The popular card game Magic: The Gathering has five different card colors, each with it's own strengths and weaknesses, and each leaning towards specific styles and abilities.
With this installment I will cover one color (mono-colored) basic decks.
I'll start with green, as it is very basic. Green decks have a large number of giant creatures, and are the best at dealing raw damage, with no tricks. Most instants and sorceries (spell types) of this color make your creatures stronger, either permanently or for a time. Green also tends to have cards that are capable of removing artifacts and enchantments, or occasionally take out a creature with flying.
Black, while not without creatures of considerable raw power, mostly gains it's clout from it's abilities to directly destroy things using spells. It's most famous cards include Doomblade, Go for the Throat, and Murder, all of which allow destruction of creatures (within certain limitations). Many of blacks creatures also have "deathtouch" abilities, which allows them to kill creatures they fight no matter how much damage they do.
Both green and black have cards with "infect." Infect provides a different way to win the game, in which you deal ten of a specific type of damage (infect) and you win. Under most circumstances infect damage cannot be healed. Additionally, infect damage, when dealt to creatures, makes them weaker.
Blue is a type that revolves around control. It has many cards that let you cancel the abilities of other players, take over their cards, and can force them to get rid of the cards in their deck, offering a unique strategy often called "milling." If a player has to draw, and has no cards in their library, they lose the game. Blue also tends to have many creatures with the "flying" ability.
Red is a very aggressive color in Magic. It has a large number of spells that deal damage directly, and can take out many things as easily as black. Red creatures tend to be offensive focused, and many have damage output bonuses such as double-strike (dealing damage twice) and haste, which allows them to attack the same turn they enter. As such, many red cards deal a good amount of damage, but less than green, and make up for it with special abilities.
White as a color has many cards geared towards defense and the gaining of life. "Lifelink" is common among white cards, which allows you to gain life whenever they deal damage. Vigilance, which allows you to attack without tapping, and flying are also very common. While many white cards are very effective for defense, white angels can be very formidable foes, and often defeat a deck rather quickly.
While that covers the five types of mana, and colors, their are also "colorless", or artifact cards. While technically not colored, artifacts have some of the most unique abilities, and are the only one's with non-creature cards that you can re-use every turn without continuous abilities. This comes at a cost, artifacts have no instant or sorcery spells. Although you can encounter a deck made solely of artifacts, it is far more likely to encounter regular decks that use them. In fact, most effective decks have a few artifact cards in them that enhance their abilities.
With this installment I will cover one color (mono-colored) basic decks.
I'll start with green, as it is very basic. Green decks have a large number of giant creatures, and are the best at dealing raw damage, with no tricks. Most instants and sorceries (spell types) of this color make your creatures stronger, either permanently or for a time. Green also tends to have cards that are capable of removing artifacts and enchantments, or occasionally take out a creature with flying.
Black, while not without creatures of considerable raw power, mostly gains it's clout from it's abilities to directly destroy things using spells. It's most famous cards include Doomblade, Go for the Throat, and Murder, all of which allow destruction of creatures (within certain limitations). Many of blacks creatures also have "deathtouch" abilities, which allows them to kill creatures they fight no matter how much damage they do.
Both green and black have cards with "infect." Infect provides a different way to win the game, in which you deal ten of a specific type of damage (infect) and you win. Under most circumstances infect damage cannot be healed. Additionally, infect damage, when dealt to creatures, makes them weaker.
Blue is a type that revolves around control. It has many cards that let you cancel the abilities of other players, take over their cards, and can force them to get rid of the cards in their deck, offering a unique strategy often called "milling." If a player has to draw, and has no cards in their library, they lose the game. Blue also tends to have many creatures with the "flying" ability.
Red is a very aggressive color in Magic. It has a large number of spells that deal damage directly, and can take out many things as easily as black. Red creatures tend to be offensive focused, and many have damage output bonuses such as double-strike (dealing damage twice) and haste, which allows them to attack the same turn they enter. As such, many red cards deal a good amount of damage, but less than green, and make up for it with special abilities.
White as a color has many cards geared towards defense and the gaining of life. "Lifelink" is common among white cards, which allows you to gain life whenever they deal damage. Vigilance, which allows you to attack without tapping, and flying are also very common. While many white cards are very effective for defense, white angels can be very formidable foes, and often defeat a deck rather quickly.
While that covers the five types of mana, and colors, their are also "colorless", or artifact cards. While technically not colored, artifacts have some of the most unique abilities, and are the only one's with non-creature cards that you can re-use every turn without continuous abilities. This comes at a cost, artifacts have no instant or sorcery spells. Although you can encounter a deck made solely of artifacts, it is far more likely to encounter regular decks that use them. In fact, most effective decks have a few artifact cards in them that enhance their abilities.
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