So I have this awkward thing going on. As you can see my decks that I currently own are Jund, Abzan Company, Abzan Midrange and Grixis Control. Im also planning to invest into Standard again by building that sweet BG Demonic Pact deck.
Now here comes the thing. I actually hate what red and green stand for and what they value. I mean green is the enemy of my favorite color which is black yet I find myself gravitating to these kind of decks that are in BG/x colors and which are often reminiscent of the original "The Rock" deck.
Philosophically speaking my favorite colors are black then blue and lastly white so Im in the Esper realm but yet every time I play decks of that color combination I quit them soon after since I just don't find them as enjoyable. It's just really funny how that works for me.
Im interested if Im the only one with this "problem" or if there are others too who find themselves playing colors constantly which they actually don't like that much.
I hate green because the flavor just makes no sense. Apparently flying creatures are unnatural and it's only okay to enchant creatures when green does it. The only time I've really enjoyed green was turbofog and GR Tron which is mostly colorless anyway.
Green is the only color I don't like in Magic and the only two Green cards I play at the moment are Abrupt Decay and Xantid Swarm in my sideboard in Legacy.
I find every other color does something cool that I like but Green, for the most part, is unappealing. Turns out I don't have to play it much either hah. I will say there are some green cards that have sweet art. There are a lot of Forest art I really like.
I've never been a fan of Green or Blue, but I find myself having Modern Storm, and am in the process of building Legacy Dark Maverick. I still hate blue and greens flavor, but if I have to play a color to make a deck I enjoy I'll do it. My favorite color combination is Red Black, and I have never made a serious deck out of the two, only a standard deck, back when I first started.
I hate the modern design perspective in regards to Red. Red used to occupy the "Burn, Land Destruction, Mass Permanent Destruction and as a direct foil to Blue." Now, WOTC has decreed that land/mass permanent destruction is unfun and colours should not directly counter another colour so Red has been relegated to burn and burn only. It literally does nothing else/very little else in its colour and it makes for a boring and uninteresting colour to play with.
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Currently Playing: Legacy: RUG(B)Lands UWRMiracles
Hasn't been an issue. I'll play anything and give any color combination a fair go of it, though I'm partial to midrange strategies of whatever colors and am not crazy about combo.
I hate the modern design perspective in regards to Red. Red used to occupy the "Burn, Land Destruction, Mass Permanent Destruction and as a direct foil to Blue." Now, WOTC has decreed that land/mass permanent destruction is unfun and colours should not directly counter another colour so Red has been relegated to burn and burn only. It literally does nothing else/very little else in its colour and it makes for a boring and uninteresting colour to play with.
Red is still acting as the direct counter to Blue(control) though. The recent Pro Tour was the best example of that.
"Exquisite Firecraft, bro. You can durdle as much as you want when you are dead."
I love black (and some blue). I dislike White/green and red before.
Ive been playing modern and commander with B or B/U decks. Now started standard and got crazy idea once I was drunk that I start playing RDW. I have always been those who think "red is for retards" kind of people. I was really surprised how much I have been enjoying playing red now that I gave it a try. I play monored online and Rg on paper and I just love it. It seems I have been wrong all time with that retard thinking or I have become one myself. Either way im liking it now
No, it's OK.
Sometimes you just want to watch the world burn. I know the feeling
I deeply love green, and white. I enjoy black, and I accept red. I'm not a blue fan.
Then I saw Dragonlord Ojutai. What do you know, all my complaints fell by the wayside.
I think for me it's more about what a card does and how it interacts with others in your deck and the format than what colors it is. I know I'm a green mage at heart, but I'll play whichever cards I enjoy the most.
I've shunned Green in favor of Blue for most of my years playing this game, but recently the attrition and draw potential of the color has appealed to me quite a bit, and I find myself getting out-drawn by creature decks as I play Control, which bugs the hell out of me.
I'm currently playing a GB synergy-heavy deck that "feels" blue.
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Formerly Angrypossum over at the now-defunct WotC forums.
Yeah, something is bound to not fit if you're aiming to be competitive while trying to cater to your flavor appreciation side. I think my favorite way to appease both sides is to simply make different decks that each fulfill that side of yourself. One of my favorite decks I've ever used was actually a deck that was drawn by one artist. Did it win much? It depends of course, but the important thing was that I just liked the way it looked and felt.
On a side note, I personally remember black actually being the color that I didn't like too much in terms of flavor. However, I eventually realized that it wasn't necessarily the flavor, but the aesthetics of the color. Once all the cool looking vampire cards and Liliana themed cards came into being, I actually warmed up to it and found myself gravitating towards making fun mono-black control or aggro decks.
Don't worry about it at all. It happens to everyone. I was a UB player for the longest time, but suddenly (after Faeries), Wizards stopped catering to making UB the best deck. Although I think they really overdid it some, it has been good overall for Magic because now it's even more popular than it was before.
I used to only play Green based decks or (White) weenie decks to "prove that I was such a good player that I can beat you with dumb decks." Control players play other decks for fun to see what it's like on the other side. Eventually, Green started getting a lot of love from Wizards. White has too, to a lesser scale, but Green is no longer the laughingstock of Magic.
When I realized that Control decks were no longer going to be the best decks in every format, I decided to play Combo. I really have enjoyed this and have stuck with it, even really enjoying Glass Cannon Combo in particular (that is, until I lose). There are certain archetypes that I hate with a passion and have no intention of playing. Still if those archetypes became the undisputed best deck, I would play them and learn to play the mirror better.
It's all about your goals in playing Magic. My goal is to win and have fun doing it. There is no color that is off-limits to me, although I will admit that I don't particularly like any of the Khans clans (Temur, Abzan, Jeskai). In general, I don't like playing 3 colors. But I hate playing 1 color even moreso. I usually like 2 color decks or more than 3 color decks. If UB becomes the best deck in any format again, expect me to jump ship and relearn how to play those colors.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
I wouldn't consider it a 'problem', but I have the same experience where the colours I'm drawn to mechanically are not those I align with philosophically. I find Black appeals to me most in terms of gameplay, but philosophically I'd probably fall somewhere into WUR (with White leading the wedge). However, I do find there is something I appreciate mechanically or flavourfully in every colour, so some of my most enjoyable decks have been of colours I don't consider my favourites (such as a casual Gw wurm ramp deck). It has always been the Black cards that I've paid the most attention to whenever a new set has been released, though.
I don't like White, and I think I started putting aside white cards quite early when I started played. Of course I have played white, but never as monocolored. I only really like White when it goes with Black (and then it's when it feels less "white" hehe).
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Before the glory of Yawgmoth, yes, even this makes sense.
I dislike flavors of red and green: rushing forward without a plan hoping my nature or my emotions will take care of a problem sounds like a suicide or delayed suicide for me. However, not using such resources in advantageous situation just because of personal preferences does not sound exceptionally thought out either
I feel ya Galerion. I'm Blue, Black, Red(In descending percentage order). While I don't outright hate green the way I do white I'm not a fan but man do I love to play the grindy midrange BG decks. RTR-THS standard was great for me because I was playing exactly that. "Oh you're playing Golgari?" "No I'm playing Rock midrange. Grind your bones to make my bread, you're going to want to quit magic before I'm done with you, GB." I mean that deck beat Ajani, Mentor of Heroes' Ult. I was so proud of it and I'm really hoping that the removal in BFZ is good because I want to do it again with a Den Protector/Deathmist Raptor base.
What you play and what you identify as don't have to match up.
Besides Black uses whatever resources it needs. Even other colors right?
I feel ya Galerion. I'm Blue, Black, Red(In descending percentage order). While I don't outright hate green the way I do white I'm not a fan but man do I love to play the grindy midrange BG decks. RTR-THS standard was great for me because I was playing exactly that. "Oh you're playing Golgari?" "No I'm playing Rock midrange. Grind your bones to make my bread, you're going to want to quit magic before I'm done with you, GB." I mean that deck beat Ajani, Mentor of Heroes' Ult. I was so proud of it and I'm really hoping that the removal in BFZ is good because I want to do it again with a Den Protector/Deathmist Raptor base.
What you play and what you identify as don't have to match up.
Besides Black uses whatever resources it needs. Even other colors right?
Now that's what Im talking about and you are right. We black mages sieze every opportunity we can get
At the end of the Innistrad-RTR Standard BG Rock was also one of the best decks and it abused Desecration Demon and Thragtusk with Disciple of Bolas to crush and bury people. Just so sweet.
I kinda wish I would have played that deck instead of a Sphinx's Revelation deck but oh well. To be fair though milling people out with Nephalia Drownyard had it's charm too
Now that's what Im talking about and you are right. We black mages sieze every opportunity we can get
At the end of the Innistrad-RTR Standard BG Rock was also one of the best decks and it abused Desecration Demon and Thragtusk with Disciple of Bolas to crush and bury people. Just so sweet.
I kinda wish I would have played that deck instead of a Sphinx's Revelation deck but oh well. To be fair though milling people out with Nephalia Drownyard had it's charm too
My buddy Joe played the Esper Drownyard deck. Talk about suffering.
Liking and not-liking certain colors overmuch seems kind of noobish to me. The colors in Magic are like differing sets of tools. Say you're an auto mechanic and you need to build a deck, well then you need a different set of tools to do the job. The different colors in Magic represent those different tools. I have so many decks of every color and every color combination there is. If a color has the abilities to get what I want done then I'll use that color. There's a lot of "flavor" and "philosophy" in Magic, but it's all just a gimmick to appeal to people's emotional side. Strip away the "emotional content" and you're left with just one query, "what do I need to accomplish my goals?", or in my case "how best can I annoy the ***** out of my opponents?". If I've come across as a jerk, I'll blame the double whiskey sours I've had this evening, that said colors are just there to serve your ends so it just seems a little weird to me to get hung up on them. Old-school blue FTW!!
Every color has it's pros and cons, and as players our job is to find the best, most efficient, ways to abuse each one to it's fullest potential.(Wow, I feel as if I've channeled some sort of feel good new age Dr. Phil persona. Once again, the whiskey. whoo hoo!!!!)
White decks, for instance, include draw-go WU control, RW aggro and tapout WGB midrange, all of which play drastically differently and which only share the card Plains.
Avoiding playing W in your decks sounds just as silly and self-defeating as avoiding Fleecemane Lion in your Abzan Aggro deck because you don't like cats.
The thing is if the flavor wasn't there none of us would be playing. If they were all just white-gray pieces of cardboard with rules text on them we wouldn't love this game. We get into the flavor because that what's meant to draw us in. There's nothing wrong with not liking a color flavorfully. There's also nothing wrong with not liking the way a color plays mechanically. If mana and fatties isn't your thing then don't play Green. If (inexplicably) drawing cards and playing fliers and counter spells isn't your thing then don't play Blue. just the same way we have philosophical color allegiances we have play styles. I for one hate aggro decks. I don't want to play them. I like combo and midrange because I find the interaction and deck-building aspects of discovering and building combo decks fun and for more serious play I like the flexibility that midrange gives me. I also don't like the way white plays. It's either weenies or supporting blue for control. White is the opposite of why I like midrange. It lacks flexibility because it doesn't get card advantage. On the other end GB provides me with hard to deal with threats, solid and various removal and good card flow so that I can be flexible and adapt to my situation. The same way I live my life. Granted that if I'm in a situation like draft or sealed where I can't chose what I'm going to play as well I will play whatever is good that comes to me. Hell one of the best drafts I've had was the Theros release draft where I started with a Fleecemane Lion and had a solid GW deck. I both dislike GW philosophically and mechanically but the Blue in me drives me to be self-improving and constantly adapting and the Black told me to use whatever I need to to achieve victory.
I think it has more to do with the fact that the colors of Magic are limited by what mechanics they get in relation to the color pie. Real life has no such restrictions. A mono white individual could use mundane, black themed tools to torture someone for answers if it meant saving hundreds of innocent people. If the laws of magic applied to our reality, the individual would not be able to use much, if any, black magic, but he could still use those mundane tools. I believe Maro stated once that flavor can be justified for just about anything.
You don't have to agree with something philosophically to use its methods. Everything isn't black and white — there are lots of grey areas. If old walkers still existed, I don't think you'd be having the same problem you have now.
I think I've loved all the colors at one point or another ( red isn't doing much for me lately, but as a tertiary color in INN-RTR Aristocrats it was part of my favorite Standard deck ever ), even green, which was my longest hold-out until I got into EDH.
What changed my mind about green? Well, I think I'd describe it as "Green wins stupidly, but it doesn't need to play stupidly."
Green has a lot of interesting choices that require careful thought. Sylvan Library is a card that usually requires some careful thought. A tutor like Birthing Pod or Natural Order usually has some tricky choices involved. Green's isolating mechanics like Dosan The Falling Leaf, Hall of Gemstone, and City of Solitude create some complex board states. Life From The Loam is a card that acts as an engine all on its own, but with the right deck build, is overflowing with possible synergies. Green's two universal removal spells, Song Of The Dryads and Beast Within, both have drawbacks you can make negligible with the right tactics.
I think the best cure to hating a color is to give it a shot in a few different formats and contexts. It might surprise you.
Now here comes the thing. I actually hate what red and green stand for and what they value. I mean green is the enemy of my favorite color which is black yet I find myself gravitating to these kind of decks that are in BG/x colors and which are often reminiscent of the original "The Rock" deck.
Philosophically speaking my favorite colors are black then blue and lastly white so Im in the Esper realm but yet every time I play decks of that color combination I quit them soon after since I just don't find them as enjoyable. It's just really funny how that works for me.
Im interested if Im the only one with this "problem" or if there are others too who find themselves playing colors constantly which they actually don't like that much.
I find every other color does something cool that I like but Green, for the most part, is unappealing. Turns out I don't have to play it much either hah. I will say there are some green cards that have sweet art. There are a lot of Forest art I really like.
Cheeri0sXWU
Reid Duke's Level One
Who's the Beatdown
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Legacy:
RUG(B)Lands
UWRMiracles
The grind, the durdle, the control!
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl.
EDH
Xenagos, the God of Stompy
The Gitrog Monster: Oppressive Value.
Marchesa, Marionette Master - Undying Robots
Yuriko, the Hydra Omnivore
I make dolls as a hobby.
Red is still acting as the direct counter to Blue(control) though. The recent Pro Tour was the best example of that.
"Exquisite Firecraft, bro. You can durdle as much as you want when you are dead."
No, it's OK.
Sometimes you just want to watch the world burn. I know the feeling
Then I saw Dragonlord Ojutai. What do you know, all my complaints fell by the wayside.
I think for me it's more about what a card does and how it interacts with others in your deck and the format than what colors it is. I know I'm a green mage at heart, but I'll play whichever cards I enjoy the most.
Modern - GB Elves, UW Ojutai Control
Legacy - BWG Junk Stoneblade
Gay and Proud
#MakeAmericaGreatAgain
I'm currently playing a GB synergy-heavy deck that "feels" blue.
On a side note, I personally remember black actually being the color that I didn't like too much in terms of flavor. However, I eventually realized that it wasn't necessarily the flavor, but the aesthetics of the color. Once all the cool looking vampire cards and Liliana themed cards came into being, I actually warmed up to it and found myself gravitating towards making fun mono-black control or aggro decks.
I used to only play Green based decks or (White) weenie decks to "prove that I was such a good player that I can beat you with dumb decks." Control players play other decks for fun to see what it's like on the other side. Eventually, Green started getting a lot of love from Wizards. White has too, to a lesser scale, but Green is no longer the laughingstock of Magic.
When I realized that Control decks were no longer going to be the best decks in every format, I decided to play Combo. I really have enjoyed this and have stuck with it, even really enjoying Glass Cannon Combo in particular (that is, until I lose). There are certain archetypes that I hate with a passion and have no intention of playing. Still if those archetypes became the undisputed best deck, I would play them and learn to play the mirror better.
It's all about your goals in playing Magic. My goal is to win and have fun doing it. There is no color that is off-limits to me, although I will admit that I don't particularly like any of the Khans clans (Temur, Abzan, Jeskai). In general, I don't like playing 3 colors. But I hate playing 1 color even moreso. I usually like 2 color decks or more than 3 color decks. If UB becomes the best deck in any format again, expect me to jump ship and relearn how to play those colors.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)Before the glory of Yawgmoth, yes, even this makes sense.
What you play and what you identify as don't have to match up.
Besides Black uses whatever resources it needs. Even other colors right?
Now that's what Im talking about and you are right. We black mages sieze every opportunity we can get
At the end of the Innistrad-RTR Standard BG Rock was also one of the best decks and it abused Desecration Demon and Thragtusk with Disciple of Bolas to crush and bury people. Just so sweet.
I kinda wish I would have played that deck instead of a Sphinx's Revelation deck but oh well. To be fair though milling people out with Nephalia Drownyard had it's charm too
My buddy Joe played the Esper Drownyard deck. Talk about suffering.
Every color has it's pros and cons, and as players our job is to find the best, most efficient, ways to abuse each one to it's fullest potential.(Wow, I feel as if I've channeled some sort of feel good new age Dr. Phil persona. Once again, the whiskey. whoo hoo!!!!)
Cheeri0sXWU
Reid Duke's Level One
Who's the Beatdown
Alt+0198=Æ
White decks, for instance, include draw-go WU control, RW aggro and tapout WGB midrange, all of which play drastically differently and which only share the card Plains.
Avoiding playing W in your decks sounds just as silly and self-defeating as avoiding Fleecemane Lion in your Abzan Aggro deck because you don't like cats.
You don't have to agree with something philosophically to use its methods. Everything isn't black and white — there are lots of grey areas. If old walkers still existed, I don't think you'd be having the same problem you have now.
What changed my mind about green? Well, I think I'd describe it as "Green wins stupidly, but it doesn't need to play stupidly."
Green has a lot of interesting choices that require careful thought. Sylvan Library is a card that usually requires some careful thought. A tutor like Birthing Pod or Natural Order usually has some tricky choices involved. Green's isolating mechanics like Dosan The Falling Leaf, Hall of Gemstone, and City of Solitude create some complex board states. Life From The Loam is a card that acts as an engine all on its own, but with the right deck build, is overflowing with possible synergies. Green's two universal removal spells, Song Of The Dryads and Beast Within, both have drawbacks you can make negligible with the right tactics.
I think the best cure to hating a color is to give it a shot in a few different formats and contexts. It might surprise you.
UTeferi, Temporal ArchmageU's prison: blue is the new orange is the new black.
Mizzix Of The Izmagnus : wheels on fire... rolling down the road...
BSidisi, Undead VizierB: Bis zum Erbrechen
GTitiania, Protector Of ArgothG: Protecting Argoth, by blowing it up!
GYisan, The Wanderer BardG: Gradus Ad Elfball.
Duel EDH: Yisan & Titania.
In Progress: Grand Arbiter Augustin IV duel; Grenzo, Dungeon Warden Doomsday.