Magic: The Gathering was released in 1993 by legendary publisher Wizards of the Coast and it has gone on to become one of the biggest trading card games of all time. With well over 50 million players in 2023, Magic remains popular among its player base. Its popularity is helped by constant updates and card releases with new sets rather frequently.
One of the most heated debates amongst my friend group is which color is best suited for raw, unadulterated combat prowess. Today, I will settle that debate once and for all by ranking each color by its potential in combat with the experience I have gained from over 10 years of experience playing Magic. Without further delay, let’s begin the ranking!
Blue Are The Islands of Miscontent
Blue is ranked last here, not because it isn’t a potent color on its own, but because of how it operates in the game. The concept of using blue is to confuse and deceive your opponent by any means necessary; it is also exceptionally good at annoying whoever you’re up against. Anyone who has played against a blue deck expects to have their spells and summons countered frequently.
To use this color effectively, you have to disallow your opponent to do anything while trying to deceive them at any moment. In a straight-up fight, you’re going to lose. You also have to make sure you keep some mana untapped so that you can use your powerful instants should you need them. However, blue generally lacks the ability to directly damage your opponent, and from what I have seen, the summons aren’t special.
Let me say this: I only built a blue deck to annoy whoever I was facing. It is a sandbagging deck that wasn’t designed to win; it was designed to put a smile on my face. In fact, it is my worst-performing deck in getting wins, as it has failed to win any game. Don’t let this discourage you from trying, as I tend to have a lot of fun when I’m playing this deck. Isn’t that the whole point of Magic?
Green Are The Forests of Envy
This one may seem controversial, as I have friends who swear by this color. Let me explain my reasoning. This color can be very potent with common abilities like trample, but they really struggle with flying. While reach is also common, it doesn’t give you the flying ability. Flying is really useful as the only creatures blocking it must have flying or reach.
The one thing this deck really lacks is a reliable way to deal damage.
Trample is this color’s best ability. Trample allows leftover damage from a blocking enemy to carry over to the opponent. With Trample, you’ll have to block all the damage to keep your life points as high as possible. Some of the summons in this color have a large attack, with some as high as 15. Green also has a bunch of instants that increase the attack and/or defense of a summon, making them even more potent.
I have built a green deck that I call my Wurm Deck. As the name suggests, it’s a deck themed around wurm creatures. The capstone of this deck is the Worldspine Wurm, a 15/15 with trample that costs 11 mana to summon. This is one of my favorite decks, but it does struggle against some of the other colors. This also isn’t the most powerful deck I own. That fact makes this next color ranking controversial in.
White are the Planes of Law
White is a very powerful color. With its humans and angels, life-giving sorcery and instant cards, and means of wiping out the entire field, this color means business. White is able to destroy an attacking or blocking creature, prevent combat damage, and clear the fields with Planar Cleansing and Wrath of God. This color has a major weakness: high mana cost.
There are a ton of creatures with lower mana costs, but most of the cards that are worth putting in your deck often have a high mana cost. While this color gives you tools to get there with life-support and combat damage prevention, you still have to get there. A game where you’re mana-starved can either be over really quickly or drag out for an hour.
I speak a lot from experience here, as my most powerful and favorite deck is my white deck. I built an angel deck with the idea of using Avacyn, Angel of Hope, and then clearing my opponent’s field with Wrath of God. As Avacyn makes all your permanents invulnerable, this would give you a clear field to cause some massive damage. Coupled with life-link, you shouldn’t be low on life at all.
Black is The Color of Despair
I want to rank black higher than this, as this is the color I have the most trouble with. Black has multiple ways it can cause you grief when playing against them with the use of Murder, Deathtouch, Lifelink, and Flying. It also has cards that cause you to discard your deck with a “milling ” strategy that invokes a rule win condition of making your opponent run out of cards.
I hate facing a black deck because I know I must play my best to win. There are multiple ways this deck can make you miserable. It can destroy your creatures; it forces you to sacrifice creatures by blocking death touch; it has flying creatures with death touch; it has flying creatures with death touch and life link; there is no end to the pain you’ll feel when facing this deck.
I dislike this color so much I have refused to make a deck using it. It can bring creatures you’ve killed back from the graveyard, sacrifice creatures and life for mana; it can take control of your creatures and use them against you. Everything about this deck is frustrating; even the victory is bittersweet.
Red is the Magic Behind Destruction
Of all the colors I have faced, this is one of the rarest, so my experience lacks a little. I do know how red is supposed to work, and if done well, it can end a battle before it really begins. The magic behind red is a quick offense and supporting offensive spells that deal damage to either the player or creature. If you are looking for raw offense, look no further!
Red is the color that focuses on blitzing your opponent with little regard for safety. You can quickly build an army with abilities like haste, double-strike, first strike, and low-cost summons. Red also has a lot of creatures with berserk that require them to attack at every opportunity. This is the way to go if you’re looking to overwhelm someone.
As I said above, this isn’t a color I have a lot of experience playing or facing. Most of my friends want to use black decks as they are very frustrating to face. I am willing to say that a well-built red deck can go toe-to-toe against a well-built black deck more often than not. Oh, you want to kill my creatures? That’s fine; take out a bunch of low-cost creatures. This deck is all about high-risk, high-reward.
While I made this ranking, any well-built color will be able to win games about as consistently as any other color. At the end of the day, it’s not the color of the deck; it’s how you use it. The most important thing is that you have fun playing the decks you build.
For More Great Content
If you enjoyed a trip down memory road with me, check out 10 of the most powerful swords in The Legend of Zelda Series! For other content by me, click here. I would greatly appreciate it!
Total Apex is an all-encompassing content producer. We provide heavily detailed articles every day on entertainment, gaming, sports, and so much more! Check out all our great sports content Total Apex Sports. Check us out on X @TotalApexEandG and our other sites: Total Apex Sports Bets and Total Apex Fantasy Sports.
