The Complexity of Blue by Consultant Andy Jones
Blue is one of the more complex colors in Magic: the Gathering. It relies more on foiling your opponent than building itself up. It relies largely on instants and sorceries but does not lack in other areas. The primary difference between blue and other colors like green is the emphasis on a few weaker creatures with very disruptive abilities. Blue creatures are adept at bypassing blockers so that their weaker creatures still manage to damage the enemy. Blue also has many very large creatures with hefty drawbacks, such as leviathan which requires you to sacrifice islands to untap it. Blue spells and abilities come in four main varieties: disrupting and controlling their opponent’s creatures, drawing cards, countering spells, and milling their opponent.
As mentioned before, blue has creatures that are generally weaker than their mana cost would indicate, but often have abilities that can cripple their opponents. For example, Lullmage mentor is a 2,2 for three mana with the ability to tap seven untapped merfolk to counter a spell and the ability to put a merfolk token into play when you counter a spell. Another example is lighthouse chronologist. It is a level up creature which costs 9 mana to play and fully level, but the ability will win you the game if you can keep him alive. It allows you to take an extra turn after each opponent’s turn. The other facet of blue creatures is powerful creatures with massive mana costs and possibly a detrimental ability. Another example besides the aforementioned leviathan is denizen of the deep. It is an 11,11 for eight mana but returns all creatures you control to your hand.
Blue spells on the other hand can be either very cheap and effective or quite expensive but well worth the cost. The simplest and most common way that blue disrupts creatures is by returning them to their owners hands. From the simple one mana unsummon to the five mana evacuation, blue players can keep things off the field. That aspect works especially well with the next trait that is virtually exclusive to blue, countering. After returning those creatures to their owners hands or even before they first play them, blue mages can counter them and send them straight to the graveyard. The simple two mana counterspell can counter any card but a land, and spells like Trickbind keep your opponents from using the abilities of things that slipped through the cracks. Of course, with so much reliance on spells, blue decks need a way to make sure they have enough of them. That is where the blue draw spells come in to play. Blue has both many draw spells, such as the simple preordain and the powerful prosperity, as well as having cards that benefit from your hand size, like aeon chronicler. Spells like prosperity also serve a secondary purpose, milling your opponent. To mill an opponent is to remove all of the cards from their deck and can be accomplished in three main ways: sending them from the top of their library to the graveyard, exiling cards from their library, or making them draw faster than normal. Most milling occurs with the first method, such as with Traumatize, but drawing is an equally effective method if done right. Spells like Forced Fruition will make them draw faster than they can play and will limit their time before they lose. Exiling cards is more rare and generally slower, but it is far safer. After all, you don’t want to mill an Eldrazi or their graveyard will go back to their library.
Blue is effective on its own, but is much more versatile when combined with other colors. For example, black has many spells that synergize well with blue, such as unblockable creatures and spells that pull specific cards from a deck. One of the best ways to combine these two colors however is with a mill deck. The blue provides powerful mill cards and counters to keep them weak, while black has some good mill of it’s own and can aid in the control by killing creatures that slip through and making them discard. Black also has cards that, when used with a mill deck, are game winners. Look at rise from the grave and beacon of unrest. Now imagine that you have milled something like a Godsire. You can guess what happens next.
Blue is one of the more complex colors in Magic: the Gathering. It relies more on foiling your opponent than building itself up. It relies largely on instants and sorceries but does not lack in other areas. The primary difference between blue and other colors like green is the emphasis on a few weaker creatures with very disruptive abilities. Blue creatures are adept at bypassing blockers so that their weaker creatures still manage to damage the enemy. Blue also has many very large creatures with hefty drawbacks, such as leviathan which requires you to sacrifice islands to untap it. Blue spells and abilities come in four main varieties: disrupting and controlling their opponent’s creatures, drawing cards, countering spells, and milling their opponent.
As mentioned before, blue has creatures that are generally weaker than their mana cost would indicate, but often have abilities that can cripple their opponents. For example, Lullmage mentor is a 2,2 for three mana with the ability to tap seven untapped merfolk to counter a spell and the ability to put a merfolk token into play when you counter a spell. Another example is lighthouse chronologist. It is a level up creature which costs 9 mana to play and fully level, but the ability will win you the game if you can keep him alive. It allows you to take an extra turn after each opponent’s turn. The other facet of blue creatures is powerful creatures with massive mana costs and possibly a detrimental ability. Another example besides the aforementioned leviathan is denizen of the deep. It is an 11,11 for eight mana but returns all creatures you control to your hand.
Blue spells on the other hand can be either very cheap and effective or quite expensive but well worth the cost. The simplest and most common way that blue disrupts creatures is by returning them to their owners hands. From the simple one mana unsummon to the five mana evacuation, blue players can keep things off the field. That aspect works especially well with the next trait that is virtually exclusive to blue, countering. After returning those creatures to their owners hands or even before they first play them, blue mages can counter them and send them straight to the graveyard. The simple two mana counterspell can counter any card but a land, and spells like Trickbind keep your opponents from using the abilities of things that slipped through the cracks. Of course, with so much reliance on spells, blue decks need a way to make sure they have enough of them. That is where the blue draw spells come in to play. Blue has both many draw spells, such as the simple preordain and the powerful prosperity, as well as having cards that benefit from your hand size, like aeon chronicler. Spells like prosperity also serve a secondary purpose, milling your opponent. To mill an opponent is to remove all of the cards from their deck and can be accomplished in three main ways: sending them from the top of their library to the graveyard, exiling cards from their library, or making them draw faster than normal. Most milling occurs with the first method, such as with Traumatize, but drawing is an equally effective method if done right. Spells like Forced Fruition will make them draw faster than they can play and will limit their time before they lose. Exiling cards is more rare and generally slower, but it is far safer. After all, you don’t want to mill an Eldrazi or their graveyard will go back to their library.
Blue is effective on its own, but is much more versatile when combined with other colors. For example, black has many spells that synergize well with blue, such as unblockable creatures and spells that pull specific cards from a deck. One of the best ways to combine these two colors however is with a mill deck. The blue provides powerful mill cards and counters to keep them weak, while black has some good mill of it’s own and can aid in the control by killing creatures that slip through and making them discard. Black also has cards that, when used with a mill deck, are game winners. Look at rise from the grave and beacon of unrest. Now imagine that you have milled something like a Godsire. You can guess what happens next.