MTG Colors and the GB Crew
By thatpinguino 13 Comments
During my last written blog post I discussed how MTG builds characters and settings through card art, mechanics, and flavor text. I tried to break down how MTG tells its stories through subtle shifts in mechanics, names, and art over time. However, in that post I largely avoided one of the most fundamental tools that MTG uses to construct its characters and its worlds: color. The cards of MTG are divided into 5 colors: White, Blue, Black, Red, and Green. Each of these colors has different mechanics and play styles that fall within their portion of MTG’s “color pie;” for example, blue creatures tend to have higher toughness than power and green creatures tend to be larger than creatures of equal cost in other colors. The different play styles of MTG’s colors happen to flow naturally from the different philosophies and worldviews of each color. If you aren’t too familiar with MTG you might be surprised to hear that each of the game’s colors has a worldview associated with it. Luckily the lead designer of MTG, Mark Rosewater, wrote a bunch of columns about the philosophies of each color, so let me get you up to speed.
“what does white value most? Harmony. White wants a world where everyone gets along. White enjoys community. White wants what is best for the whole. White looks out for everyone. White would be happiest in a utopian society where everyone shares and cooperates with one another. White’s ultimate goal is peace.”
Blue-
“Blue looks out and sees opportunity. To blue, the world is a collection of resources that allow an individual the ability to transform himself into whatever he wishes. Each person is born as a blank slate. The purpose of life is to learn what you want to be and how to achieve that goal.
To accomplish this, the blue mage learns to value the most important resource in the world: information. In order to find one’s place in the world, a wizard must collect as much knowledge as he can. With this tool at his disposal, he will find the answer to any and every problem. Thus, blue’s end goal is omniscience. Blue wants to know everything. For he who knows all has no weakness.”
“Black’s view of the world is quite self-centered. In essence, black defines the world by how it affects him or her. Thus, to black, each individual has their own purpose in life: making their life as good as it can be. And this is fair as far as black is concerned, as everyone has someone looking out for their own best interest (themselves). Now, this way of life has many victims (after all someone has to lose for others to gain), but black feels this is simply the world’s way to weed out the weak.
To accomplish its goals, black seeks power. Why? Because unlike all the other colors, black doesn’t feel a need to restrict what it’s allowed to do. To black, an individual is allowed to use any means necessary to get what it wants. Thus, the true measure of success to black is the ability to do whatever you wish. If someone else is keeping you from your wants and desires, then you aren’t properly meeting your number one goal.”
Red-
“To red, life is the ultimate adventure. Red feels that living life to its fullest means taking advantage of every opportunity. And what better means to drive this goal than one's own emotions? Red acts on its gut and follows its heart. If red is happy, it celebrates. If red is sad, it cries. If red is angry, it smashes things. Life is very simple for red. It does what it feels.
To accomplish its goal, red uses action. If something is preventing you from doing what you want, knock it out of the way. If it comes back? Eh, blow it up. Red is a big proponent of force. If you want something to change, make it happen. Not later, now!
In the end, red's ultimate goal is freedom. Red wants everyone free to act however they wish. And red is more than willing to take action to ensure that this happens.”
“What does green value most? Nature. The way green sees it, the world has gotten it right. There is no force more powerful, more peaceful, or more elegant than nature. Its end goal is simply to let the natural way evolve. Green, in its heart, wants nothing more than to sit back and watch life unfurl around it. Thus, green's ultimate goal is growth. Green would be happiest in a world where nature has been allowed to run rampant.”
The different combinations of all of these five basic colors results in all sorts of personality types and MTG uses this colorful psychological shorthand to define its characters through something as fundamental their mana cost. To illustrate how these colors can be used to define characters I’m going to do a little exercise. I’m going to use the GB staff as an example and I’m going to define each of the core members of the staff based on which color or colors I feel best describes them. But first a small disclaimer: all human beings are all five colors. We all have moments where we align more strongly with one or two colors, but each of the colors captures some fundamental part of the human experience that we all share. So while I am going to reduce the staff as part of this exercise, I want to make it clear that a reduction is happening. I consider myself largely Blue/Red (passionate to learn about the world and driven to share that knowledge however I can) in my thinking, but that doesn’t mean that my actions and worldviews are solely contained by those two colors.
With that out of the way, let’s get to the fun part!
Dan – Red – Dan is just about the most mono-red person I’ve ever seen and his philosophies align with Red’s so strongly that I feel like I barely need to explain it. He is a man of action first, second, and third and only contemplates his actions long after they are done (you can hear some of this post-processing on Danswers). He is great at seizing opportunities and creating them where none exist as evidenced by his ability to turn a GameStop ad shoot (that he talked his way into) at the Game Informer offices into a job at Game Informer. He is also prone to being myopic and shortsighted, often denying the possibility of liking things outside of his comfort zone until he is wrenched out of it. His passionate pursuit of personal goals results in high highs (hello self-help book and game industry job) and self-damaging lows (hello permanently ruined vision and burnt pants).
Jeff- Black/Green – Jeff is Black/Green because he is a master of the cycle of life and death in the game industry. He has survived the burst of the .com bubble, site closures, and even a firing relatively unscathed. He is one of the longest tenured videogame critics and he has maintained his position by rooting his critique in the product reviewer’s mindset of game criticism’s old guard, while selectively tossing off things that don’t work anymore. His perspective has largely stayed the same, but his delivery method is constantly shifting. To Jeff, the internet is the internet and the game industry is the game industry and all of the goods and ills that come from each are just part of their natural cycles (the internet is just being the internet when people get outraged online). Jeff knows the rules of the current system and he is using them well, warts and all. As other sites fall by the wayside, GB soldiers on due to Jeff’s knowing guidance and cynical perspective. It is that cynicism that moves Jeff from mono-Green into Black/Green.
Brad- Blue/White/Green- The White/Blue element of Brad is most obvious in his role as the podcast host. As the host of the Bombcast, Brad is constantly trying to bring order to the chaos that is a 3 hour podcast about gaming and Dominos Pizza franchises. Brad tries his best to keep the show on topic and on schedule. Brad also tends to be the opposing voice when Dan starts speaking in absolutes (providing a nice example of Red and its two enemy colors clashing). Brad often asks a ton of informational questions when sitting in on a Quick Look and he guides Deep Looks in a more factual direction (which leads to him losing focus on the action and dying as a result). Brad’s Green element comes from his hippy-dippy bent, what with his organic food preferences and his audible displeasure at Dan’s fast food habits. Brad is the most likely person to talk about a new scientific discovery or some deadly spider, sounds Green/Blue to me.
Drew- Green/Red/Blue- Drew is the most outdoorsy and open minded of the bomb crew and he tends to take an enthusiastic, but logical approach to most gaming topics. Drew will give games a chance that no one else will even look at, such as flight sims and mobile games. He somehow simultaneously finds true joy in creating pdf manuals for digital airplanes, hiking, and going to North Korea. Drew blends a love of history, thrill seeking, and book learning to form a Red, Green, and Blue persona. While Brad tries to reinforce order and control during the bombcast (white), Drew is off in his own corner having a good time (red).
Rorie- White/Blue - As the community manager of Giantbomb, Rorie is the voice of the law and he strives to keep the site as open and friendly to as many people as possible. Rorie is literally the face of the forum rules and he often acts as a moderator on the most hot-button of forum posts. Using rules to restrict problematic behavior is an entirely Blue/White concept and Rorie makes great use of this tool. Rorie’s time as the GM of GB Unplugged also shows his Blue/White alignment; he is in full control of the situation and has all available knowledge, but his goal is to use that knowledge to make sure everyone has a good time.
Jason – Colorless- I have no idea where Jason fits on the color pie. I don’t know him well enough and as of now I can’t even venture a guess. Maybe one day we’ll know.
I hope you found this little breakdown of how the colors of MTG can be used to define characters. It is amazing how much information you can communicate with something as simple as color if you establish a cohesive symbolic language.