Monocolored Vs Multicolored: What It Should Be

As we all should know monocolored decks, especially in EDH, are quite limited in what they can do as each color has a strength and a weakness. I began thinking about this after building my Griselbrand deck.

A multicolor deck has access to any card that a monocolored deck would plus more. Obviously, the more colors your deck incorporates the more options you are given. You kinda get the best of both worlds when playing in multiple colors.

For an example, Black has Go for the Throat, White has Swords to Plowshares. Great removal spells in their own right but rarely would you see something as good as "Destroy target permanent" in either monoblack or monowhite. However, mix the two together and you get Vindicate.

So it is clear that Wizards is encouraging us to mix and match colors to get the effects we need but where does it leave monocolored decks? Far, far behind.

The way I see it, a monocolored deck should be the most powerful, at least in terms of its strengths, while a multicolored or even five colored deck would have more options but less powerful effects overall. Think of it in terms of a master of kung fu versus someone who is a jack of all trades martial artist. The Jack would have more versatility and thus can offer a wider range of offensive tactics but the master has honed one particular skill to a perfection as thus can perform it better than someone who has spread his knowledge over a wider area. Is one better than the other? Thats another topic altogether. All I'm saying is that it forms a kind of balance.

Now, how could this even be possible when a five colored deck has access to everything a monocolored deck would have and then some, while a monocolored deck only has access to its own cards. Its a one way street right?

The problem can only be solved by card design and a good example of making a card strictly monocolored is Atalya, Samite Master.

By forcing the player to spend only mana of a certain color, right away it empowers the monocolored deck and gives it a viable card to use over a deck that is employing all five colors.

"Jammin, what's your point?" I can hear you say and the answer is not to let monocolored decks fall by the wayside.

There is a certain flavor and charm about playing with only one color and while there is an inherent limitation to what a monocolored deck can do, all I'm saying is that decks that employ one color should have access to some more powerful cards that a multicolor deck wouldn't have access to. In order to give us a reason to play mono in the first place.

That's all for today and I hope you can understand my perspective and if by some chance you are reading this and you happen to work for Wizards then pitch my idea to them won't you? =)

Thank you for reading, 'till next time.