I'd say Phyrexia definitely still has some of that White/Black tribalism. Also, it's only the Red faction of New Phyrexia that was forced into hiding, the Black faction submitted to the White faction's rule. That's why Atraxa is every color but Red, she was created by all four of the remaining Praetors after they'd forged their alliance. I actually see New Phyrexia as being four-colored, you can basically view it as combining Esper-style technocracy with Bant-style collectivism with Sultai-style expansionism.
On a semi-related note, I originally thought about listing the Borg Collective as an example of a Bant-colored organization, but I wasn't sure whether it should be considered White/Blue/Green (because it seeks to incorporate everyone into its 'perfect' society) or Blue/Black/Green (because it seeks to consume and absorb everyone else that exists, making everything into a part of itself). Mark Rosewater originally listed them as typical Blue/Black expansionist conquerors, but later considered them an example of the Green/Black plague-bearer archetype, and admitted that they could be seen as White/Green collectivists if you assumed their motives were benevolent (i.e. if they genuinely believed that the people and species they assimilated were better off as part of the Collective). Ultimately I'd say that, like the New Phyrexians, they're White/Blue/Black/Green. Given that the Borg's defining trait is that they completely lack individuality, I'd say that having them be Non-Red fits perfectly.
I actually didn't mind the writing style, I thought it fit the setting well. My main issue with the story was that it both portrayed Vivian in what I would consider to be a very unheroic light, yet at the same time seemed to consider her a fully heroic character, with the narrative apparently endorsing her actions.
Decided to reduce the non-X casting cost from 3 down to 2, that way it's a little better at the low levels while the double X keeps it from getting too ridiculous at the high levels.
An example of a White/Blue/Green protagonist would be Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi. While Luke would've been White/Red in the original trilogy, he's become a very different person by the time of the sequel trilogy: He's lost the passion for freedom and justice that he had in his youth, and he seems content to live a simple life in isolation, reflecting on his past mistakes and contemplating the nature of the Force without getting involved in the conflicts and wars plaguing the galaxy. He even considered preemptively killing his own nephew for crimes he might commit in the future (a very White/Blue course of action), which shows that Luke has changed significantly from the young knight who refused to kill his murderous tyrant of a father in the hope that he might still be redeemed. Another example of a White/Blue/Green hero would be Gandalf from Lord of the Rings, a semi-divine wizard who's capable of setting elaborate and complex plans into motion, but is also willing to go with the flow and trust that the universe will take people where they need to be. (In fact, the conflict between Gandalf and Saruman exemplifies the similarities and differences between White/Blue/Green and White/Blue/Black.) Vision from the Marvel Cinematic Universe would also be White/Blue/Green, as evidenced by his concern for the “collective good” of mankind and his belief that humanity has a role to play in the natural order of the universe.
An example of a White/Blue/Green villain would be Sofia Lamb from Bioshock 2, a psychologist and cult leader obsessed with 'purity' who views individualism as a scourge and believes that people need to put aside their self-interest for the good of humanity as a whole. She also seeks to make humans more altruistic by fundamentally altering their nature through genetic engineering and mental conditioning. Dr. Raymond Cocteau from Demolition Man is another White/Blue/Green villain in this mold, as the character was intended as a satire of both ultra-conservative moralists (White/Green) and 'nanny state' liberals obsessed with safety and political correctness (White/Blue); Cocteau is an authoritarian dictator who's responsible for establishing a society in which violence, crime, and disorder have been eradicated at the cost of virtually all personal and social freedoms, to the point where everything from guns and alcohol to unhealthy foods and sexual intercourse have been prohibited. The SYBIL System from Psycho Pass is another example, an artificial intelligence that controls nearly every aspect of society, arresting or summarily executing anyone whose psychological makeup predisposes them to violence, criminality, or subversive behavior. VIKI from the I, Robot movie would be White/Blue/Green for very similar reasons, as she aims to ensure humanity's continued safety by taking over the world and establishing a new order in which humans are effectively kept as zoo animals.
The Jedi Order is an example of a White/Blue/Green organization. It's an order of warrior monks who are dedicated to preserving peace and upholding order in the galaxy, while also encouraging its members to focus on self-improvement and spiritual growth. The Jedi seek to find inner peace and enlightenment by rejecting emotions and attachments, and believe that they can achieve a greater understanding of themselves and of the universe through dispassionate contemplation. A very different example of a White/Blue/Green knightly order would be the Brotherhood of Steel from Fallout, a post-apocalyptic militia seeking to acquire lost technology for themselves – and more importantly, to prevent it from falling into anyone else's hands – in order to prevent another cataclysmic war from breaking out. They're White because they serve in a rigid hierarchy, live by a strict code of conduct, and seek to defend humanity; they're Blue because they seek to understand and reverse-engineer and sometimes even improve upon pre-war technology; they're Green because they staunchly oppose the development of new technology, strongly regulate the use of existing technology, and seek to preserve the natural order against 'abominations' like mutants and synthetic humanoids. The SCP Foundation (from the website of the same name) would be White/Blue/Green as well: It's a rigid, authoritarian, and almost ridiculously bureaucratic secret society (White/Blue) devoted to protecting the world from supernatural threats and upholding the 'masquerade' of normalcy (White/Green), while also trying to study, classify, and understand the nature of paranormal entitites/objects through extensive scientific research (Blue/Green).
An example of an entire White/Blue/Green society would be the World State from Brave New World, a global civilization in which people are biologically engineered to better fit their roles in an absolutist caste system which allows no opportunities for social mobility whatsoever. The Community from The Giver would be another such example, a society tailored to ensure absolute conformity by making everyone's life experiences as close to identical as possible. A more benevolent example of a White/Blue/Green civilization would be the Vulcans from Star Trek, who have a strictly ordered society centered around logic, reason, and communal utilitarianism, as well as a culture that strongly emphasizes tradition and social responsibility. (Also, while I listed the Federation as White/Blue/Red earlier, I was mostly referring to the human society of the 23rd century; since the Federation is actually an alliance between humanity and the Vulcan civilization, I'd say it would actually be White/Blue overall, with some Red and Green mixed in due to the respective influence of the two species that founded it. The Federation's entire culture is basically defined by a complete lack of selfishness, so having it be Non-Black makes sense. Plus the Prime Directive is a very White/Green rule!)
Had time to do another writeup now that my midterms are over:
WUG combines White's desire for unity and social harmony with Green's belief that everything in the world is connected as part of a larger whole, and then adds in Blue's cold, calculating, sterile objectivity and its capacity for systematic improvement. It mixes White/Green's universalist and communitarian mindset with White/Blue's affinity for orderly and structured social systems, along with Green/Blue's penchant for understanding and improving upon the world through observation. The end result is a color triad that views human civilization and the world as a whole as one enormous interconnected system, and seeks to maintain and improve upon that system to keep it functioning as well as possible.
Its primary tools are altruism, shared purpose, preservation, restoration, controlled growth, and selective improvement. White/Blue/Green is completely and totally selfless, always willing to put the well-being of others before its own wants, and sometimes even before its own needs. It believes that the highest purpose in life is to ensure the greatest good for the greatest number, to ensure that everyone is kept as happy – or at least as content and free from suffering – as possible. Its adherents are all devoutly united by a shared vision of what they believe the world should be like, and each and every one of them is willing to sacrifice their freedom, their happiness, their prosperity, their standing, and even their life for the sake of that ideal.
Like White/Black/Green, it's wholly dedicated to ensuring the continuation of its way of life. However, while White/Black/Green seeks to seal itself off from the outside world and cling tightly to what it has, White/Blue/Green is willing to let things go in order to replace them with something better. Unlike the White/Black color triads, White/Blue/Green isn't tied to a particular faction or nation, which allows it to understand that the essence of a society can remain, even as the particular people and institutions and policies comprising that society change – in much the same way that living beings will constantly lose old cells and gain new ones. This fits in perfectly with White/Blue/Green's view of collective humanity as a superorganism in its own right.
White/Blue/Green all about maintaining homeostasis – repairing what's been damaged, replacing what's been lost, and keeping the system going, different than it used to be and yet somehow still fundamentally the same as always, past and present and future tied together through a shared history and shared ideals. This enables it to be more flexible than White/Black/Green, better suited to adapting to sudden changes – and also capable of self-improvement, however slow and cautious its steps forward might be. It doesn't see growth or progress as an imperative, but it does allow for continual expansion and improvement, albeit only when it's absolutely sure that changing something will result in better outcomes for everyone and won't cause conflict or disrupt the status quo.
It's opposed to Red/Black, the color pairing most associated with individualism, independence, and hedonistic indulgence. Above all else, Red/Black is determined to do what it wants. It believes it should have the freedom to live its life as it pleases, even if it causes harm to itself or others by doing so. It doesn't care about the past or the future at all; it would rather live in the moment, indulging its whims and acting on its desires, regardless of the long-term consequences. It's also prone to excess, since it doesn't care if it'll go broke from overspending, or get unhealthy from overeating, or develop an addiction from doing too many drugs.
White/Blue/Green sees this mentality as wrong on every conceivable level; in its eyes, putting yourself before others and putting emotion before reason and putting enjoyment before necessity and putting the present before the future are all horrible decisions. It doesn't care about freedom; if people will consistently make the wrong kinds of choices, that's all the more reason that people shouldn't be given a choice in the first place. Even if Red/Black takes the libertarian approach and claims that it's “not hurting anyone” or “only hurting itself,” that's just a flimsy excuse; White/Blue/Green understands that everyone and everything is connected, and that even seemingly harmless actions can have negative consequences for everyone.
Red/Black also disagrees with the idea that people are obligated to make sacrifices in order to help other people, or for the sake of some abstract greater good. In contrast, White/Blue/Green is willing to sacrifice its own freedom and well-being to make things better for everyone else. Of course, by the same token, it's just as willing to sacrifice the freedom and well-being of others if doing so will help a greater number or further a higher cause, whether they're willing to make that sacrifice or not. It may even view someone as immoral just for 'selfishly' trying to prevent themselves from being sacrificed for the greater good (and in extreme cases, it may view that very 'selfishness' as justifying the forced sacrifice of that person). Red/Black would choose to save a single loved one over saving an entire crowd of people, and it would choose to save its family and friends over saving an entire city; White/Blue/Green would choose whichever option led to the least casualties overall.
Red/Black is also deeply concerned with maintaining its sense of individuality and expressing itself, whereas White/Blue/Green seeks to curtail individual expression and keep everyone as similar as possible. It's more tolerant of diversity than White/Black/Green, but it still condemns people who deliberately choose to be different just for the sake of standing out; it would prefer everyone to instead try their best to fit in. Additionally, Red/Black tends to be rather fond of conflict, or at least not particularly averse to it; White/Blue/Green, on the other hand, seeks to prevent or minimize conflict wherever possible, since it would prefer that everyone get along and work together.
Ultimately, White/Blue/Green thinks the world would be a much better place if people could just put aside their myopic and selfish desires and work toward the collective good. In its view, the kind of rabid individualism that Red/Black exemplifies just leaves everyone worse off in the long run.
White/Blue/Green is similar to White/Blue/Red and White/Blue/Black, as they all seek to improve the world through social and technological change. However, while White/Blue/Red is largely devoted to change for its own sake and White/Blue/Black sees it as a tool to ensure efficiency and prosperity, White/Blue/Green uses change to bring about peace, harmony, and contentment. Furthermore, White/Blue/Red and White/Blue/Black always strive to keep improving themselves and their surroundings, whereas White/Blue/Green tends to improve things for the sake of solving a specific problem, achieving a specific goal, or meeting a specific standard, and it's content to stop tinkering with something once it's already been perfected. As a result, it isn't nearly as reckless as White/Blue/Red or as ruthless as White/Blue/Black in its pursuit of progress.
White/Blue/Green is also similar to White/Blue/Red in another sense, as they both have a utopian mindset and believe that a perfect world is possible. However, White/Blue/Green views White/Blue/Red's boundless idealism and total lack of cynicism as naive. White/Blue/Red believes that a perfect society can simply emerge through the voluntary interactions of free people, while White/Blue/Green sees perfection as a something fragile that needs to be carefully cultivated, maintained, and defended. As such, it does not allow for the unrestrained freedom, creativity, and experimentalism of White/Blue/Red.
Likewise, White/Blue/Green and White/Blue/Black both share an “ends justify the means” approach to morality, believing that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. However, White/Blue/Black still leaves room for individual ambition and social mobility within its utilitarian framework, believing that anyone can rise above their station and become successful with enough hard work and ingenuity, and perhaps a healthy amount of competitive ruthlessness. In contrast, White/Blue/Green considers ambition to be inherently immoral and views competition as inherently wasteful, and besides which, it genuinely believes that people are happier when they're given a set purpose in life instead of being left to their own devices. As such, White/Blue/Green supports a social order in which people's roles are predetermined and immutable.
In that regard, White/Blue/Green is similar to White/Black/Green, which also supports the idea of unchanging social roles that are assigned from birth. The two color triads also share a predisposition to rigid social systems in general; White/Blue/Green isn't completely averse to progress like White/Black/Green, but it's very slow to embrace change. That said, White/Black/Green hierarchies tend to be fairly arbitrary in nature, as they're often based on traits like race, nationality, culture, and gender, while White/Blue/Green tends to assign social roles based on more objective metrics (e.g. what types of people are better suited for what tasks). White/Black/Green is also highly insular, seeking to preserve only its own tribe/nation, while White/Blue/Green takes a universalist approach – similar to White/Blue/Black, but even more so, since it lacks any semblance of White/Black tribalism. It ultimately seeks to spread peace and order everywhere, and to bring perfection to everyone.
White/Blue/Green is the color triad of conformity and collectivism. It's the color triad of benevolent 'soft' utilitarianism, in contrast to the hard and cruel and merciless utilitarianism of White/Blue/Black. It's the color triad of Plato's Republic and Thomas More's Utopia, the color triad of the communist ideal. Fundamentally, it's the color triad of utopianism.
What if I lowered the non-X cost down to 2 or 1? Or alternatively, what if I raised the non-X cost up to 4 and change the variable casting cost from XX back to X?
Hadn't noticed the Street Riot flavor text. He certainly sounds older and with an axe to grind. While I didn't want Orzhov to go Bolas, the color balancing thing makes sense.
If it's any consolation, I don't think it'll matter which guilds side with Bolas in the long run. In the end, he'll conquer the plane and take over all of them, with the loyalist remnants of every guild banding together to overthrow him. Likewise, I don't think Dovin, Kaya, and Domri are villains for serving Bolas, especially since most of them probably don't even realize they're helping further his plans (like Ral) or don't realize how evil he is (like Vraska). Once they realize what his actual agenda is, I'd imagine most or all of them would turn against him. I don't see Tezzeret or Liliana staying loyal either.
I'm fairly sure the third act will basically be "everyone vs. Bolas," the question is who'll be fighting who in the second act.
My thought is Kaya is, like Vraska, an assassin and will do whatever she is paid to do. Kaya has a moral center but if she doesn't know Bolas is evil and he hires her to kill the Obzedat, I bet she would and seeing how corrupt the ghosts are wouldn't have an issue.
I don't even think Bolas will hire her directly. More likely, Bolas will make some kind of deal with Teysa to find someone who can kill the Ghost Council and introduce her to Kaya. He might not even do that much directly, he could just use Tezzeret as a middleman instead.
When I'm writing a short story first person, it feels really weird to say/write the person's name or describe them until someone else does. How often do you walk around telling yourself your name, or describing yourself to yourself? Feels strange. The author might feel the same way. If you don't go around thinking "I'm Bob, and I'm a human," why would a first person character do that?
Define describing, but I think "God I am fat" quite often.
I often think about specific aspects of my physical appearance and look at myself in just about every reflective surface I can find. ("I feel really pretty today, I love how this dress shows off my hourglass figure," or "I look like a total mess right now, my hair is all frizzy and I have bags under my eyes.") Sometimes I mentally refer to myself by name too. ("Come on Sarah, get it together.")
So yeah, I wouldn't see anything weird about the main character describing herself and mentioning her name in a first person narrative. But I'm also a bit of a narcissist (when I was writing my description of the Blue/Black/Red mentality in the Identity of Shards thread, some parts felt almost autobiographical), so maybe most people don't think that way?
Upped the mana cost of Unlimited Power accordingly and nerfed it slightly. Also added a third spell, mostly just because I remembered that Force Lightning can be used to attack multiple targets at once.
So what factions and planeswalkers are going to be on Team Bolas in the next set? We've got Ral leading the Izzet, Vraska leading the Golgari, and it's all but confirmed that Dovin Baan will be leading the Azorius. I'm guessing we'll see Kaya with the Orzhov, not as a leader but as the one who paves the way for Teysa to take control by killing the Ghost Council. That leaves either the Gruul or Rakdos as Bolas' last faction. If it's the Gruul, I have no doubt it'll be Domri Rade in charge; if it's the Rakdos, I'm not really sure. Tibalt? Liliana? She is good at killing demons, after all.
I imagine most of them will end up turning against Bolas in the finale, possibly all of them. Tezzeret too.
Just had these ideas while watching Star Wars, I was wondering if either of them would be viable as actual cards!
Force LightningUBR
Instant
Choose one:
Deal 3 damage to target creature or planeswalker. Tap that permanent. It doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step.
Deal 3 damage to target player. That player discards a card.
"The Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural."
Force StormXUBR
Sorcery
Deal X damage, divided as you choose among any number of targets. Tap all permanents dealt damage by Force Storm. Each player dealt damage by Force Storm discards a card. "Good, good! Let the hate flow through you!"
Unlimited PowerXX(U/R)B
Sorcery
Deal X damage to target player. That player discards X cards and you draw X cards. "Do it."
WUB really sounds like what I think of with the scientific method, which kind of exemplifies why Red/Green doesn't work. And Dr Doom as a WUB villain, not sure I ever saw him like that but I get the reasoning.
Omnirahk echoed my thoughts perfectly. Science is about figuring out how things work, engineering is about figuring out how to put that knowledge to practical use. Both are Blue, but Green is the color most associated with observation and discovery, whereas White and Black are both social colors and seek to apply their knowledge in ways that will be useful for other people (either out of altruism or for the sake of profit). Red can fit into either category, it's the color most associated with new ideas and sudden insights (which are an important part of the scientific process), but it's also associated with building inventions (which is engineering, albeit a less practical and more creative form than White or Black prefers).
And with Dr. Doom, like most comic book characters, it really depends on how he's written. A lot of bad writers portray him as a generic one-dimensional bad guy who wants to take over the world just because he's power-hungry, or simply hates the Fantastic Four because he's jealous of Reed Richards. If we're going by those portrayals, I'd say that he'd be mono-Black or Blue/Black or maybe even Red/Black (though I'd argue those versions are really just faulty Doombots). But I'm going by this portrayal of Doom, who's practically the epitome of the White/Blue/Black mentality.
I perceived the ones I quoted feared we would have been left with just Nicky Drayden stories about the context of Ravnica, so without stories about the main arc. The climax is the whole Ravnica "block" considering the plot started many years ago. And by any plot point I meant they will give us the plot diluted in the same format we already know from magic story articles (or slightly shorter). They wrote just a few days ago that Weisman will also write the web fiction that tells the end of the story arc.
There are two things I'm worried about here.
First, I'm concerned that we'll basically just get a quick summary of the events that happened in the novel. At worst, it won't really be fiction at all, just a list of plot points. At best, it'll be a story about some random side characters talking about what happened in the novel, without actually showing us firsthand. It would still be a summary, just a summary delivered to us by the characters in-universe.
Second, I'm concerned that even if we do get an actual story, it won't match up to the story in the novel. They've made similar mistakes in the past, with the events described in the fat pack booklets or the art books contradicting the events we see in the actual fiction. It's not unreasonable to think they'll make a similar mistake here, except this time it'll be the novel that takes precedence over the web stories in terms of the MtG canon, rather than the web stories taking precedence over the supplemental materials. So we might still need to read the book in order to see the true canonical ending to this years-long storyline.
I'm not saying that's what will happen, maybe I'm wrong and the web fiction will end up being an enjoyable and full-fledged story experience in its own right that dovetails perfectly with the novel. But I think I have valid cause for concern, especially considering how sloppy WotC has been about these things in the past.
The traditional comic book version of Batman is a White/Blue/Black hero, as he combines the Blue/Black private detective archetype with the White/Black vigilante archetype. He uses a mix of stealth, espionage tactics, investigative skills, martial prowess, and sheer brute-force intimidation to fight for justice and strike terror into the hearts of criminals. He's also incredibly resourceful, and he has an almost superhuman knack for making contingency plans to cover just about any conceivable situation he could possibly find himself in.
Dr. Doom is an example of a White/Blue/Black villain, a genius sorcerer-scientist who exemplifies both White/Black totalitarianism and Blue perfectionism, with a truly indomitable will and a drive to bring humanity under his control. While egotistical to an extreme, he nonetheless views his actions as serving the greater good; he genuinely believes that humanity will destroy itself unless the people of the world are forced to unite under a single banner, and he sees himself as the only person intelligent and determined enough to accomplish the task and lead mankind into an eternal utopian golden age.
Nick Fury is an example of a White/Blue/Black anti-hero, a cunning spymaster and brilliant grand strategist who's willing to do anything to protect the world. For that matter, SHIELD itself is a White/Blue/Black institution, using Blue/Black methods (espionage and engineering) in the service of White/Blue ends (ensuring global stability). HYDRA would also be a White/Blue/Black institution, using similar Blue/Black methods in the service of White/Black ends (establishing a global fascist dictatorship).
The Institute from Fallout 4 is another example of a White/Blue/Black organization, a society of scientists and engineers dedicated to repairing the post-apocalyptic world through technological advances and creating a civilization that could allow humanity to thrive again. They're also extremely insular, living in a secure and sterile underground complex, harboring nothing but disdain and resentment toward the filthy and chaotic surface dwellers inhabiting the wasteland above. Their methods are as Blue/Black as you can get, as they rely on an army of humanoid robots to do their bidding and use espionage, sabotage, and assassination to infiltrate and subvert wasteland settlements.
The Alliance from Firefly is an example of a full-fledged White/Blue/Black government, a galactic confederacy seeking to impose law and order on its member worlds and to pre-emptively destroy any possible threats to its rule. It's all too willing to brutally quash local rebellions and terminate dissidents with extreme prejudice, and its ultimate goal is to “improve” humanity by changing the fundamental nature of man. A more benevolent example of a White/Blue/Black institution would be the Second Foundation from Asimov's Foundation series, a shadow government of social scientists who use statistical analysis to predict and control the course of human history, with the intent of rebuilding a unified galactic civilization and preventing mankind from falling into a perpetual dark age.
Grand Admiral Thrawn from the Star Wars expanded universe exemplifies many of the color triad's greatest strengths as well as its greatest weaknesses: He's a strategic mastermind and a tactical genius who's always three steps ahead of his enemies, displaying incredible foresight and a keen understanding of how rival commanders think, capable of predicting their moves and formulating a response before they can even realize who they're up against. He avoids the types of failures common to other Imperial leaders: He prefers simple but effective tactics to convoluted schemes; he prefers to devote his resources to building up his fleet rather than wasting manpower and materials on enormous projects like the Death Star that could be destroyed by a single enemy attack; he prefers to conserve his forces by deploying just as many ships as he needs to win a battle, rather than trying to crush his enemies with overwhelming force. However, he's also overly reliant on his predictions and has a lot of difficulty adjusting when things don't go according to plan, he overlooks a lot of small but crucial details in his focus on the big picture, and he consistently fails to account for the fact that people might behave in 'irrational' (e.g. emotional, self-sacrificing, or spiteful) ways.
On a semi-related note, I originally thought about listing the Borg Collective as an example of a Bant-colored organization, but I wasn't sure whether it should be considered White/Blue/Green (because it seeks to incorporate everyone into its 'perfect' society) or Blue/Black/Green (because it seeks to consume and absorb everyone else that exists, making everything into a part of itself). Mark Rosewater originally listed them as typical Blue/Black expansionist conquerors, but later considered them an example of the Green/Black plague-bearer archetype, and admitted that they could be seen as White/Green collectivists if you assumed their motives were benevolent (i.e. if they genuinely believed that the people and species they assimilated were better off as part of the Collective). Ultimately I'd say that, like the New Phyrexians, they're White/Blue/Black/Green. Given that the Borg's defining trait is that they completely lack individuality, I'd say that having them be Non-Red fits perfectly.
An example of a White/Blue/Green villain would be Sofia Lamb from Bioshock 2, a psychologist and cult leader obsessed with 'purity' who views individualism as a scourge and believes that people need to put aside their self-interest for the good of humanity as a whole. She also seeks to make humans more altruistic by fundamentally altering their nature through genetic engineering and mental conditioning. Dr. Raymond Cocteau from Demolition Man is another White/Blue/Green villain in this mold, as the character was intended as a satire of both ultra-conservative moralists (White/Green) and 'nanny state' liberals obsessed with safety and political correctness (White/Blue); Cocteau is an authoritarian dictator who's responsible for establishing a society in which violence, crime, and disorder have been eradicated at the cost of virtually all personal and social freedoms, to the point where everything from guns and alcohol to unhealthy foods and sexual intercourse have been prohibited. The SYBIL System from Psycho Pass is another example, an artificial intelligence that controls nearly every aspect of society, arresting or summarily executing anyone whose psychological makeup predisposes them to violence, criminality, or subversive behavior. VIKI from the I, Robot movie would be White/Blue/Green for very similar reasons, as she aims to ensure humanity's continued safety by taking over the world and establishing a new order in which humans are effectively kept as zoo animals.
The Jedi Order is an example of a White/Blue/Green organization. It's an order of warrior monks who are dedicated to preserving peace and upholding order in the galaxy, while also encouraging its members to focus on self-improvement and spiritual growth. The Jedi seek to find inner peace and enlightenment by rejecting emotions and attachments, and believe that they can achieve a greater understanding of themselves and of the universe through dispassionate contemplation. A very different example of a White/Blue/Green knightly order would be the Brotherhood of Steel from Fallout, a post-apocalyptic militia seeking to acquire lost technology for themselves – and more importantly, to prevent it from falling into anyone else's hands – in order to prevent another cataclysmic war from breaking out. They're White because they serve in a rigid hierarchy, live by a strict code of conduct, and seek to defend humanity; they're Blue because they seek to understand and reverse-engineer and sometimes even improve upon pre-war technology; they're Green because they staunchly oppose the development of new technology, strongly regulate the use of existing technology, and seek to preserve the natural order against 'abominations' like mutants and synthetic humanoids. The SCP Foundation (from the website of the same name) would be White/Blue/Green as well: It's a rigid, authoritarian, and almost ridiculously bureaucratic secret society (White/Blue) devoted to protecting the world from supernatural threats and upholding the 'masquerade' of normalcy (White/Green), while also trying to study, classify, and understand the nature of paranormal entitites/objects through extensive scientific research (Blue/Green).
An example of an entire White/Blue/Green society would be the World State from Brave New World, a global civilization in which people are biologically engineered to better fit their roles in an absolutist caste system which allows no opportunities for social mobility whatsoever. The Community from The Giver would be another such example, a society tailored to ensure absolute conformity by making everyone's life experiences as close to identical as possible. A more benevolent example of a White/Blue/Green civilization would be the Vulcans from Star Trek, who have a strictly ordered society centered around logic, reason, and communal utilitarianism, as well as a culture that strongly emphasizes tradition and social responsibility. (Also, while I listed the Federation as White/Blue/Red earlier, I was mostly referring to the human society of the 23rd century; since the Federation is actually an alliance between humanity and the Vulcan civilization, I'd say it would actually be White/Blue overall, with some Red and Green mixed in due to the respective influence of the two species that founded it. The Federation's entire culture is basically defined by a complete lack of selfishness, so having it be Non-Black makes sense. Plus the Prime Directive is a very White/Green rule!)
WUG combines White's desire for unity and social harmony with Green's belief that everything in the world is connected as part of a larger whole, and then adds in Blue's cold, calculating, sterile objectivity and its capacity for systematic improvement. It mixes White/Green's universalist and communitarian mindset with White/Blue's affinity for orderly and structured social systems, along with Green/Blue's penchant for understanding and improving upon the world through observation. The end result is a color triad that views human civilization and the world as a whole as one enormous interconnected system, and seeks to maintain and improve upon that system to keep it functioning as well as possible.
Its primary tools are altruism, shared purpose, preservation, restoration, controlled growth, and selective improvement. White/Blue/Green is completely and totally selfless, always willing to put the well-being of others before its own wants, and sometimes even before its own needs. It believes that the highest purpose in life is to ensure the greatest good for the greatest number, to ensure that everyone is kept as happy – or at least as content and free from suffering – as possible. Its adherents are all devoutly united by a shared vision of what they believe the world should be like, and each and every one of them is willing to sacrifice their freedom, their happiness, their prosperity, their standing, and even their life for the sake of that ideal.
Like White/Black/Green, it's wholly dedicated to ensuring the continuation of its way of life. However, while White/Black/Green seeks to seal itself off from the outside world and cling tightly to what it has, White/Blue/Green is willing to let things go in order to replace them with something better. Unlike the White/Black color triads, White/Blue/Green isn't tied to a particular faction or nation, which allows it to understand that the essence of a society can remain, even as the particular people and institutions and policies comprising that society change – in much the same way that living beings will constantly lose old cells and gain new ones. This fits in perfectly with White/Blue/Green's view of collective humanity as a superorganism in its own right.
White/Blue/Green all about maintaining homeostasis – repairing what's been damaged, replacing what's been lost, and keeping the system going, different than it used to be and yet somehow still fundamentally the same as always, past and present and future tied together through a shared history and shared ideals. This enables it to be more flexible than White/Black/Green, better suited to adapting to sudden changes – and also capable of self-improvement, however slow and cautious its steps forward might be. It doesn't see growth or progress as an imperative, but it does allow for continual expansion and improvement, albeit only when it's absolutely sure that changing something will result in better outcomes for everyone and won't cause conflict or disrupt the status quo.
It's opposed to Red/Black, the color pairing most associated with individualism, independence, and hedonistic indulgence. Above all else, Red/Black is determined to do what it wants. It believes it should have the freedom to live its life as it pleases, even if it causes harm to itself or others by doing so. It doesn't care about the past or the future at all; it would rather live in the moment, indulging its whims and acting on its desires, regardless of the long-term consequences. It's also prone to excess, since it doesn't care if it'll go broke from overspending, or get unhealthy from overeating, or develop an addiction from doing too many drugs.
White/Blue/Green sees this mentality as wrong on every conceivable level; in its eyes, putting yourself before others and putting emotion before reason and putting enjoyment before necessity and putting the present before the future are all horrible decisions. It doesn't care about freedom; if people will consistently make the wrong kinds of choices, that's all the more reason that people shouldn't be given a choice in the first place. Even if Red/Black takes the libertarian approach and claims that it's “not hurting anyone” or “only hurting itself,” that's just a flimsy excuse; White/Blue/Green understands that everyone and everything is connected, and that even seemingly harmless actions can have negative consequences for everyone.
Red/Black also disagrees with the idea that people are obligated to make sacrifices in order to help other people, or for the sake of some abstract greater good. In contrast, White/Blue/Green is willing to sacrifice its own freedom and well-being to make things better for everyone else. Of course, by the same token, it's just as willing to sacrifice the freedom and well-being of others if doing so will help a greater number or further a higher cause, whether they're willing to make that sacrifice or not. It may even view someone as immoral just for 'selfishly' trying to prevent themselves from being sacrificed for the greater good (and in extreme cases, it may view that very 'selfishness' as justifying the forced sacrifice of that person). Red/Black would choose to save a single loved one over saving an entire crowd of people, and it would choose to save its family and friends over saving an entire city; White/Blue/Green would choose whichever option led to the least casualties overall.
Red/Black is also deeply concerned with maintaining its sense of individuality and expressing itself, whereas White/Blue/Green seeks to curtail individual expression and keep everyone as similar as possible. It's more tolerant of diversity than White/Black/Green, but it still condemns people who deliberately choose to be different just for the sake of standing out; it would prefer everyone to instead try their best to fit in. Additionally, Red/Black tends to be rather fond of conflict, or at least not particularly averse to it; White/Blue/Green, on the other hand, seeks to prevent or minimize conflict wherever possible, since it would prefer that everyone get along and work together.
Ultimately, White/Blue/Green thinks the world would be a much better place if people could just put aside their myopic and selfish desires and work toward the collective good. In its view, the kind of rabid individualism that Red/Black exemplifies just leaves everyone worse off in the long run.
White/Blue/Green is similar to White/Blue/Red and White/Blue/Black, as they all seek to improve the world through social and technological change. However, while White/Blue/Red is largely devoted to change for its own sake and White/Blue/Black sees it as a tool to ensure efficiency and prosperity, White/Blue/Green uses change to bring about peace, harmony, and contentment. Furthermore, White/Blue/Red and White/Blue/Black always strive to keep improving themselves and their surroundings, whereas White/Blue/Green tends to improve things for the sake of solving a specific problem, achieving a specific goal, or meeting a specific standard, and it's content to stop tinkering with something once it's already been perfected. As a result, it isn't nearly as reckless as White/Blue/Red or as ruthless as White/Blue/Black in its pursuit of progress.
White/Blue/Green is also similar to White/Blue/Red in another sense, as they both have a utopian mindset and believe that a perfect world is possible. However, White/Blue/Green views White/Blue/Red's boundless idealism and total lack of cynicism as naive. White/Blue/Red believes that a perfect society can simply emerge through the voluntary interactions of free people, while White/Blue/Green sees perfection as a something fragile that needs to be carefully cultivated, maintained, and defended. As such, it does not allow for the unrestrained freedom, creativity, and experimentalism of White/Blue/Red.
Likewise, White/Blue/Green and White/Blue/Black both share an “ends justify the means” approach to morality, believing that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. However, White/Blue/Black still leaves room for individual ambition and social mobility within its utilitarian framework, believing that anyone can rise above their station and become successful with enough hard work and ingenuity, and perhaps a healthy amount of competitive ruthlessness. In contrast, White/Blue/Green considers ambition to be inherently immoral and views competition as inherently wasteful, and besides which, it genuinely believes that people are happier when they're given a set purpose in life instead of being left to their own devices. As such, White/Blue/Green supports a social order in which people's roles are predetermined and immutable.
In that regard, White/Blue/Green is similar to White/Black/Green, which also supports the idea of unchanging social roles that are assigned from birth. The two color triads also share a predisposition to rigid social systems in general; White/Blue/Green isn't completely averse to progress like White/Black/Green, but it's very slow to embrace change. That said, White/Black/Green hierarchies tend to be fairly arbitrary in nature, as they're often based on traits like race, nationality, culture, and gender, while White/Blue/Green tends to assign social roles based on more objective metrics (e.g. what types of people are better suited for what tasks). White/Black/Green is also highly insular, seeking to preserve only its own tribe/nation, while White/Blue/Green takes a universalist approach – similar to White/Blue/Black, but even more so, since it lacks any semblance of White/Black tribalism. It ultimately seeks to spread peace and order everywhere, and to bring perfection to everyone.
White/Blue/Green is the color triad of conformity and collectivism. It's the color triad of benevolent 'soft' utilitarianism, in contrast to the hard and cruel and merciless utilitarianism of White/Blue/Black. It's the color triad of Plato's Republic and Thomas More's Utopia, the color triad of the communist ideal. Fundamentally, it's the color triad of utopianism.
If it's any consolation, I don't think it'll matter which guilds side with Bolas in the long run. In the end, he'll conquer the plane and take over all of them, with the loyalist remnants of every guild banding together to overthrow him. Likewise, I don't think Dovin, Kaya, and Domri are villains for serving Bolas, especially since most of them probably don't even realize they're helping further his plans (like Ral) or don't realize how evil he is (like Vraska). Once they realize what his actual agenda is, I'd imagine most or all of them would turn against him. I don't see Tezzeret or Liliana staying loyal either.
I'm fairly sure the third act will basically be "everyone vs. Bolas," the question is who'll be fighting who in the second act.
I don't even think Bolas will hire her directly. More likely, Bolas will make some kind of deal with Teysa to find someone who can kill the Ghost Council and introduce her to Kaya. He might not even do that much directly, he could just use Tezzeret as a middleman instead.
I often think about specific aspects of my physical appearance and look at myself in just about every reflective surface I can find. ("I feel really pretty today, I love how this dress shows off my hourglass figure," or "I look like a total mess right now, my hair is all frizzy and I have bags under my eyes.") Sometimes I mentally refer to myself by name too. ("Come on Sarah, get it together.")
So yeah, I wouldn't see anything weird about the main character describing herself and mentioning her name in a first person narrative. But I'm also a bit of a narcissist (when I was writing my description of the Blue/Black/Red mentality in the Identity of Shards thread, some parts felt almost autobiographical), so maybe most people don't think that way?
I imagine most of them will end up turning against Bolas in the finale, possibly all of them. Tezzeret too.
Force Lightning UBR
Instant
Choose one:
- Deal 3 damage to target creature or planeswalker. Tap that permanent. It doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step.
- Deal 3 damage to target player. That player discards a card.
"The Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural."Force Storm XUBR
Sorcery
Deal X damage, divided as you choose among any number of targets. Tap all permanents dealt damage by Force Storm. Each player dealt damage by Force Storm discards a card.
"Good, good! Let the hate flow through you!"
Unlimited Power XX(U/R)B
Sorcery
Deal X damage to target player. That player discards X cards and you draw X cards.
"Do it."
Omnirahk echoed my thoughts perfectly. Science is about figuring out how things work, engineering is about figuring out how to put that knowledge to practical use. Both are Blue, but Green is the color most associated with observation and discovery, whereas White and Black are both social colors and seek to apply their knowledge in ways that will be useful for other people (either out of altruism or for the sake of profit). Red can fit into either category, it's the color most associated with new ideas and sudden insights (which are an important part of the scientific process), but it's also associated with building inventions (which is engineering, albeit a less practical and more creative form than White or Black prefers).
And with Dr. Doom, like most comic book characters, it really depends on how he's written. A lot of bad writers portray him as a generic one-dimensional bad guy who wants to take over the world just because he's power-hungry, or simply hates the Fantastic Four because he's jealous of Reed Richards. If we're going by those portrayals, I'd say that he'd be mono-Black or Blue/Black or maybe even Red/Black (though I'd argue those versions are really just faulty Doombots). But I'm going by this portrayal of Doom, who's practically the epitome of the White/Blue/Black mentality.
There are two things I'm worried about here.
First, I'm concerned that we'll basically just get a quick summary of the events that happened in the novel. At worst, it won't really be fiction at all, just a list of plot points. At best, it'll be a story about some random side characters talking about what happened in the novel, without actually showing us firsthand. It would still be a summary, just a summary delivered to us by the characters in-universe.
Second, I'm concerned that even if we do get an actual story, it won't match up to the story in the novel. They've made similar mistakes in the past, with the events described in the fat pack booklets or the art books contradicting the events we see in the actual fiction. It's not unreasonable to think they'll make a similar mistake here, except this time it'll be the novel that takes precedence over the web stories in terms of the MtG canon, rather than the web stories taking precedence over the supplemental materials. So we might still need to read the book in order to see the true canonical ending to this years-long storyline.
I'm not saying that's what will happen, maybe I'm wrong and the web fiction will end up being an enjoyable and full-fledged story experience in its own right that dovetails perfectly with the novel. But I think I have valid cause for concern, especially considering how sloppy WotC has been about these things in the past.
Dr. Doom is an example of a White/Blue/Black villain, a genius sorcerer-scientist who exemplifies both White/Black totalitarianism and Blue perfectionism, with a truly indomitable will and a drive to bring humanity under his control. While egotistical to an extreme, he nonetheless views his actions as serving the greater good; he genuinely believes that humanity will destroy itself unless the people of the world are forced to unite under a single banner, and he sees himself as the only person intelligent and determined enough to accomplish the task and lead mankind into an eternal utopian golden age.
Nick Fury is an example of a White/Blue/Black anti-hero, a cunning spymaster and brilliant grand strategist who's willing to do anything to protect the world. For that matter, SHIELD itself is a White/Blue/Black institution, using Blue/Black methods (espionage and engineering) in the service of White/Blue ends (ensuring global stability). HYDRA would also be a White/Blue/Black institution, using similar Blue/Black methods in the service of White/Black ends (establishing a global fascist dictatorship).
The Institute from Fallout 4 is another example of a White/Blue/Black organization, a society of scientists and engineers dedicated to repairing the post-apocalyptic world through technological advances and creating a civilization that could allow humanity to thrive again. They're also extremely insular, living in a secure and sterile underground complex, harboring nothing but disdain and resentment toward the filthy and chaotic surface dwellers inhabiting the wasteland above. Their methods are as Blue/Black as you can get, as they rely on an army of humanoid robots to do their bidding and use espionage, sabotage, and assassination to infiltrate and subvert wasteland settlements.
The Alliance from Firefly is an example of a full-fledged White/Blue/Black government, a galactic confederacy seeking to impose law and order on its member worlds and to pre-emptively destroy any possible threats to its rule. It's all too willing to brutally quash local rebellions and terminate dissidents with extreme prejudice, and its ultimate goal is to “improve” humanity by changing the fundamental nature of man. A more benevolent example of a White/Blue/Black institution would be the Second Foundation from Asimov's Foundation series, a shadow government of social scientists who use statistical analysis to predict and control the course of human history, with the intent of rebuilding a unified galactic civilization and preventing mankind from falling into a perpetual dark age.
Grand Admiral Thrawn from the Star Wars expanded universe exemplifies many of the color triad's greatest strengths as well as its greatest weaknesses: He's a strategic mastermind and a tactical genius who's always three steps ahead of his enemies, displaying incredible foresight and a keen understanding of how rival commanders think, capable of predicting their moves and formulating a response before they can even realize who they're up against. He avoids the types of failures common to other Imperial leaders: He prefers simple but effective tactics to convoluted schemes; he prefers to devote his resources to building up his fleet rather than wasting manpower and materials on enormous projects like the Death Star that could be destroyed by a single enemy attack; he prefers to conserve his forces by deploying just as many ships as he needs to win a battle, rather than trying to crush his enemies with overwhelming force. However, he's also overly reliant on his predictions and has a lot of difficulty adjusting when things don't go according to plan, he overlooks a lot of small but crucial details in his focus on the big picture, and he consistently fails to account for the fact that people might behave in 'irrational' (e.g. emotional, self-sacrificing, or spiteful) ways.