Colors or conformity; you decide

[FoundationOfRancor]

Hey guys! Whats going on?

After playing with the Invasion block spoilers I noticed that the colors are going back to their original "themes."

For example, Red has pretty much lost the ability to regenerate because it hasnt been deemed a ability that makes much sense to red. Here's just some more trends Ive noticed.

Haste is now a "red-only" thing.
Land kill is now green and black for some reason...
Global destruction spells are no longer whites thing
Black = Life loss, never damage.
White always have to have color specific protection stuff.

Theres many more, but I cant come up with them off the top of my head. Now, some say that this is good, the colors are getting back to there roots. Others say that this is conformity at its peak, and that all cards will become either horribly narrow or gold.

Now, Im leaning toward the "I dont really give a damn" side. (Read my Magic; Casual post in General stuff)

But what do you guys say? Do you like the changes? Hate them?

 

[Duel]

Look at the trends: Ranked from best to worst colors

Library Manipulation: U, B, W, G, R

Direct Damage: R, B, G, W, U

Mass Destruction: W, R, B, G, U

Targeted Removal: B, R, W, U, G

Creature efficiency: G, R, W, U, B

Red has haste and first strike. Blue and white have flying. Green has trample. Black has life loss.

I hate it. Bo-ring. Gimme a card with enemy colors that does two things! Come on! I want blue mass removal! something to shake up the color boundaries

 

[Hetemti]

I like how my R and W seems to be consistantly on the left sides of those lists.

 

[Spiderman]

Does red have regen in Invasion now?

Because it pretty much lost that ability way back in 4th ed.; that's old news.

I thought white and red shared first strike but white gets the lion's share of it?

I think may other colors can have a minor theme that takes from a major theme from another color, but it will probably cost a lot and that might make it "unplayable". I don't want to see major theme shared across colors as that might make playing certain colors "moot" if the other colors are now "fully rounded out" and can stand on their own.

 

[Hetemti]

I miss the old "off-topic" abilities...

...when Red had card avantatge with Wheel...

...when Blue had burn with the Psyonics...

...when White had creature theft with Preacher...

...when Black had mana like Ritual...

...when Green had...well...green never had anything...

...when Aritfacts could be mono, poly, or continuous...

 

[Spiderman]

Like your first three.

I wish green stayed with cheap LD.

Glad artifacts are NOT mono, poly, or continuous 'cause that confused the heck outta me

 

[Hetemti]

The mono/poly/cont. artifact stuff is too limiting, so it had to go, but I liked the old abilities in limited quantities because it added some surprises to the game.

Psyonic Entity + M...Woah...I think I'll keep that combo to myself!

...plink...plink...plink...plink...

 

[TURD CUTTER!!!]

I'd have to be completely on the "I don't give a damn" side.

 

[Salacious Crumb]

i actually like how there going back to there "roots"
I don't know why...

Hoipa

 

[Thallid Ice Cream Man]

Spiderman: Stuff like Unyaro Bee Sting fits your description. No one ever played it, with good reason - they could play red.

Duel: I know, I want that kind of stuff too. But stuff like that, if it comes, would have to be gold. Or at least, instead of doing again what has already been done in a different color, they could do stuff that hasn't been done...

 

[fuzzy510]

I don't really, truly care about what each color specifically does. Unless there are drastic changes, then I care.

 

[Salacious Crumb]

Duel, if we had cards like that, then there would be no point in playing any different colors
They would all be so similar

Hoipa

 

[Mikeymike]

Personally I like when a color gets that rare card that doesn't fit its standard theme: examples

Search for survivors
Death or Glory
Floodgates
Splintering Wind
Phyrexian Tribute

None of these cards are great (with the exception of Death or Glory which is amazing in a decent amount of decks) but they are playable and allow a mono-color deck to do things they normally couldn't do. But white shouldn't have cards like Preacher, they are overpowered for their color.

As for the current T2 environment, I can't think of any cards that break their color molds b/c gold cards are so prevalent. Let me think of this one a little.

I think now (at least in Invasion block) they are doing a great job in terms of balanced color abilities with nothing where it shouldn't be. BUT they gave us great gold cards that combine color specific abilities: armadillo cloak, recoil, etc.

I like the balance recently, especially with Invasion which in my mind is shaping up into the best block ever.

 

[Duel]

They wouldn't be similar! Don't you see? What's the difference between red removal and black removal? White mass destruction and red/black? Red fatties and green fatties? White and blue flyers? Just push it further! Give blue a card that reads:

3UU
Instant
Remove target creature from the game. Draw a card.

Or give black a desert twister! Since when did green get that?