Mix and Match
The color pie is one of Magic: The Gathering’s most fundamental building blocks. Every one of Magic’s over 20,000 unique cards has a color identity, or a lack thereof. Mono-color decks can also be powerful, but some of the real magic in Magic comes from combining colors.
Magic has a total of 25 regular color combinations. 10 of them are two-color, 10 are three-color, and the remaining five are four-color. Of course, you can also count all five colors and colorless as well, giving you a total of 27.
While all color combinations are powerful, they each have various strengths and weaknesses. This list will explore the 10 two-color combinations and compare them. These color combinations will be referred to by their guild name, referencing the Ravnica: City of Guilds expansion that served to establish each color pair’s respective theme. While these color pairs aren’t limited to what each guild in this expansion focused on, players still often refer to the pairs by their respective guild names.
10. Boros
"Strike as one! For the Legion!"
Fueled by fire and industry, the red-white color pair Boros is all about attacking. It’s a creature-focused color pairing that wants to attack early and often. The featured card, Boros Guildmage, helps creatures do just that by allowing them to attack right away and with an advantage.
The Boros Legion is comprised of warriors and soldiers, Humans and Angels, specializing in powerful equipment and spells that grant extra combat steps. A personification of the theme “Strength in Numbers,” Boros often builds a big board and buffs them up for the final assault.
However, while Boros often claims board presence early, it is susceptible to removal. If this color pair can’t finish the job early, it often has a hard time rebuilding since it lacks powerful card draw effects. If you favor tempo over control and fancy yourself a master tactician, you might find your destiny at the helm of the Boros Legion.
Decklists:
- Standard: Boros Aggro by Astralsflame
- Pioneer: Boros Heroic by Aoki Manabu
- Commander: Feather Combat Tricks by Colbunions
9. Selesnya
"From seedling to
Like Boros, Selesnya likes to go wide. The green-white color pair is heavily focused on playing lots of small creatures and buffing them up, usually with +1/+1 counters. But where Boros specializes in combat and warfare, Selesnya is themed around cultivation and growth. Selesnya represents the power possible when civilization works in harmony with nature.
The guild of Selesnya has many races from Humans and Elves to Saprolings and Treefolk. They cast enchantment spells to empower themselves and their allies. Where Boros may suffer heavy damage in combat, Selesnya tends to wounds, restoring and even exceeding one’s original vitality.
Selesnya and Boros share a weakness to removal, although green can offer more protection than red with its hexproof style effects. Green also grants the pair more card draw so it can rebuild later on. But, like the natural world, rebuilding can take time. Selesnya does have some massive creatures for the later game, but usually needs to focus its efforts on either small-and-wide or big-and-tall.
Decklists:
- Standard: Verzaubernd by LordFaethor
- Pioneer: Selesnya Angels by Jamalxvi
- Commander: Selesnya Enchantments by Paulmfox11
8. Simic
"...Magnificent..."
Where others see boundaries, Simic sees potential. The Simic guild pushes nature’s limits, infusing biomass with magic to create brilliant, horrible experiments. Some say their pursuit of knowledge toes the ethical line. The Simic say that others are simply too small-minded, unwilling to tap into the possibilities.
Elves, Merfolk, and other hybrid humanoids abound within guild Simics’ walls. It echoes with the sounds of mutated creatures and bubbling oozelings. Like Selesnya, Simic also focuses on growing creatures with +1/+1 counters. But in addition to growing to vast sizes, their creatures also have unique morphogenic abilities.
Some Simic decks lean more heavily into creature themes while others focus more on control magic, while others still look to transform the very land into creatures. Blue and green are some of the more diverse colors in Magic and thus suggest myriad deckbuilding paths. If you love experimenting with the deckbuilding process, Simic may just be the guild for you.
Decklists:
- Standard: Land Hoe 1.0 by Earp
- Pioneer: UG Aggro by Hongou Yuuichirou
- Commander: Ezuri, Claw of Progress by KYOTO
7. Gruul
"The very land quakes alongside us."
The clan of Gruul embodies the rage of the earth. It calls on forces deep, tribal, and ancient to destroy its enemies. Such power is often brief, chaotic, and overwhelming. Gruul revels in the throes of it.
Many outcasts and creatures of all shapes and sizes call Gruul their home. From Humans, Ogres, and deep wood Elves to Goblins, Treefolk, Elemental incarnations, and even Dragons. Gruul loves to unleash their power in battle, like a raging fire. But if their fire is unable to burn all who would oppose it, Gruul can find themselves at wit's end before too long.
Like Boros before them, Gruul decks focus heavily on attacking. However, unlike Boros, their creatures can often grow to even greater sizes. Gruul focuses less on power through unity and more on individual strength.
Decklists:
- Standard: Gruul Midrange by Talisker
- Pioneer: RG Aggro by Nakajima Masanori
- Commander: Klothys by TheGameArmory
6. Azorius
"Cease such insolent behavior. You have no authority here."
Attuned to higher principles and devoted to justice, Azorious is law. Led by powerful minds that command powerful control magic, Azorius slows its opponent’s aggression to a halt.
Humans, Vedalken, and other law-abiding citizens comprise the Azorius senate. At its highest ranks, you’ll find powerful Sphinx tapping into the wisdom of the cosmos. Azorius weaves mysterious blue magic into writ. It also merges the power of sea and sky, with evasive flying and swimming creatures.
Azorius has some of the most powerful control magic in the game. But it is also one of the slowest color combinations and can be susceptible to losing in the early game. But if you can reach the late game, then your enemy’s board will be so locked down that they won’t be able to lay a finger on you.
Decklists:
- Standard: DMU - UWx Control 1.0 by Hagera
- Pioneer: Azorius Control by TeddyMemes
- Commander: BW Ranar Exile by Korho
5. Izzet
"I can't believe that worked! Let's try again!"
Where Simic infuses natural material with magic, Izzet infuses magic with magic. Delving into the very threads that bind the arcane, Izzet tugs on the fabric of reality to various levels of success. They conduct epic experiments that could either shatter reality or fizzle in a puff of smoke.
Wizards and weirds of all kinds, Izzet attracts the most ambitious and untethered of minds. The deep and abounding mystery of blue mixed with the burning ambition of red combines to channel the power of pure magic.
If you like to sling spells, Izzet is the guild for you. Connoisseurs of spells both big and small, Izzet can flex to be an aggressive, control, or combo deck. Izzet decks often involve a unique mix of spells and spell-loving creatures.
Decklist:
- Standard: Izzet Delver by Platinum-Mythic Rank Player
- Pioneer: Izzet Phoenix by O_danielakos
- Commander: Niv-Mizzet, Parun by Tucker.smith
4. Golgari
"I'll claim you just as the earth did."
Golgari is rot incarnate. They thrive where most dare not tread: in the festering, bubbling muck of the swamplands. Where there is death, there is potential for growth and rebirth.
The guild is populated by Elves, Shamans, Trolls, Skeletons, and Zombies. Gravediggers are excellent recruiters. Every soldier that falls in battle is a potential new recruit for Golgari.
Weaving together the death of black and the gift of new life in green, Golgari is a powerful color combination. Many decks make great use of dies triggers, both yours and your opponents. This color combination can make a fantastic mid-range deck, with powerful creatures and planeswalkers to carry it from start to finish. There is always a catch when playing against Golgari. You may remove their threats, but that just might mean a bigger one is coming back to get you.
Decklists:
- Standard: GOLGARI MIDRANGE by Rapsolo
- Pioneer: Golgari Midrange by qbturtle15
- Commander: Elvish Death by Bacon86
3. Orzhov
"Pay up."
Orzhov is the embodiment of the two things you can never escape: death and taxes. Artistocrats and nobles of the highest order align themselves with Orzhov to slowly drain their adversaries for all their worth. Where Golgari embraces the cycle of life and death in its natural form, Orzhov capitalizes on the cycle of souls.
Specters, Clerics, Vampires, and fallen Knights make up the order of Orzhov. Grave, strict, and exacting, the members of the guild are gluttons for eternal gain. They will happily make short-term sacrifices for continued success in any arena, ultimately proving victorious in the end.
Like Golgari, many Orzhov decks make use of creatures dying to their benefit. But this color pair also excels at removing threats from the game entirely through exile. A powerful mix of midrange, combo, and control, Orzhov is a force to be reckoned with. Slow and exacting, you may not even realize you’re dead before it’s too late.
Decklists:
- Standard: orzo by IronicVelvet
- Pioneer: Orzhov Midrange by MaxDam
- Commander: Teysa Karlov by Jloh95
2. Rakdos
"Let's put a smile on that face!"
Rakdos is destruction, chaos, and death in motion. Its solution to every problem is a sledgehammer. It will sacrifice any and everything for power, including its own members. Headed by the demon lord Rakdos the Defiler, this horrific cult finds twisted enjoyment in the chaos they inflict on the world.
Full of Demons, Vampires, Goblins, and Cultists, Rakdos is one of the most feared guilds on Ravnica. Nothing is off-limits. The greater the destruction and pain they conjure, the more powerful they become.
Rakdos decks, like Boros, often hit fast and hit hard. But where Boros wants to maintain their battlefield, Rakdos is happy to blow theirs up in order to win. Again, they make great use of dies triggers to ensure their success. The cult of Rakdos is unyielding, unrelenting, and thoroughly ruthless.
Decklists:
- Standard: rb braids anvil (2) by Shieldmaiden
- Pioneer: Rakdos Midrange by danitachi87
- Commander: Planar Portal by Aizen291
1. Dimir
"It seems I'll have to remove you from the equation."
Dimir is silence, stealth, and expertise. It is the nightmare you awake from. It is the bump in the night. It is the haunting vision you can never forget, until they rend it from your mind.
The members of guild Dimir are calculating and cunning. They are agents of darkness, cloaked in shadow, veiled in whispers of secrecy. The guild is made of up dark Wizards, Rogues, and other Phantasms. Necromancers, Assassins, and other shady individuals make their home here. No job is too difficult to complete, as they have both the veil of night and the mystery of the arcane at the ready.
Dimir decks are often controlling. They focus on removing threats efficiently, either by returning them to their controller’s hand or outright. While there are some large powerful creatures in the late game, Dimir also has a unique win condition of draining an opponent’s resources. When a player has no cards left to draw in their deck, they lose automatically upon their next draw. This win condition is called “mill,” and it’s a Dimir specialty.
Decklists:
- Standard: UB Draw by stevethemighty
- Pioneer: Dimir Control by WaToO
- Commander: Wilhelt Zombies by EEBIGAA
Choose Your Colors
While some color combinations tend to be more powerful in circumstances than others, there is no one-size-fits-all. That’s one of the beautiful things about Magic: The Gathering. But every Magic player has colors that they identify with more than others. Find a color combination that works for you and you’ll find yourself thriving in no time.
