Despite its historical lag in limited formats, green mana is currently being addressed by MTG’s designers.
The color wheel in MTG is a crucial aspect of the game’s overall design, and each player will naturally be drawn to specific colors. Whether one enjoys the intense speed of red, the calculated strategies of blue, the manipulation of life and death with black, or any other color, MTG’s diverse color identity caters to the preferences of all TCG players.
Despite the fact that designers may have their preferred colors and combinations, it is ultimately the responsibility of the MTG design team to maintain balance and prevent certain mana colors from becoming too dominant. According to MTG Head Designer Mark Rosewater, green mana has historically been the least powerful color in Limited, and he plans to address this issue.
On April 25, in response to a fan’s complaint that green has been receiving an excessive amount of powerful removal effects, Rosewater posted on his personal blog and addressed the issue.
“Throughout history, green has consistently been considered the least powerful color in limited settings.”
The MTG head made it clear that they weren’t just going to leave it there, stating “We are determined to assist in resolving the issue.”
The MTG design team has successfully given green mana a significant boost in limited formats with their latest release, Outlaws of Thunder Junction. This edition has unquestionably made green the standout in draft, offering players strong choices such as Colossal Rattlewurm and Bristly Bill, Spine Sower.
Two of the most dominant draft archetypes in Outlaws of Thunder Junction are Golgari and Selesnya, both heavily dependent on green mana. The Golgari draft decks in Thunder Junction continue to excel with their traditional graveyard recursion strategies, while the Selesnya archetype utilizes the new Mount mechanic to enhance the strength of attacking Creatures.
As long as the MTG team continues to build upon the past successes of green mana and explores new design possibilities, it is inevitable that this color’s luck will eventually improve.
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