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{{Analysis}}{{work}}
Very often, people have very erroneous views on the colours of [[Magic: The Gathering]], depicting some colours as good and others as evil. Generally, this occurs as either considering Black evil, White good, and the other colours neutral; or considering Black and Red as evil, White and Green as good, and Blue as neutral. This is understandable; people like to simplify things, and like to judge the colours by superficial traits. Black, for instance, symbolizes selfishness and darkness/death, which are generally seen as evil, while Green values nature and community, which could be seen as "good." However, this is a very superficial take on the colours, and if things were actually as simple as the [[Fan Dumb]] seems to think, there would be a lot less diversity of characters. Thus, I intend to explain a little more on how things actually work, and thus explain more about the colours.
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'''Blue''' is the next colour in the colour wheel. Blue is generally seen as naturally neutral; its main motivations are curiosity (as it wishes to learn as much as possible) and perfection (as it wishes to change the world into becoming better). Fundamentally, these goals are good, as Blue's wishes to improve both itself and the world often benefit people (Blue is, after all, the colour of technology and progress). Unfortunately, Blue is generally not very interested in the people, other than [[Strapped to An Operating Table|using them as subjects in its experiments]], as it is emotionally disconnected and secretive. Thus, it is naturally neutral; it seeks to improve the world, but does not usually care about other people. Much like Black, it is a very individualistic colour, but unlike Black, it is not particularly selfish, as it believes that the accomplishment of its goal will improve things, which ties in with White's need to make the world better for its people. Still, its usual lack of interest in other people, as well as its desire to learn more, might eventually lead Blue to conduct morally questionable experiments; to Blue, its curiosity and belief that its actions will make the world better are more important than morality. Furthermore, someone's idea of "perfection" might not tie well with another person's view of a perfect world; many would object to be subjected to experiments to make them "better", for example. Thus, it is no wonder that some of MTG's main villains are pure Blue, though there is an equal if not superior number of Blue heroes.
'''Black''' is easily the colour most associated with evil. Its core philosophy is that one should only care about him/herself; being the colour of amorality and parasitism, it believes that it can do anything it wants, regardless of the consequences (for others, at least). Many villains are classifiable as Black, and as it represents darkness and death, many people call it evil. However, Black is just as neutral as the other colours, and in fact can be quite benevolent, at least occasionally. It represents both individuality and ambition; the first means that Black values the needs of the individual more than anything, and the latter means that Black is the colour that most encourages one to follow his/her dreams ([[Ambition Is Evil|contrary to what media says]], ambition is NOT an evil thing; if it was, you might as well not achieve anything you want, because then you're being evil). Hell, even amorality is not strictly evil; the problem is that many confuse it with immorality. The first is merely [[True Neutral|the absence of morality]]; it is a lack of concern for the concepts of right and wrong. The latter [[Neutral Evil|directly opposes morality]]; it revels in making the "wrong" choice and being as malevolent as possible. Thus, while some Black characters are immoral, most simply just leave other people with their business. In addition, just because one person belongs to a colour doesn't mean it will follow its philosophy to the core; just like many White characters aren't oppressive extremists and many Blue characters don't sacrifice people in the name of progress, many Black characters are simply selfish and can actually feel sorry for doing some actions. A few pure Black protagonists do exist in MTG, while the staff behind the game identifies likable characters as [[The Simpsons (animation)|Bart Simpson]] and [[Looney Tunes|
Before we're done with Black, I would like to say that some people erroneously assume sadism is a feature of Black. While some Black characters are sadists, not all are, and sadism is present in other colours, most obvious of all being Red. Even White characters are not immune to sadism, as Akroma clearly shows, and in theory, Green characters should be able to display it well too. The colour least likely for sadism to be present is Blue, because it is the colour that is the least concerned with emotions; even so, that is debatable.
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Thus, every colour's philosophy is naturally neutral, capable of both good and evil. It is very foolish to assume that some colours are entirely good and others entirely evil, though most do restrict the number of moral alignments within them. For instance, White is always Lawful and Red is always Chaotic.
As stated in the creation of Innistrad, the staff of [[Magic: The Gathering]] is focusing a lot of their energies into spreading horror outside of the colour most stereotypically associated with it. And they, in fact, suceeded in New Phrexia. While Innistrad will have traditional Black horrors, it also has [[Our Werewolves Are Different|werewolves]], which are traditionally Green. As such, it is time to see the horror tropes that don't require [[Dark Is Evil]].
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* [[The Swarm]]
Each color in M:tG has its allies and enemies. What's not always clear is ''why'' the colors ally the way they do. As a guide to helping the average troper understand Magic's particular [[Faction Calculus]] (which, [[Word of God|Mark Rosewater]] tells us, is one of the key aspects of its identity), here is a list of each color and how its ideologies shape not only its alliances, but the gameplay features it shares with other colors.
'''WHITE'''
* BLUE: White and Blue are allies because they both believe in the common good and in creating improvements in the world, Blue through science and White by focusing on the public good. Having said that, White accomplishes this by implementing laws and regulations, whereas Blue uses technology to improve individuals; one offers police officers, the other plastic surgeons. White and Blue tends to have a lot of "answers;" almost any spell you can play, White and Blue can interfere with somehow. Having said that, Blue tends to strike pre-emptively with [[Anti-Magic|counterspells]] whereas White uses [[Power Nullifier
** White/Blue are also the colors of community and society. The laws of white united with the rationality of blue. However Blue/White is the color of [[Lawful Neutral]] and [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]], examples the Azorius in Dissension and the Vogons from ''~The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy~''.
** White/Blue villains tend to based on obstruction and stagnation in the name of order such as the Anti-Spirals from ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'', the Auditors from ''[[Discworld]]'' and the Pixies from ''[[The Fairly
** Ozymandias in [[Watchmen]]. He mixes Blue rationality, {{spoiler|deception}} and praticality with White altruism {{spoiler|and [[Knight Templar]] thinking}}.
** Zeus in [[God of War (series)|God of War]] is a perfect White/Blue villain; much like the kithkin from the Shadowmoor setting and the Azorius (and specially Augustin IV) from [[Magic: The Gathering/Ravnica Cycle|Ravnica]], he is duplicious, [[Light Is Not Good|taking the guise of a benevolent, noble ruler while being a paranoid, obsessive]] [[Complete Monster|monster]] on the inside.
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*** An example of the Duality of Red/White is to Compare Alucard and The Major from [[Hellsing]], both are Red/White Charcters but in opposite directions. Alucard uses his Red bloodlust to atains Whites peace of a vampire free England; whereas the Major uses Whites organization to spend 50 years preparing for a Red bloody war.
*** Mark Rosewater listed [[The Punisher]], [[The A-Team]], [[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Worf]] and [[V for Vendetta|V]] as examples of white-red.
* GREEN: White and Green are both concerned with community. Green is all about keeping everything strong, but also encourages [[The Social Darwinist|Social Darwinism]], which is why it has a [[Badass Army]] and single-target [[Status Buff
** The human resistance in Innistrad is a good example. The humans are fighting for survival against the monsters, and where Green has all the general buffs, White has more cards that get stronger with more humans, along with more cards that incapacitate creatures.
** [[
** The Body Snatchers in ''[[Invasion of the Body Snatchers]]'' are, as [[Word of God|Mark Rosewater]] put it, "aliens on a mission". They operate as a collective if not an outright [[Hive Mind]], they're communist allegories, and they look like plants.
** '''[[Friedrich Nietzsche]]''' personifies the worst attributes of Green and White in the Last Man, combining Whites emphasis on conformism and lack of any personal ambition with Greens dislike of thinking and creating to create a being devoid of the will or vision to imrpove or stand out.
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** Innistrad's zombies are Blue/Black; the Blue zombies are Frankenstein's-monster-type skaab, and they tend to be stronger at the cost of discarding cards or requiring certain cards in the graveyard. Black has the more standard [[Zombie Apocalypse]] cards, which tend to be slower but inexorable. Where Blue can pull out 6/9 zombies, Black can get four 2/2s.
** [[Harry Potter|Serverus Snape]] is a [[Dark Is Not Evil|sympathetic]] example: he is what you get when you add Blue methods to a [[Byronic Hero]].
*** The Master Control Program from ''[[Tron]]'' is an example of a Blue-Black villain. It uses blue's emphasis on secrecy to infilitrate various major organizations such as the penatgon to satisfy it's black goals of domination.
**** Mark Rosewater has listed [[Superman|Lex Luthor]], [[Star Trek|The Borg]], [[Harry Potter|Rita Skeeter]] and [[Family Guy|Stewie]] as examples of blue-black colored characters.
* RED: Blue and Red fall on opposite sides of the [[Emotions vs. Stoicism]] spectrum. One's passionate, one's logical; one uses fire, the other uses ice; one's-- Look, do we really need to spell this out? Blue has all the poker-face spells, the ones that win games but only if you have the skill to use them; Red, on the other hand, has all the spells that involve the [[Random Number God]].
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*** The best traits of a Red/Blue mixture would be the Ubermensch as talked about by '''[[Friedrich Nietzsche]]''' , combining Blues desire to innovate and improve with Reds emphasis on emotion as well as indiviuality and self-expression. Perhaps fitting enough, [[Word of God|Mark Rosewater]] considers the Red/Blue mixture to be opposed to the Green/White mixture, something fitting as Nietzsche also essencially contrasts both (see above). Whereas one supports ultimate conformity, the other supports ultimate individuality.
*** Examples listed as blue-red by Mark Rosewater include [[Back to The Future|Doc Brown]], [[Indiana Jones]], [[Angel|Fred]] and [[Dr. Seuss]].
* GREEN: Blue and Green don't get along because of their attitudes towards the world, and nature in particular. Green believes that [[Status Quo Is God]]--"if it ain't broke, don't fix it"
** Blue/Green, like some other hybrids, involves mixing one color's ends and another's means. More often, Blue more or less forcibly subjugates Green - dragging it to greatness whether it wants it or not - although Green sometimes appreciates the potential for power. Green, however, is not alien to the concept of learning and wisdom. (One of the most noteworthy historians in the game, [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=74604 Reki the History of Kamigawa], was Green.) This sort of "[[Closer to Earth|natural wisdom]]" generally manifests as bluish effects on Green cards, but it can cross over into full-on hybrids.
** Another common blue/green hybrid connects green to blue's small but still-present natural side in the form of water. Selkies and feral water-folk from Shadowmoor, humidity-loving [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=29304 jungle foliage], and natural springs of [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=25832 time-twisting water] use green means for blue effects.
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*** Notably, Ravnica's Golgari Swarm is one of the few Black guilds to produce a hero - [[Papa Wolf|and a damn caring one at that.]]
*** As someone who identifies strongly with Black/Green, I'd like to chime in here. This intersection of colors is the fullness of the cycle of nature and all of it's complexities. It embodies both life and death, all living things die, but from that death new life comes. It also embraces the entirety of nature...not simply strong beasts, but the worms, the parasites, the bacteria, the mold and fungus. Every form of life is accepted by Black/Green. And for the treatment/consideration of others... Black cares for the self, Green cares for the group. Black/Green cares for both...Black/Green doesn't think about "Me" and "My team": It thinks about "Me and my team." It does what's good for itself and for it's Nakama, it betters itself, but tries to do that in ways that help it's allies. Another bit of harmony between black/green is that it doesn't waste anything. Black sees everything as a resource, and so everything can be used. With Green mixed in, everything can be used then re-used. A creature can be played, then sacrificed, then recovered, only to be played and even sacrificed again, only to be recovered again later. The other half of [[Soylent Green]] is Black.
*** Mark Rosewater's listed examples for black-green are [[Batman|Poison Ivy]], [[Venom (Comic Book)|Venom]] and the villain from [[12 Monkeys|Twelve Monkeys]].
'''RED'''
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