My Fiancé and I started playing Magic about a year ago. Since then we have become utterly obsessed. We’ve dabbled in all colors, but I play primarily Black, and he plays primarily white...to the point we have a rule that I’m not allowed to make a mono white and he’s not allowed to make a mono black. In our time playing magic, I have utterly crushed him. 95% of the time I win our matches, and at this point I have 3 well working decks that I have played against multiple people with great success. I love building decks and I came to realize I understand every color except blue. Now, don’t get me wrong. I know why blue is the most powerful color. But making people discard cards and tap creatures and return them to their hand feels....tedious. I like the precision and ferocity of black and red. Green and white clearly have their merits, but blue, as powerful as it is, doesn’t seem fun. I don’t mean to sound pretentious. I know I’m a noob in the world of magic and I have a lot to learn. So what am I missing here? I tried to make a blue deck with chasm skulker, nadir kraken, and toothy imaginary friend. My spells focus on cards that allow me to draw cards and enchantments that maximize the number I can draw to grow the creatures out of control. Even though it’s not really in the spirit of blue, It’s a mean deck for sure, but it’s still boring. I don’t have spells to target players, only their libraries (which feels cheap) and I prefer blacks method of killing and exiling rather than returning to hand, even though I see how it would be frustrating and mana drain the other player if they really wanted that card. Is this just not my play style and I should mix other colors in or simply play other colors? Or am I missing something crucial? Please help!
You're not crazy for thinking blue is boring. Traditionally (in the most conventional view), blue wants to control the opponents' actions and go for a long game. Things like Unsummon and Griptide cripple the opponent's tempo, while you draw cards and counterspell their most dangerous plays, grinding out an advantage that becomes insurmountable. Eventually either the opponent will concede, or you'll kill them with some resilient endgame threat like Inkwell Leviathan. But you certainly don't have to build or play that kind of deck.
The main weakness of blue is that it can't remove an opponent's threats as well as other colors. It can temporarily get rid of them, and it has some things like Pongify,Narcolepsy, and Bubble Snare, but nothing like Doom Blade, Oblivion Ring, or Lightning Bolt. Not even a Naturalize. Blue does certain things uniquely well, but mono-blue can struggle with these sorts of weaknesses. It tends to do better with a support color or as a support color.
A very straightforward deck archetype is UW skies. You focus on flying creatures, and overwhelm what little flying defenses the opponent can put up, using blue for card advantage and white to remove your opponents' threats. You can play cards like Spectral Sailor, Thieving Skydiver, Empyrean Eagle, Favorable Winds, and even Gravitational Shift. You can play a Spirit subtheme with cards like Rattlechains if you like.
An interesting archetype that has picked up more steam lately is flash. You want to play blue, but other colors are up to you. You play mostly instants and cards with flash so you can always hold your options to respond tactically to your opponent, leaving them guessing. You need good cards with flash like Sea-Dasher Octopus, Merfolk Trickster, Stunt Double, Aven Mindcensor, Restoration Angel, Nightpack Ambusher, Ice-Fang Coatl, Biarhorn, Dirge Bat, etc. Green, white, and blue seem to have the best, but black and red have amazing instants. You can also support it with cards like Wavebreak Hippocamp, Naiad of Hidden Coves, Cunning Nightbonder, Brineborn Cutthroat and Glademuse. However be careful: most of those don't themselves have flash. Tidal Barracuda can fix that. But if you don't like countering spells, this may not be for you.
Blue is also excellent as a support color. If you like playing black decks, build mono-black, then add a little bit of blue support with some Opt or Preordain effects. They'll instantly improve the deck. A bit of countermagic can't hurt either. If you aren't playing a lot of blue, Mana Leak is the gold standard, but things like Force Spike, Power Sink, and Supreme Will get the job done. But, like most old-school players, my favorite is still Counterspell.
I mention all these different cards not because you should play them specifically, but because these are the kinds of effects to look for.
I also want to suggest a lot of cross-polination. Talrand's Invocation would be great in a mono-blue aggro deck, a skies deck, or a spell-slinger deck. Hypnotic Sprite is amazing in pretty much any of these decks. Obviously, there are lots of ways to build these archetypes, and lots more archetypes out there.
In the end, if you don't like blue, there's no reason to play it. Theoretically it's the best color, but unless you are playing Vintage, it truly isn't. Blue does a lot of things no other color does-- especially counter spells-- but you don't need to force yourself to like blue.
My Fiancé and I started playing Magic about a year ago. Since then we have become utterly obsessed. We’ve dabbled in all colors, but I play primarily Black, and he plays primarily white...to the point we have a rule that I’m not allowed to make a mono white and he’s not allowed to make a mono black. In our time playing magic, I have utterly crushed him. 95% of the time I win our matches, and at this point I have 3 well working decks that I have played against multiple people with great success. I love building decks and I came to realize I understand every color except blue. Now, don’t get me wrong. I know why blue is the most powerful color. But making people discard cards and tap creatures and return them to their hand feels....tedious. I like the precision and ferocity of black and red. Green and white clearly have their merits, but blue, as powerful as it is, doesn’t seem fun. I don’t mean to sound pretentious. I know I’m a noob in the world of magic and I have a lot to learn. So what am I missing here? I tried to make a blue deck with chasm skulker, nadir kraken, and toothy imaginary friend. My spells focus on cards that allow me to draw cards and enchantments that maximize the number I can draw to grow the creatures out of control. Even though it’s not really in the spirit of blue, It’s a mean deck for sure, but it’s still boring. I don’t have spells to target players, only their libraries (which feels cheap) and I prefer blacks method of killing and exiling rather than returning to hand, even though I see how it would be frustrating and mana drain the other player if they really wanted that card. Is this just not my play style and I should mix other colors in or simply play other colors? Or am I missing something crucial? Please help!
Actually, blue isn't good at making people discard. That is a power that black holds almost exclusively. Other than that, you're spot on with blue. In general, blue is taking a long term approach to winning.
Thank you so much. This is some amazing info. I’m definitely going to look into some of those cards, but I may just have to utilize blue as a support color. I mostly appreciate its counter spells, but I’m afraid I’m not patient enough for the extreme dragging out of the win.
I mean discarding cards from their library, which blue seems to be proficient in. Discarding from the hand is a black ability I utilize frequently. I think blue may just have to remain a support color for me, at least for now.
I mean discarding cards from their library, which blue seems to be proficient in. Discarding from the hand is a black ability I utilize frequently. I think blue may just have to remain a support color for me, at least for now.
like someone else said discarding from deck is called milling ...but my opinion of blue is similar to the others i like some blue i like the draw ability and the large number of fliers....i also like bounce (returning cards to there hands ) used in moderation i often have a few unsummons in my blue decks cause its also good for saving your own creatures or to recast a creature that triggers an effect when it comes into play ....thats the fun way to play blue but what your talking about the counterspells the stalls and locking up up other player its just not fun to play nor play against ...i call them masturbation decks (sorry if thats to vulgar) because its like the people that play those decks would rather play by themselves
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The main weakness of blue is that it can't remove an opponent's threats as well as other colors. It can temporarily get rid of them, and it has some things like Pongify,Narcolepsy, and Bubble Snare, but nothing like Doom Blade, Oblivion Ring, or Lightning Bolt. Not even a Naturalize. Blue does certain things uniquely well, but mono-blue can struggle with these sorts of weaknesses. It tends to do better with a support color or as a support color.
A very straightforward deck archetype is UW skies. You focus on flying creatures, and overwhelm what little flying defenses the opponent can put up, using blue for card advantage and white to remove your opponents' threats. You can play cards like Spectral Sailor, Thieving Skydiver, Empyrean Eagle, Favorable Winds, and even Gravitational Shift. You can play a Spirit subtheme with cards like Rattlechains if you like.
Another major archetype is UR spell-slinger. It's job is to capitalize on powerful blue and red instants and sorceries. Any blue or red deck is going to want to play some basic effects like Arc Lightning, Ponder, and Miscalculation. Maximize these effects with cards like Archaeomancer, Monastery Swiftspear, Saheeli, Sublime Artificer, Thermo-Alchemist, Guttersnipe, and Sprite Dragon. The more spells you can cast, the more powerful the deck becomes, so you can include cards like Hypnotic Sprite and Frantic Search to get your spell count up, while using cards like Talrand's Invocation and Forbidden Friendship to stand in as creatures.
An interesting archetype that has picked up more steam lately is flash. You want to play blue, but other colors are up to you. You play mostly instants and cards with flash so you can always hold your options to respond tactically to your opponent, leaving them guessing. You need good cards with flash like Sea-Dasher Octopus, Merfolk Trickster, Stunt Double, Aven Mindcensor, Restoration Angel, Nightpack Ambusher, Ice-Fang Coatl, Biarhorn, Dirge Bat, etc. Green, white, and blue seem to have the best, but black and red have amazing instants. You can also support it with cards like Wavebreak Hippocamp, Naiad of Hidden Coves, Cunning Nightbonder, Brineborn Cutthroat and Glademuse. However be careful: most of those don't themselves have flash. Tidal Barracuda can fix that. But if you don't like countering spells, this may not be for you.
You can also play straight blue aggro. It's not as well supported as other colors, but there are plenty of cards for it. Look at Phantasmal Bear, Delver of Secrets, Serendib Efreet, Whirler Rogue, Tetsuko Umezawa, Tempest Djinn, and cheap flying attackers like Nimble Obstructionist. Run a few draw spells like Chart a Course, and you won't run out of gas like other mono-color aggro decks. You won't have much removal, so something like Dungeon Geists can be very important.
One final, and related archetype is Bogles. Traditionally it's UG, and focuses on putting powerful enchantments and equipment on hexproof creatures like Slippery Bogle and Gladecover Scout. But you can play a mono-blue version focusing on cheap unblockable creatures to great effect. Play creatures like Invisible Stalker, Gudul Lurker, Slither Blade, Mist-Cloaked Herald and maybe even Blighted Agent. Then just play equipment that boosts their power like Bonesplitter, Darksteel Axe, Trusty Machete, Loxodon Warhammer-- or whatever you have. Curious Obsession and Curiosity aren't bad either. You'll end up with a very dangerous deck, but one that isn't very interactive.
Blue is also excellent as a support color. If you like playing black decks, build mono-black, then add a little bit of blue support with some Opt or Preordain effects. They'll instantly improve the deck. A bit of countermagic can't hurt either. If you aren't playing a lot of blue, Mana Leak is the gold standard, but things like Force Spike, Power Sink, and Supreme Will get the job done. But, like most old-school players, my favorite is still Counterspell.
I mention all these different cards not because you should play them specifically, but because these are the kinds of effects to look for.
I also want to suggest a lot of cross-polination. Talrand's Invocation would be great in a mono-blue aggro deck, a skies deck, or a spell-slinger deck. Hypnotic Sprite is amazing in pretty much any of these decks. Obviously, there are lots of ways to build these archetypes, and lots more archetypes out there.
In the end, if you don't like blue, there's no reason to play it. Theoretically it's the best color, but unless you are playing Vintage, it truly isn't. Blue does a lot of things no other color does-- especially counter spells-- but you don't need to force yourself to like blue.
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Actually, blue isn't good at making people discard. That is a power that black holds almost exclusively. Other than that, you're spot on with blue. In general, blue is taking a long term approach to winning.
Ah yes! Milling! Blue is very good at that.