, is that white is more likely to sacrifice itself to help everybody else, where black will sacrifice everybody else to help itself. So for example, in white, you might do, like, a murder, which is, like, sacrifice myself, all the creatures get plus one, plus one. Oh, that's very white.

White's like, I will sacrifice myself for the good of the group. And black is just the opposite. Like, I'll sacrifice all those other creatures, so I'm way bigger, you know, and that black's creatures have that same sort of selfish quality. And the funny thing is, I think black kind of looks at the qualities that it likes in itself in its creatures, and sort of selfish quality. And the funny thing is, I think black kind of looks at the qualities

that it likes in itself in its creatures and sort of like, hey, I want creatures that will look out for themselves. I want creatures that will do whatever it takes to win. I don't want creatures that come with restrictions. I don't want creatures that come with limitations of what they're willing to do. I'll get creatures that do what they're willing to do.

I'll pay a cost for it. I'll let them eat other things, whatever. They're going to do what they're willing to do. I'll pay a cost for it. I'll let them eat other things, whatever. They're going to do what they're going to do. And black is fine with that. Black has no qualms. Like I said, black definitely has this quality of the reality of the situation, which is, look,

anything to win. Anything to win. Other colors say they'll do whatever it takes to win, but they don't mean it. Black actually means it. Black will, in fact, do what it takes to win. You know, other colors say they'll do whatever it takes to win, but they don't mean it. Black, black actually, black means it. Black will, in fact, do what it takes to win. Okay, other things. So, minus n, minus n effects. So, n being a number.

Minus one, minus one, minus two, minus two. So, one of the things is, black is willing to use death as a tool. Now, another tool that black has found very useful is disease. Disease is powerful. Disease is a very powerful tool. And black's kind of attitude is, oh, okay, hey, sure.

You know, if disease will help me win. And so black definitely has spells that weaken other things and fatigue them and hurt them and that. Black has no qualm. Like I said, there's nothing, the thing about black which is interesting is, like every other color, there's a line

that it draws in the sand, and it's willing to do what it needs, but there's some line it won't pass there's something that says, okay, I'm not going to do that and that black doesn't have any of that limitation

black is sort of like, I'll do what it takes to win, but no buts actually, I'll do what it takes to win, but, no buts actually, I'll do what it takes to win. And like, disease is just yet another tool. Black is going to use disease. The reason that, in fact,

was when in black, one of the first two colors to get it is, poison is right up black's alley. You know, it's like, I make a creature, you get in my way, I shrink your creature,

I hit you, I poison you. Black's like, all good. You know, it's like, I make a creature, you get in my way, I shrink your creature, I hit you, I poison you. Black's like, oh, all good. You know, black gets it. Black has no problem using poison. Or even, forget the magic poison, just using poison in general. You know, black's sort of like, oh yeah, I'll poison you. You know, there's nothing too underhanded for black.

I'm willing to do whatever it takes to win. And if that involves poisoning your food, or inflicting you with a disease or whatever, or raising your loved one to attack you, I don't care. It's all good. All good to black. Next, let's talk a little bit about black's creature keywords. So black has intimidate. Once upon a time it had fear, not intimidate. Black is more than willing. In fact, one of the things black looks for in its creatures is black likes... I talk about how we in design like to have resonance. Black kind of likes that, too.

Black likes creatures that people are already afraid of. You know, one of the reasons black really likes, you know, spiders and rats and snakes and bats and zombies and vampires. People are afraid of those things. Like, for example, if I send rats after you, well, there's a good chance that you're already afraid of rats. Like, think about that. It's like I send you a creature and just the mere appearance of the creature already puts you at a disadvantage. Awesome. So, black definitely likes to take advantage. Like,

black recognizes that a lot of people don't like the creepy, crawly things. And so black just embraces that. Black's like, oh, awesome. I'm more than willing to take on all that stuff. The things that naturally scare you, hey, awesome. Better for me. And black, that's why black's the one that does all those things other colors are like

I don't know that seems creepy to me or black's like awesome creepy's good so intimidate right up black's alley I want creatures that scare you because if I have a creature that you're not willing to block because it's so frightening and you're like, I'm not blocking it,

awesome, then I get to hit you. That's a good thing to have. So Death Touch, I mean, Black is like, I make use of death. Why wouldn't my creatures make use of death? Death is good. And that, you know, it's more than happy to get creatures that are venomous or creatures that, you know, whatever, whatever. The more dangerous my creatures are, the better they are as creatures

and just the more awesome. You know, black has no problems just, you know, digging deep for its creatures to find things that are truly, you know, nightmare-inducing. In fact, speaking of which, black also understands the value of psychological, such a logical attack. You know, the black is the color that says, I'm going to fight you in every avenue I can fight you. I will fight you physically.

I will fight you mentally. I will fight you spiritually. I will fight you psychologically. Whatever it takes to beat you, I'm willing to do it. And black will exploit psychological weakness. In fact, black will exploit any weakness. Black's basic thing is if I'm trying to beat you and I find a weakness, In fact, black will exploit any weakness. Black's basic thing is if I'm trying to beat you and I find a weakness,

you know, for example, if I'm going to fight you and realize that you're weak in the leg, I'll go after the leg. But why wouldn't I do that if that's a psychological fear? That's whatever. Whatever it is that is your weak link, I will go after that weak link. Because that is how I win. That is how I defeat you.

Another part, regenerate, is part of Black. Because Black definitely very much embraces the space between death and life. Where, you know, now be aware, the regeneration in Black is different than the regeneration in Green from a flavor standpoint. Regeneration in Green is much like what I call Wolverine's healing. Like, you damage me, but I heal so fast that I don't die. Where black is like, no, no, I die. I just come back to life again. You know, the regeneration in me, and this is why skeletons in black are regenerations,

like, kill them, oh, they come back. Because they were dead already. What did you do to them? Not much. They'll come back together again. And that regeneration is definitely like, Black kind of like, yeah, I will, I understand death.

Black has a good relationship with death. Black's like, look, I'll find creatures that kind of resist death. I'll use the undead. I'll use, you know, zombies, ghouls, vampires, whatever. All undead, good to Black. Black likes it. Finally, you know, zombies, ghouls, vampires, whatever. All undead, good to black. Black likes it.

Finally, haste, which is one added more recently. I mean, not more recently, a couple years. I mean, five years ago, seven years ago. Actually, seven years ago. Haste in black is that, I mean, well, zombies are, you know, historically slow, although I guess there are faster zombies these days. Not that I'm a fan of fast zombies, by the way. As a quick side note.

I think one of the most awesome things about zombies, and I think this was said by Robert Kirkman, the guy that does Walking Dead, who's a big fan of his writing, that what makes, the reason zombies want to be slow is one of the cool things about a zombie is a zombie is a creature that the average person can go, yeah, I can beat up a zombie.

They're slow, they're numb, you know, usually some element of them is already damaged, you know, and what makes zombies scary isn't that they're fast, it's that there's just an endless number of them. It's like, yeah, yeah, I can take a zombie, or two zombies, or

five zombies, or ten, but what number? At one point yeah, I can take a zombie, or two zombies, or five zombies, or ten. At one point, you can't take them all. You'll just get tired. Even the greatest fighter wears down eventually. And then zombies keep coming. But I think part of that is the slow plotting is an important part of the zombies. Now that said, I don't necessarily

believe there needs to be fast zombies, but I do believe haste is important in that Black has a lot of fast, scary things. Black has a lot of creatures that, like, you know, and another thing is, part of what haste represents is, so, we have summoning sickness, and the idea is, I summon something to help me.

And there's a little bit of disorientation is the idea. They're like, what, where am I? Well, black thinks they're so one-minded in their sort of, just, you know, meanness that whatever. All the things that, you know, where am I? There's things to eat. Ah, I'm going to eat them.

You know, that black and red are willing to get creatures that are sort of so mindful in what they're doing that they don't even notice they're somewhere else. They're just like, attack! And it's in a new place. Ah, whatever. Attack! Another thing that black does is black is very good at taking other people's things. Like, drain life is what I'm thinking of. It's like, you know, black is kind of like, well, why just life gain?

Why just gain life? You know what's even better? Taking somebody else's life. And that drain life, and lifelink, by the way. I forgot lifelink, speaking of creature abilities. Lifelink, by the way, started as essentially drain life on a creature. El Hajaj in Arabian Nights. And it was just like, hey, just like drain life drains your opponent's life,

hey, this creature drains your opponent's life. And it's funny because in Legends with Spirit Link, a lot of people start associating the lifelink ability with white, because white was the center of life. But to me, flavor-wise, black is like, it's just drain life on a creature. Like, for every damage I do, I suck life out of you. And anyway, that feels very black to me. And black definitely is the color that says,

I will take whatever resources I can, and you know what? Hey, every time I take stuff from my opponent, I have more and they have less. Now, black is not king of stealing things, although black will steal things out of the graveyard. I think that one of the things we try to do in magic is differentiate things, and so that blue will steal your living things, and black will more often steal your dead things. Black has tertiary stealing, or maybe it's even

secondary, but black steals a little bit from the living. But the fact that black's so good at stealing the dead, and black's good at killing things, that we felt like, look, black wants to have your stuff, kill it, steal the dead. That felt very black. So another thing that black can do is the way that black gets extra mana is it can get swamps,

and it can make its swamps produce more black mana. And in general, by the way, one of the things that you notice is black is the color that most uses its own like it has the heaviest density of its mana symbols and its cost. Green is number two. And the idea is that black kind of likes to encourage you to play more black. That black is the color that kind of says, hey, you know, that tempts you.

Like, you know, the way I always joke about it is, imagine black is trying to, like, you know, pitch itself to the magic user. It says, hey, magic user, come here. You know, oh, look, we can kill creatures easily. And, oh, look, we can do discard. And it kind of lures you with things that it can do. And then when you're there, it goes, oh, well, for just a little more Black, you can have a Black Knight.

You know, like, it just sort of, it does the soft sell. And at some point, you're like, oh, all my swamps will lose for a black man? I should just play mono black. And I like to think

that black has the best salesmanship. That, like, it slowly lures you in and it makes you want to play more black. And I always consider that kind of a fun,

like, that's kind of black's nature. That black will, like, you know, lure you in with some splash and then before you know it, like, you're just playing mono black.

Like, how'd I get here? Another thing that black will lure you in with some splash, and then before you know it, you're just playing Mount of Black. How'd I get here? Another thing that black does a lot of is black is not king of token making. White and green are both better at token making, but black is king of zombie making, and so one of the things that happens is black ends up being number three

in token making, almost exclusively because it makes zombie tokens. And that so one of the things that happens is black ends up being number three in token making, almost exclusively because it makes zombie tokens. And that one of the things that I enjoy is that, and I did this in Innistrad, is I love the idea of the zombie horde. I talked about this earlier. And that, like, what makes a zombie a zombie is not that there's one zombie, it's that there's

lots of zombies. And so we really do like black, you know, taking advantage of creating the zombie horde. And so we give black cards that allow it not just to get a single zombie usually, but multiple zombies. And that's why we definitely make cards to keep letting you get zombies because we want to create the zombie horde. Okay, I'm not too far from work. So one last thing I want to talk about black is

what black likes to think is the smear campaign of the other four colors. That the other four colors want to paint black as, like, evil incarnate. And black says, okay, look, I mean, the thing about black is

black has a lot of qualities that I think if you kind of look from, take a step back. Like saying that, look, it's important to look out for yourself. Yeah,

that's true. You know, it is important to take some responsibility for your own, what you need to do and look out for yourself. And that,

certain qualities of black, like for example, capitalism is a lot like, look, anybody has a chance to become, to make what they want. You know, capitalism is a lot like, look, anybody has a chance to become, to make what they want, you know, that it's no one, no one is restricted from

the ability to do that, and that each person it's up to themselves, they'll do what they can do. You know, the Carpe Diem very much has a black quality to it, which is, hey, you know, I mean, black is very merit-based, you know, in the sense that black says,

look, everybody has a right to do what they're able to do, you know. Now, black takes it to a little more extreme than some colors, but I think that it's very easy. I mean, one of the things is that the colors each have their own philosophical angle, and it is true that white's sort of base philosophy is the closest to what I would call, you know, human philosophy. And that, you know, white's the color that brings up morality,

and white's the color that talks about the good of the group, and a lot of things that, like, we as a society believe, and that the whole concept of good and evil are built around. So, look, it's very understandable that, to view black as being evil. In the sense of, look, of the five colors, which one is most stereotypical evil? Black, of course. A lot of the things that we sort of judge evil to be, black defines itself by. But the thing that's important is, black represents qualities that aren't inherently evil.

You know, the idea of looking out for oneself is not inherently evil. inherently evil. You know, the idea of looking out for oneself is not inherently evil. You know, now, where black gets evil is, you know, in its immorality, in its willingness to do what it takes, black will go places other colors won't go, and that, you know, there lies the path of evil in a lot of ways. So, it's not that I'm saying that black isn't evil in the sense that it can't be evil, but I don't think that black is defined as solely being evil. I think black is defined as solely being evil. I think black is defined as doing what it takes,

and some of that are doing things that are defined as evil by humans, which, of course, we are. But I do think that there are positive qualities in black that I think it's very easy to sort of see black as just all bad. And I don't think black is all bad at all. I think black very much, you know,

has an interesting handle on responsibility and very much appreciates the idea of merit and giving people opportunities and that comes at a cost, but I believe that to see black as just solely evil is pinning black very much in

white's portrayal of black. And that I think black has some redeeming qualities to it. Anyway, that, oh, I see by my clock that I had a little extra traffic today. So you got a little more on black. I, like I said, I love all the colors. I think each of the colors

has a very interesting sort of defense of the world. And I think black, I mean, like I said, black pushes things a little bit, more so than maybe I personally would. But, I mean, I respect the core black pushes things a little bit more so than maybe I personally would. But, I mean, I respect the core of what black is trying to do. And, you know, black is consistent. Some of the other colors, you know, don't have the focus that black does.

And I feel that I do appreciate kind of the bluntness of black. I do know that when I, you know, role play and I get to play black, that it's fun. Black has a very clear mindset, which is interesting to roleplay. So anyway, that is all we have for today. So thank you for joining me on my talk on black. And look forward to the future for talks on red and green. Not next week, but coming. So anyway, that is all for today.

Because it's time to go make some magic.