Magic: The Gathering Color Guide, part 2 - Black

Magic: The Gathering is a very complicated game, and one of the hardest initial decisions is choosing which color or colors of cards to use in creating a deck. As a continuation from my previous post, I will now cover the basics of another color: Black

Black typifies decay, disease, death, necromancy, and the things that go bump in the night. Black tends to embody the philosophies of "The ends justify the means," and "Win at all costs," which can mean sacrificing your own creatures, discarding cards, or damaging yourself to achieve your goals. Common creatures include vampires, zombies, demons, and assorted creepy-crawly things and often include deathtouch or lifelink effects.

Black decks can be built for direct aggression through cheap creatures; control through destruction effects, lingering damage punishment, and forcing your opponent to discard his options; or combos that create automatic victories. As such, either on its own or in combination with other colors, black can offer something to nearly any player.

When combined with other colors, black can enhance or diversify many strategies. With red, black reinforces destruction while adding some long-term control or combo options. With blue, the battlefield can be controlled more efficiently by also inflicting extra damage. With green, black can add some necromantic support to its revival options, give a vampiric boost to its large creatures, or add extra ways to reduce the opponent's defenses. The order and defensiveness of white combines well with the aggression of black, which can add underhanded tactics to the usual white playbook as well.

If you like to inflict lingering damage effects, revive dead creatures, steal your opponent's stuff, and just outright destroy things, black is your color.

If you wish to trade your cards with other players, I recommend using Pucatrade. Online trades with other people help you find that special card you need while supporting other players who are doing the same!