[easybox]This article was originally published on ManaNation.com on May 2nd, 2008. We've brought it back up from the archives so our newer visitors can enjoy it.[/easybox]

I’m a big fan of the 80s. Perhaps it’s just that I’m old or it might be that the song was probably in the 90s and I’m just senile. Who knows? Who cares? What the song does for me though, is gets me to thinking about how times change. How “men” like John Wayne, James Dean or Paul Newman have evolved to guys like Leo Dicaprio or James Marsden. On the flip side, how women these days need to be skinnier and it’s ok for guys to be fatter. I guess in my old age, I tend to think a lot about times a changing.

Anyone familiar with "old school" Magic might feel the same as I do on the balance of colors “back in the day”. I really felt like those days there were very few cards that couldn’t be easily countered. Yes, you had Ancestral Recall, but you also had Berserk, Lightning Bolt, Balance, and errr BLACK. As a result of such balance, you had Wiseman’s "The Deck" and on the flip side of that you had plays like Taiga/Kird Ape to really get a party started.

There have been eras such as Necro (the black) Summer and several Mono Blue or just Blue dominated formats. Which brings me to wonder, with all of WOTC R&D and the DCI’s brainiacs, why do we still have formats that are dominated by the same colors?

These days preceding the entry of a new set, I tend to think that constructed formats are well defined. You look at your friendly neighborhood FNM or GP and you’ll see what the cream of the crop is. Faeries, Doran, the Siege Tower, Merfolk, and Elves seem to dominate everywhere constructed is accepted. We get the message WOTC, you wanted creature formats and so that’s what we have. However, I find that the same colors are still dominating but doing so in a different form.

In the past, white had a lot to do with creatures. Turn 1 Savannah Lion, T2 White Knight and usually your opponent was dead or near death by turn 4. In the name of all that is Holy, white would summon it’s armies to bash the face of evil and do so in a manner that you could scoop up and go grab a burrito before the next round.

Then, there was the HEAT!!! Red also had quick creatures and the direct D to take an unprepared mage into the dead zone before one could even blink. If that didn’t work, there was always the route of Stone Rain. Not always a reliable path to victory, but one that could disrupt an opponent long enough to put something together for a win.

What am I saying? I’m not really sure.

What I believe is that Magic has NOT changed all that much. The same colors are dominating, but in a different way. Blue and Black seem to still be the catalyst for victory. In my mind, white hasn’t "dominated" on it’s own in a long time. It has had it’s supporting role, but really doesn’t work as it used to.

You don’t see blue in it’s old “draw go” or “counter go” styles, nor do you see black as “evil” as it once was. On the other hand, faerie variants are blue or blue splashing black for Bitterblossom. Black has some of the big “bomb” cards. Green has come of age with it’s resurgence of Elves and the “Best” creature in the format Tarmagoyf. Red is really seen more as a tool in combo decks recently or perhaps as support with green. Finally, we come to white… Nuff said.

My last article talked about winning in Magic and how people have a certain mindset that defines their play style. Is it because the “good” players tend to find control/blue as their color of choice? Therefore blue dominates magic. I mean in some theories, colors are balanced, but people tend to find blue and black more attractive. So dominance would be based primarily due to sheer numbers played not by the power of the cards.

In my mind, it’s not really too hard to see that Magic does change. I just don’t see it as “balanced” as many claim. Creatures, creatures, creatures, is where we’re at right now and it’s really quite boring. Maybe this upcoming PTQ season will reflect a bit more balance to the force ;) but I believe that Shadowmoor will have me continue to sing “Where have all the counterspells gone…”

-- Lee Steht