Base on this thread. Also base on EDHREC, multicolor decks are far more popular than monocolor ones.
There are some powerful mono color generals (such as Talrand, Sky Summoner), though many were incorporated into multicolor decks of similar themes instead of standing on their own, such as Sram, Senior Edificer/Nahiri, Lithomancer -> Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith, a legend who could've been monocolor but is instead W/G. It's likely that WotC would continue to add color into legends so decks could include more colors instead of less, evident by official EDH products haven't been encouraging on mono-color decks. Devotion, chroma, and cards related to single land type en mass did not make it (I may be wrong on this one), and there are no new mechanics pushing monocolor, instead they're incline to make multicolor decks easier with lands and mana rocks. Not even the monocolor Commander 2014 emphasized on powering monocolor.
There's nothing wrong about playing multicolor decks, though monocolor decks are part of this game as much as multicolor ones, I feel that WotC could add effort in making monocolor more popular. I'm not asking them to "hack" the color pie by giving, say, a black card that destroys artifact/enchantment, but cards that gains power base on monocolor would be a welcoming sight, such as the aforementioned devotion/chroma/single land type, cards that could give into any deck type. Exaggerated bad examples would be:
G Blast 2G
Sorcery
Destroy target noncreature, nonland permanent with converted mana cost less or equal to your devotion to green.
R Mech (reverse Aftershock) XR
Sorcery
~ deals X damage to each planeswalker and each player. If you spent only red mana for X, return target creature, artifact, or land with cc less or equal to X from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Ramos's Blessing (colorless Last Stand) 6
Sorcery
Target opponent loses 2 life for each Swamp you control. Last Stand deals damage to target creature equal to the number of Mountains you control. Create a 1/1 green Saproling creature token for each Forest you control. You gain 2 life for each Plains you control. Draw a card for each Island you control, then discard that many cards.
Or, go fancy with cards like this:
Extreme Damage (2/R)(2/R)RR
Instant
~ deals 1+X damage to target creature, planeswalker, or player, where X equal to the amount of red mana you spent to cast this spell. (which means it could add another 4~6 damage. Yes, you can pay two red mana for (2/R) instead of one)
You can have a multicolor general...and just use one color.
We bring it up often, but more partners would be great. Legends like that middle Khans block set (or Samut) and the Shadowmoor hybrid ones are a good way to go, I think.
Mono color is fine. You can't boost it too much, it already had the might of consistency.
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The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
You can have a multicolor general...and just use one color.
We bring it up often, but more partners would be great. Legends like that middle Khans block set (or Samut) and the Shadowmoor hybrid ones are a good way to go, I think.
Yes, Oona, Queen of the Fae is a prime example, though most would still play it as Dimir because it's beneficial to do so, I'm hoping for new cards that'd give players reasons to play monocolor over multicolor, as a way to increase their popularity.
Mono color is fine. You can't boost it too much, it already had the might of consistency.
Monocolor definitely has strength multicolor decks do not have, it's also on average not as popular, which is why I wish WotC could promote it further with cards strengthened by playing monocolor.
One of the key strengths of multicolor is its not as beholden to a single color and can also do some cherry picking for the best in each of the colors. Where a wedge/shard deck can take the best of three different worlds and the only inconsistency that really needs to be remedied is the manabase which can be inexpensive (budget/casual) or very expensive (competitive/highly-tuned). I would argue that a mono color deck has to put more effort into the nonland cards in order to have similar or better results, especially red and white. The mono colors that have a more relative easy time would easily be green, then black and then blue.
When I think mono-colored, I think of Ashling the Pilgrim and not Oona, Queen of the Fae. A difference between must and can. I can just as easily run The Ur-Dragon in a mono red deck but still be able to cast him through lands and rocks like Chromatic Lantern. While the reverse does not work in that I can't run Blind Seer as the commander in a multicolored deck.
I want more like Etali, Primal Storm. Powerful, explosive and builds/plays differently compared to others within its color identity. For instance Possibility Storm with Etali warps the game in a unique way, controlled chaos. Where your commander Etali and the cards he exiles are unaffected but everyones possible answers to these free spells could be useless or useful in the situation due to the nature of Possibility Storm. While other contemporaries in his color identity have used similar tactics, none could cast spells unhindered like Etali.
Personally I think that for the most part they give plenty for mono colored decks. Really the question is how any particular legend can cope with the weaknesses of its mono color or possibly surpass that weakness. Sram as mentioned in the OP adds card draw to mono white which is something mono white is very weak at doing normally.
I think it is important for colors as a whole to still have their own unique identity and not bleed all of them too much. Some of playing mono color should be how you figure out how to overcome those weaknesses. So for me, no I dont want mono color to lose its identity and no I dont want them to get super broken as ***** commanders to compensate. If anything, I think that red could get a little bit better legends for mono but I think the others are probably fine.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
I don't think the mono colors need too much additional support overall. When i built one of each i felt, if anything, R and W could get a bit more love - or reward for going mono colored, if you want to call it that. B packs a ton of mono-synergy, G is very strong in being consistent and fast and U is just... U.
A simple, yet good effort for all non-G mono decks would be more low-curve mana rocks that can generate mana of color. e.g. Coldsteel Heart, Marble Diamond, Star Compass, Marble Diamond and Fellwar Stone is a solid base for a mono-W deck, but could be better outside of Moxes and colorless options.
I'd even go as far as saying that R has one of the most improved commander pools of all colors lately. Grenzo, Havoc Raiser, Neheb, the Eternal and Etali, Primal Storm have all been added fairly recently and do look good in my books.
W has merely any interesting commanders though and would profit most from getting a few more options.
I'd even go as far as saying that R has one of the most improved commander pools of all colors lately. Grenzo, Havoc Raiser, Neheb, the Eternal and Etali, Primal Storm have all been added fairly recently and do look good in my books.
W has merely any interesting commanders though and would profit most from getting a few more options.
Almost all of those are token / combo based commanders. Some of them are not but I also would not have listed all of them as "good" commanders to be honest. Don't get me wrong, most of them are playable, I just think that they fold to a lot of decks that are in better colors. I have not actually seen a very good Grenzo / Feldon / Neheb / Norin lists to be honest. Zada seems like a stretch to try to consider it a good commander too.
Red also suffers from the fact that until commander came along, burn and aggro is about all it ever seemed to get so its playing catchup in commander. White has historically had better tools that stem to commander in its past with its primary issue being card draw. I still cant figure out how it is that red has like..... almost zero legendary dragons in mono red. Seriously they have 3 mono red legendary dragons and none of them are good for commander. How have they not made a good red dragon commander yet?
Black as a color in some way could compensate its weakness with extreme prices; it is within its color to sacrifice things to do what it usually can't.
Weakness will exist in all decks and color combinations, mono-color for example cannot gain access to other colored cards that'd mend their flaws. Two ways to improve upon this is 1) Add colorless cards, like what black decks usually do, 2) Improve their current identity enough that they could at least cross that gap. Necropotence is a grand example on how Black cards deep in its flavor could power up the deck enough to best opponents despite weaknesses.
I use Black as example because their weakness against artifact/enchantment is very clear, other colors like Red would have issues keeping up their fuel, which could be covered with artifacts and artifact reanimation, Green's lack of creature removal could be trampled under bigger better creature, etc, White's need for card draws too could be achieved via design like Pursuit of Knowledge, flavorful and within identity.
Also don't forget that going mono color means that you have a simplified landbase. It means you can generally justify a heavier utility land package because its much easier to fix where as in a lot of other decks I have to be worried about getting all of the colors online very quickly. When it comes to three colored decks for example I generally have trouble having more than 4-7 utility lands but in mono colored I sometimes have in the range of 15+ utility lands.
Getting extra utility out of your landbase is sort of like getting value out of nowhere in some regards because your land count is probably about the same but you are getting extra benefit from your lands where multicolored decks need to have more priority in getting their colors on time.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Mono color is fine. You can't boost it too much, it already had the might of consistency.
If you build a 2-color (or even 3) deck with all the duals available (or even just the ones that usually won't enter tapped) your odds of getting color screwed are pretty close to nil. At least, they're much lower than your odds of getting regular old mana screwed, which can happen to any deck (Except, I suppose, 99 mountain ashling or similar :P). The supposed additional consistency of mono-color is pretty much a total lie in a format with as many cards available as this one.
Realistically it's kind of hard to give mono-color a boon without it looking pretty clunky I think. The biggest boost mono-color has is the existence of cards like gauntlet of might and cabal coffers, but printing many at once comes off a little forced, and even if it's core to a set (i.e. theros) usually it won't produce very many edhable cards.
Realistically if you're building a mono-color deck you're pretty much signing up for a weaker deck than it could be with multiple colors - but given that commander isn't really all about power level, that doesn't necessarily matter very much. If you want extra power, you can make it up by running more powerful strategies than you might in a similar multicolor deck that doesn't have the same color restriction.
If you build a 2-color (or even 3) deck with all the duals available (or even just the ones that usually won't enter tapped) your odds of getting color screwed are pretty close to nil. At least, they're much lower than your odds of getting regular old mana screwed, which can happen to any deck (Except, I suppose, 99 mountain ashling or similar :P). The supposed additional consistency of mono-color is pretty much a total lie in a format with as many cards available as this one.
Realistically it's kind of hard to give mono-color a boon without it looking pretty clunky I think. The biggest boost mono-color has is the existence of cards like gauntlet of might and cabal coffers, but printing many at once comes off a little forced, and even if it's core to a set (i.e. theros) usually it won't produce very many edhable cards.
Realistically if you're building a mono-color deck you're pretty much signing up for a weaker deck than it could be with multiple colors - but given that commander isn't really all about power level, that doesn't necessarily matter very much. If you want extra power, you can make it up by running more powerful strategies than you might in a similar multicolor deck that doesn't have the same color restriction.
Ultimately, it'd be more convincing if we continue to have strong (preferably unique and flavorful) monocolor legends, they are what encourage people to build decks. Most recently, cards like Gonti, Lord of Luxury is good enough to have in the command zone over being a 99 (though the latter works too) because he's cheap enough to recast and profits you every time. Grenzo, Havoc Raiser is political, and breaks down the color restriction by letting you play spells with any mana. Odric, Lunarch Marshal being in the color of equipment makes it easy to spread his love to the whole army. And Zada, Hedron Grinder, expands old cantrips several folds.
And while they're at it, please make Boros less battle-oriented.
P.S: I actually have high hope for Muranganda, somehow it feels like a "back to basic" set where mono color and creature with less or no abilities could shine. Most recently, Etali, Primal Storm suits the bill,
Mono color is fine. You can't boost it too much, it already had the might of consistency.
If you build a 2-color (or even 3) deck with all the duals available (or even just the ones that usually won't enter tapped) your odds of getting color screwed are pretty close to nil. At least, they're much lower than your odds of getting regular old mana screwed, which can happen to any deck (Except, I suppose, 99 mountain ashling or similar :P). The supposed additional consistency of mono-color is pretty much a total lie in a format with as many cards available as this one.
Realistically it's kind of hard to give mono-color a boon without it looking pretty clunky I think. The biggest boost mono-color has is the existence of cards like gauntlet of might and cabal coffers, but printing many at once comes off a little forced, and even if it's core to a set (i.e. theros) usually it won't produce very many edhable cards.
Realistically if you're building a mono-color deck you're pretty much signing up for a weaker deck than it could be with multiple colors - but given that commander isn't really all about power level, that doesn't necessarily matter very much. If you want extra power, you can make it up by running more powerful strategies than you might in a similar multicolor deck that doesn't have the same color restriction.
Well, building with all the dual lands available is fairly privileged. Online, yeah, its easy because Underground Sea is like $34 and most of the non blue ABUs are sub $10, and the Shocks are all under $5. The fetches are all under $40. That means you get a platinum mana base for a 5 color deck for a few hundred bucks, while irl you get just Underground Sea of the same price.
If budget isn't a concern, you're right, there is little consistency to be gained by cutting colors under 3. Unfortunately, most of the player base in paper isn't shelling out for premium mana bases. That means they have to trade off between running basic heavy decks with the better duals (maybe fetches with the non ABU duals with basic types if they have a decent budget, maybe just the best duals that don't citp tapped), at which point the risk of color screw becomes real, or they go lighter on basics and run some weaker duals, many of which have restrictions or often come into play tapped. The latter does effectively eliminate color screw in 2 color and brings it down to negligible in 3 color, but it sacrifices consistency in other ways, namely by slowing the deck down.
Additionally, there are a good number of colorless utility lands that are very strong. You can include more of them the fewer colors you run without risking a color screw. A three color deck has to be very selective with these, while a mono color deck can essentially run them at will. Mono color decks get to run some useful but niche utility lands like Homeward Path that are occasionally dead but can turn games when they aren't without much risk.
Lastly, because this is probably the smallest point, mono color decks have a far easier time casting color intensive spells. Not usually that important, but it matters from time to time. Cryptic Command is a powerhouse that is hampered by needing to hold up UUU. In a mono color deck, this is trivial. In a 2 color deck, this is easy, but can often leave without any more blue mana for other things. In 3+, you will at times simply be unable to cast it, and if you do it usually requires you to use all the blue mana you have available. Simply put, mono color generally doesn't have to worry about managing its colored mana, just its total mana, unless its heavy on colorless sources.
All in all, mono color suffers a bit from having more weaknesses, but makes up for it enough with increased consistency that it doesn't matter much. I'll agree that with the best available mana base, multicolor decks don't start to lose consistency until you get to 4 color, but for many players its a choice between getting slowed down sometimes by budget duals or getting color screwed sometimes by basics. Even with a great mana base, there are still trade offs, though they are small enough that at that point I agree you are better off going 2 color or more unless you're going for the commander.
Side note: If anything, mono white does need help. Black has enough treats with coffers and other black matters cards, blue and green have top shelf commanders (Azami and Arcam are doing just fine). Red may need some help as well, but I'm not the right guy to make that call, I run a lot of mono red and probably overrate its strength. Its got too many fun commanders.
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The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
Now that's the kind of card I've been seeing in recent expansion that would help mono color a lot. Granted, this seems to be a Black/Red only ability, though the two colors also have a history of pain dealing with their respective permanents/spells. Cannot cast counterspell via this dude is probably intentional, for that we have Dualcaster Mage.
EDIT: And Mutiny, love that card. Please continue the chaotic trend.
...Monocolor definitely has strength multicolor decks do not have, it's also on average not as popular, which is why I wish WotC could promote it further with cards strengthened by playing monocolor.
I think this is a backwards approach for multiple reasons.
- There are 32 possible color identities from which a deck can choose. 5 of these are monocolored, 26 are multicolor, and 1 is colorless. Of these, we've received precons in all but 5 - four of the allied guilds and colorless. Which means monocolored has actually been over-represented in precons.
- True, the monocolored decks didn't have much that specifically rewarded you for monocolor, but the multi-color decks didn't really have rewards for multicolor either.
- Monocolor isn't unpopular because all the good cards are gold - there are plenty of amazing monocolor cards being run in both types of decks. It's because people prefer the playstyle and the overlapping strengths/weaknesses of multicolor. Why should Wizards buck conventional popularity to try to force something that is inherently less popular?
- How much variety could you actually get if you pushed for color-matters stuff to improve monocolored popularity? We already have the five mono-devotion Gods. We have stuff like Ascendant Evincar/Crovax, Ascendant Hero. We have a few other things like chroma. But how much design space is there to specifically try forcing monocolored popularity?
- I would much rather see them continue to crank out a variety of cards and legends and just let the playerbase decide how to use them.
- There are 32 possible color identities from which a deck can choose. 5 of these are monocolored, 26 are multicolor, and 1 is colorless. Of these, we've received precons in all but 5 - four of the allied guilds and colorless. Which means monocolored has actually been over-represented in precons.
While we had five monocolor precons, they weren't specifically designed to empower monocolor decks, there weren't mechanics similar to devotion and chroma cards that would help/encourage decks to use LESS colors.
- True, the monocolored decks didn't have much that specifically rewarded you for monocolor, but the multi-color decks didn't really have rewards for multicolor either.
Multicolor decks are easier on covering each individual color's innate weakness and have access to a larger card pool that grants more synergy potentials, not to mention generals were able to obtain characteristics of more identities. For example, Ramos, Dragon Engine +1/+1 deck have access to both Marchesa, the Black Rose and Gavony Township, which neither Atraxa, Marchesa, or decks alone could.
- Monocolor isn't unpopular because all the good cards are gold - there are plenty of amazing monocolor cards being run in both types of decks. It's because people prefer the playstyle and the overlapping strengths/weaknesses of multicolor. Why should Wizards buck conventional popularity to try to force something that is inherently less popular?
I suggest you reread my OP, I never wrote anything about "all the good cards are gold", nor did I ever deny there exist great many good single color cards; the latter is slightly part of the issue.
What I commented on was how WotC had made playing multicolor deck much easier, and created multicolor legends in their EDH products who's capable of covering a specific deck theme with extra colors, one prime example being Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith compare to Nahiri, Lithomancer, both equipment centric leaders, but the access to green grants Nazahn more versatility, and Nahiri could be included in his deck as well. The issue being, Nazahn could very well be a mono-white creature, while the added green doesn't break the color pie it was also unnecessary, more like an act to expand the colors of equipment decks... Not a bad thing per se, just an evidence that WotC is pushing multicolor over monocolor
Given that Talrand, Sky Summoner and Daretti, Scrap Savant exist, I would not call monocolor "inherently less popular" as you put it, because it is possible to create powerful generals who'd attract people to play monocolor, the problem being that there's not enough. I'm not suggesting WotC to make overpower monocolor generals; that'd only limit people to play those specifically. I was suggesting creating monocolor cards that'd make players feel "worth it" to limit themselves to its color. I will explain that in the next section.
- How much variety could you actually get if you pushed for color-matters stuff to improve monocolored popularity? We already have the five mono-devotion Gods. We have stuff like Ascendant Evincar/Crovax, Ascendant Hero. We have a few other things like chroma. But how much design space is there to specifically try forcing monocolored popularity?
The same way multicolor decks were encouraged, with potency and versatility, I presume you read the examples I posted in the OP, and recommendations other posters had listed? Cryptic Command is a good example for this cause, it's powerful, within the color pie, but also requires UUU to cast, which limits it to one or two colors and less likely beyond that. Temporal Extortion is another, high B mana cost, high risk, but with great rewards.
Many people chose to play multicolor because they want to cover up the weakness of monocolor, and while all decks have weaknesses, people embrace them because the reward is worth it, what I proposed was to empower monocolor EDH to make people feel "worth it" to play them.
- I would much rather see them continue to crank out a variety of cards and legends and just let the playerbase decide how to use them.
WotC has been doing that, except they're also pushing people to play decks with more colors: lands and artifact that produce more color, powerful multicolor legends and cards, which indirectly lessened the appeal of monocolor. I don't mind standard expansion cater to the market and player base and the feel of the plane the story take us, but EDH specific products should attempt to encourage all directions, including those with only one color.
That said, there are a lot more reasons to go multicolor than monocolor. Amazing multicolor cards, the ability to cover potential weaknesses (especially for black, red, or white), and the ever-increasing quality of mana-fixing nonbasic lands. I appreciate the monocolor-matters cards that exist, but I wouldn't mind seeing more of them.
There are some powerful mono color generals (such as Talrand, Sky Summoner), though many were incorporated into multicolor decks of similar themes instead of standing on their own, such as Sram, Senior Edificer/Nahiri, Lithomancer -> Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith, a legend who could've been monocolor but is instead W/G. It's likely that WotC would continue to add color into legends so decks could include more colors instead of less, evident by official EDH products haven't been encouraging on mono-color decks. Devotion, chroma, and cards related to single land type en mass did not make it (I may be wrong on this one), and there are no new mechanics pushing monocolor, instead they're incline to make multicolor decks easier with lands and mana rocks. Not even the monocolor Commander 2014 emphasized on powering monocolor.
There's nothing wrong about playing multicolor decks, though monocolor decks are part of this game as much as multicolor ones, I feel that WotC could add effort in making monocolor more popular. I'm not asking them to "hack" the color pie by giving, say, a black card that destroys artifact/enchantment, but cards that gains power base on monocolor would be a welcoming sight, such as the aforementioned devotion/chroma/single land type, cards that could give into any deck type. Exaggerated bad examples would be:
G Blast
2G
Sorcery
Destroy target noncreature, nonland permanent with converted mana cost less or equal to your devotion to green.
R Mech (reverse Aftershock)
XR
Sorcery
~ deals X damage to each planeswalker and each player. If you spent only red mana for X, return target creature, artifact, or land with cc less or equal to X from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Ramos's Blessing (colorless Last Stand)
6
Sorcery
Target opponent loses 2 life for each Swamp you control. Last Stand deals damage to target creature equal to the number of Mountains you control. Create a 1/1 green Saproling creature token for each Forest you control. You gain 2 life for each Plains you control. Draw a card for each Island you control, then discard that many cards.
Or, go fancy with cards like this:
Extreme Damage
(2/R)(2/R)RR
Instant
~ deals 1+X damage to target creature, planeswalker, or player, where X equal to the amount of red mana you spent to cast this spell. (which means it could add another 4~6 damage. Yes, you can pay two red mana for (2/R) instead of one)
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
We bring it up often, but more partners would be great. Legends like that middle Khans block set (or Samut) and the Shadowmoor hybrid ones are a good way to go, I think.
(U/B)(U/B)(U/B) JUMP IN THE LINE, ROCK YOUR BODY IN TIME
(R/W)(R/W)(R/W) RISING FROM THE NEON GLOOM, SHINING LIKE A CRAZY MOON
(U/R)(R/G)(G/U) STEALIN' WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN BUYIN'
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
Yes, Oona, Queen of the Fae is a prime example, though most would still play it as Dimir because it's beneficial to do so, I'm hoping for new cards that'd give players reasons to play monocolor over multicolor, as a way to increase their popularity.
I would love to see monocolor partners.
Monocolor definitely has strength multicolor decks do not have, it's also on average not as popular, which is why I wish WotC could promote it further with cards strengthened by playing monocolor.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
When I think mono-colored, I think of Ashling the Pilgrim and not Oona, Queen of the Fae. A difference between must and can. I can just as easily run The Ur-Dragon in a mono red deck but still be able to cast him through lands and rocks like Chromatic Lantern. While the reverse does not work in that I can't run Blind Seer as the commander in a multicolored deck.
I want more like Etali, Primal Storm. Powerful, explosive and builds/plays differently compared to others within its color identity. For instance Possibility Storm with Etali warps the game in a unique way, controlled chaos. Where your commander Etali and the cards he exiles are unaffected but everyones possible answers to these free spells could be useless or useful in the situation due to the nature of Possibility Storm. While other contemporaries in his color identity have used similar tactics, none could cast spells unhindered like Etali.
(U/B)(U/B)(U/B) JUMP IN THE LINE, ROCK YOUR BODY IN TIME
(R/W)(R/W)(R/W) RISING FROM THE NEON GLOOM, SHINING LIKE A CRAZY MOON
(U/R)(R/G)(G/U) STEALIN' WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN BUYIN'
I think it requires a lot of skill to play a mono colored deck because you sometimes have to rely on more unusual cards (hidden gems) and you are limited in certain ways. That being said, Azami, Lady of Scrolls, Teferi, Temporal Archmage, Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, Erebos, God of the Dead, Daretti, Scrap Savant, Purphoros, God of the Forge, Ezuri, Renegade Leader and Nissa, Vastwood Seer/Nissa, Sage Animist are just a few examples of very viable mono colored generals.
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate
I think it is important for colors as a whole to still have their own unique identity and not bleed all of them too much. Some of playing mono color should be how you figure out how to overcome those weaknesses. So for me, no I dont want mono color to lose its identity and no I dont want them to get super broken as ***** commanders to compensate. If anything, I think that red could get a little bit better legends for mono but I think the others are probably fine.
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[Modern] Allies
B packs a ton of mono-synergy, G is very strong in being consistent and fast and U is just... U.
A simple, yet good effort for all non-G mono decks would be more low-curve mana rocks that can generate mana of color. e.g. Coldsteel Heart, Marble Diamond, Star Compass, Marble Diamond and Fellwar Stone is a solid base for a mono-W deck, but could be better outside of Moxes and colorless options.
Wait, what? I think R has a great variety of commanders.
Daretti, Scrap Savant, Etali, Primal Storm, Feldon of the Third Path, Grenzo, Havoc Raiser, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Krenko, Mob Boss, Neheb, the Eternal, Norin the Wary, Purphoros, God of the Forge, Zada, Hedron Grinder, Zirilan of the Claw and others all come with viable and diverse tech.
I'd even go as far as saying that R has one of the most improved commander pools of all colors lately. Grenzo, Havoc Raiser, Neheb, the Eternal and Etali, Primal Storm have all been added fairly recently and do look good in my books.
W has merely any interesting commanders though and would profit most from getting a few more options.
Almost all of those are token / combo based commanders. Some of them are not but I also would not have listed all of them as "good" commanders to be honest. Don't get me wrong, most of them are playable, I just think that they fold to a lot of decks that are in better colors. I have not actually seen a very good Grenzo / Feldon / Neheb / Norin lists to be honest. Zada seems like a stretch to try to consider it a good commander too.
Red also suffers from the fact that until commander came along, burn and aggro is about all it ever seemed to get so its playing catchup in commander. White has historically had better tools that stem to commander in its past with its primary issue being card draw. I still cant figure out how it is that red has like..... almost zero legendary dragons in mono red. Seriously they have 3 mono red legendary dragons and none of them are good for commander. How have they not made a good red dragon commander yet?
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[Modern] Allies
Weakness will exist in all decks and color combinations, mono-color for example cannot gain access to other colored cards that'd mend their flaws. Two ways to improve upon this is 1) Add colorless cards, like what black decks usually do, 2) Improve their current identity enough that they could at least cross that gap. Necropotence is a grand example on how Black cards deep in its flavor could power up the deck enough to best opponents despite weaknesses.
I use Black as example because their weakness against artifact/enchantment is very clear, other colors like Red would have issues keeping up their fuel, which could be covered with artifacts and artifact reanimation, Green's lack of creature removal could be trampled under bigger better creature, etc, White's need for card draws too could be achieved via design like Pursuit of Knowledge, flavorful and within identity.
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"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
Getting extra utility out of your landbase is sort of like getting value out of nowhere in some regards because your land count is probably about the same but you are getting extra benefit from your lands where multicolored decks need to have more priority in getting their colors on time.
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[Modern] Allies
Realistically it's kind of hard to give mono-color a boon without it looking pretty clunky I think. The biggest boost mono-color has is the existence of cards like gauntlet of might and cabal coffers, but printing many at once comes off a little forced, and even if it's core to a set (i.e. theros) usually it won't produce very many edhable cards.
Realistically if you're building a mono-color deck you're pretty much signing up for a weaker deck than it could be with multiple colors - but given that commander isn't really all about power level, that doesn't necessarily matter very much. If you want extra power, you can make it up by running more powerful strategies than you might in a similar multicolor deck that doesn't have the same color restriction.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
Emeria, the Sky Ruin / Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle are fairly nice pickups too. Devotion matters style of cards can also give reasons to run mono color too.
As we get more utility lands also, mono color does benefit more from that too because they can run more utility lands on average.
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[Modern] Allies
And while they're at it, please make Boros less battle-oriented.
P.S: I actually have high hope for Muranganda, somehow it feels like a "back to basic" set where mono color and creature with less or no abilities could shine. Most recently, Etali, Primal Storm suits the bill,
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
Well, building with all the dual lands available is fairly privileged. Online, yeah, its easy because Underground Sea is like $34 and most of the non blue ABUs are sub $10, and the Shocks are all under $5. The fetches are all under $40. That means you get a platinum mana base for a 5 color deck for a few hundred bucks, while irl you get just Underground Sea of the same price.
If budget isn't a concern, you're right, there is little consistency to be gained by cutting colors under 3. Unfortunately, most of the player base in paper isn't shelling out for premium mana bases. That means they have to trade off between running basic heavy decks with the better duals (maybe fetches with the non ABU duals with basic types if they have a decent budget, maybe just the best duals that don't citp tapped), at which point the risk of color screw becomes real, or they go lighter on basics and run some weaker duals, many of which have restrictions or often come into play tapped. The latter does effectively eliminate color screw in 2 color and brings it down to negligible in 3 color, but it sacrifices consistency in other ways, namely by slowing the deck down.
Additionally, there are a good number of colorless utility lands that are very strong. You can include more of them the fewer colors you run without risking a color screw. A three color deck has to be very selective with these, while a mono color deck can essentially run them at will. Mono color decks get to run some useful but niche utility lands like Homeward Path that are occasionally dead but can turn games when they aren't without much risk.
Lastly, because this is probably the smallest point, mono color decks have a far easier time casting color intensive spells. Not usually that important, but it matters from time to time. Cryptic Command is a powerhouse that is hampered by needing to hold up UUU. In a mono color deck, this is trivial. In a 2 color deck, this is easy, but can often leave without any more blue mana for other things. In 3+, you will at times simply be unable to cast it, and if you do it usually requires you to use all the blue mana you have available. Simply put, mono color generally doesn't have to worry about managing its colored mana, just its total mana, unless its heavy on colorless sources.
All in all, mono color suffers a bit from having more weaknesses, but makes up for it enough with increased consistency that it doesn't matter much. I'll agree that with the best available mana base, multicolor decks don't start to lose consistency until you get to 4 color, but for many players its a choice between getting slowed down sometimes by budget duals or getting color screwed sometimes by basics. Even with a great mana base, there are still trade offs, though they are small enough that at that point I agree you are better off going 2 color or more unless you're going for the commander.
Side note: If anything, mono white does need help. Black has enough treats with coffers and other black matters cards, blue and green have top shelf commanders (Azami and Arcam are doing just fine). Red may need some help as well, but I'm not the right guy to make that call, I run a lot of mono red and probably overrate its strength. Its got too many fun commanders.
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
Now that's the kind of card I've been seeing in recent expansion that would help mono color a lot. Granted, this seems to be a Black/Red only ability, though the two colors also have a history of pain dealing with their respective permanents/spells. Cannot cast counterspell via this dude is probably intentional, for that we have Dualcaster Mage.
EDIT: And Mutiny, love that card. Please continue the chaotic trend.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
- There are 32 possible color identities from which a deck can choose. 5 of these are monocolored, 26 are multicolor, and 1 is colorless. Of these, we've received precons in all but 5 - four of the allied guilds and colorless. Which means monocolored has actually been over-represented in precons.
- True, the monocolored decks didn't have much that specifically rewarded you for monocolor, but the multi-color decks didn't really have rewards for multicolor either.
- Monocolor isn't unpopular because all the good cards are gold - there are plenty of amazing monocolor cards being run in both types of decks. It's because people prefer the playstyle and the overlapping strengths/weaknesses of multicolor. Why should Wizards buck conventional popularity to try to force something that is inherently less popular?
- How much variety could you actually get if you pushed for color-matters stuff to improve monocolored popularity? We already have the five mono-devotion Gods. We have stuff like Ascendant Evincar/Crovax, Ascendant Hero. We have a few other things like chroma. But how much design space is there to specifically try forcing monocolored popularity?
- I would much rather see them continue to crank out a variety of cards and legends and just let the playerbase decide how to use them.
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
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While we had five monocolor precons, they weren't specifically designed to empower monocolor decks, there weren't mechanics similar to devotion and chroma cards that would help/encourage decks to use LESS colors.
Multicolor decks are easier on covering each individual color's innate weakness and have access to a larger card pool that grants more synergy potentials, not to mention generals were able to obtain characteristics of more identities. For example, Ramos, Dragon Engine +1/+1 deck have access to both Marchesa, the Black Rose and Gavony Township, which neither Atraxa, Marchesa, or decks alone could.
I suggest you reread my OP, I never wrote anything about "all the good cards are gold", nor did I ever deny there exist great many good single color cards; the latter is slightly part of the issue.
What I commented on was how WotC had made playing multicolor deck much easier, and created multicolor legends in their EDH products who's capable of covering a specific deck theme with extra colors, one prime example being Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith compare to Nahiri, Lithomancer, both equipment centric leaders, but the access to green grants Nazahn more versatility, and Nahiri could be included in his deck as well. The issue being, Nazahn could very well be a mono-white creature, while the added green doesn't break the color pie it was also unnecessary, more like an act to expand the colors of equipment decks... Not a bad thing per se, just an evidence that WotC is pushing multicolor over monocolor
Given that Talrand, Sky Summoner and Daretti, Scrap Savant exist, I would not call monocolor "inherently less popular" as you put it, because it is possible to create powerful generals who'd attract people to play monocolor, the problem being that there's not enough. I'm not suggesting WotC to make overpower monocolor generals; that'd only limit people to play those specifically. I was suggesting creating monocolor cards that'd make players feel "worth it" to limit themselves to its color. I will explain that in the next section.
The same way multicolor decks were encouraged, with potency and versatility, I presume you read the examples I posted in the OP, and recommendations other posters had listed? Cryptic Command is a good example for this cause, it's powerful, within the color pie, but also requires UUU to cast, which limits it to one or two colors and less likely beyond that. Temporal Extortion is another, high B mana cost, high risk, but with great rewards.
Many people chose to play multicolor because they want to cover up the weakness of monocolor, and while all decks have weaknesses, people embrace them because the reward is worth it, what I proposed was to empower monocolor EDH to make people feel "worth it" to play them.
WotC has been doing that, except they're also pushing people to play decks with more colors: lands and artifact that produce more color, powerful multicolor legends and cards, which indirectly lessened the appeal of monocolor. I don't mind standard expansion cater to the market and player base and the feel of the plane the story take us, but EDH specific products should attempt to encourage all directions, including those with only one color.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
That said, there are a lot more reasons to go multicolor than monocolor. Amazing multicolor cards, the ability to cover potential weaknesses (especially for black, red, or white), and the ever-increasing quality of mana-fixing nonbasic lands. I appreciate the monocolor-matters cards that exist, but I wouldn't mind seeing more of them.
- Rabid Wombat