One Color Changes EVERYTHING

[@DiceTry]

If you enjoyed this video then check out the next part in the series: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKDJgH2JeNqhpMU

[@lauralharris]

I just want to say thank you for this series. I've been wanting to make a Magic set for a while, and I've finally found the inspiration in Dracorium!

[@ezraz.6335]

I feel like the blackless plane could have some interesting implications, you described it as a sort of utopia but I think that if the self is so completely cast aside then that could have some horrifying but very interesting implications.

[@maxmichalik4938]

I struggle to see what kinds of stories can be told there without resorting to Black returning in some way.

[@lozm4835]

A world of infinite beautiful things, but utterly devoid of art. Half of everyone just slaves away to provide for the other half, who obey the whims of a dead-eyed master assigning pointless work so their people have something, anything to do, but lacking any meaning in their own life with which to truly create something meaningful, until they soon perish after forgetting to eat, as there is nobody to tell them to do so. After all, art is the expression of the self, and this is a world that is singularly selfless.

[@matthewsnyder2475]

​@@lozm4835 you're describing mythoria, the redless plane, the blackless plane still has red Mana, so the arts and emotional expression still exist.

[@lozm4835]

@@matthewsnyder2475 Mythoria lacks art because there's no expression. Lumenesca would because there's no self to express. Black is the colour of doing everything you can and consuming everything to attain more power (which is why it's allied with Green) and importantly for this more freedom. It's the selfish colour, but that's not inherently a bad thing, because that also means it's the colour of having a self in the first place. Mythoria is a beauracratic machine of (ironically named) red tape, which is endlessly grey and functional, but also people would still have a desire to be on top and dominate. Lumenesca would have the appearance of beauty and artistic expression, because there's still a need to produce something like that because red still exists. But the people living there only live to support other people to churn out more existence to sustain itself and produce more stuff. As such, the world resembles AI art. There's no stories because stories are driven by conflict, and conflict means people wanting something.

[@Seraph-qp7hz]

​@@lozm4835 Perhaps you misspoke, but green and black are not allied colors they are enemies. Green is a color that strongly values community and the natural order. It wouldn't agree with taking more than what you absolutely need to survive. It also likely woundn't agree with the concept of "gaining more freedom". Green strongly believes in destiny and that the best way is to simply "go with the flow" wherever it may lead good or bad. If you go deep enough into green, it becomes actively hostile to the belief of free will.

[@dragnus12]

"Sometimes destruction breeds creativity" He says as a PLANET gets glassed on screen.

[@tylershannon9319]

If there were to be a set designed around four color planes, or a block of sets designed around them, I think itd be an interesting story decision to specifically have a plansewalker of the missing color visiting a plane to be the primary focal point. Maybe the contrivance of it could be explained away with Ugin asking said planeswalkers to help him fix what broke those planes or something similar. It would allow cards of the missing color to be present in the set, as any of the planeswalkers entourage on the plane could easily incorporate their color, and its serve the very good story utility of juxtaposing the status quo of the plane with the thing that's supposed to fill the void within it. Definitely think it could make for some interesting stories.

[@DiceTry]

Oh I really like that idea, would add some great contrast and conflict.

[@tylershannon9319]

@@DiceTry Glad you agree! Could also let each of the planes have their own set, helping lighten the load of trying to represent every four color combination in the same set, which I think is the largest practical issue to exploring this concept.

[@thomaspetrucka9173]

Came here to say this! I love this idea!

[@janzibansi9218]

Would be really easy to send some tarkir dragons through an omenpath to the witch color plane

[@jackbennett6902]

Or hell, maybe even a cycle of new, three color planeswalkers, centered in the missing color (Grixis goes to Ink, Naya goes to Yor, etc.)

[@felipepereira214]

What I learned from this video is that a 4c setting is more complex than a 3c setting because each "shard" can have multiple factions and same color factions from different shards would have different mechanics.

[@LibertyMonk]

I think it can be done multiple ways, Shards of Alara is similarly defined by each shard utterly lacking two colors of mana, but there are still factions within each Shard. Meanwhile Conflux is mostly whole-shard cards or full on 5-color, and Reborn also mostly focuses on shards and their interactions with little nuance with a shard. But yeah, 4-color cards should be vanishingly rare, any 2 or 3 color cards should still feel the utter lack of the "missing" color. And sub-factions have to exist, even when Black or Red are missing.

[@burner555]

​@@LibertyMonk most prominent conflicts would definitely be tradition/progress and nature/nurture

[@AwsomeAccurateX]

One thing i love about this is that in a plane, when one color is missing, both of this opposite colors take more control than the other two. In the world with no White, Rakdos took over. In a world with no Red, Azorius is most prominent. And so on. Its interesting. I enjoy it

[@krishnapatil441]

I thought this exact thing! Came to the comments to see if anyone had already said it.

[@mattturner6017]

You have constructed five excellent plane concepts. I heard a little bit about the philosophies of the colors when I first started playing, but that soon gave way to talk about game mechanics and strategies, and nobody ever spoke about color philosophy again. Thanks for bringing it to the forefront, and in such a genuinely creative way.

[@DiceTry]

Well you came to the right place, the color pie is what I do!

[@HouseLyrander]

While each sub plane is defined by the lack of a particular color, each plane seems to take the Alara/Tarkir route of still having an unspoken "focus" color that's subtly more emphasized than the other. Red for Dracorium, Green for Aracelis, White for Luminesca, Blue for Mythoria, and Black for Aethex Prime. I kinda like this as it still gives a familiar anchoring and emphasizes the antagonist the "focus" color has with the missing color while still letting the other 3 colors still have an important role. Or maybe I'm overthinking things.

[@kyzer42]

I agree; it feels like removing a colour naturally causes one or both of that colour's enemies to become dominant

[@Dokurider]

On the other hand, those colors are usually the enemy colors, so it makes sense for these colors to be more powerful without their main opposition no longer being present.

[@badwrongfun5541]

I definitely agree with Kyzer it's not necessarily one enemy color that's dominant. Dracorium's forever war is just as Black as it is Red. Mythoria's unbreakable order and bureaucracy is incredibly White, reaching it's ultimate goal of peace.

[@nathan25229]

That's how I see it as well it will be hard to make it feel like an equal amount of effort from all the colors.

[@jonahsalazar5108]

I LOVE the mythoria concept. The implied mechanics of table voting and diplomacy/politics cards seems AMAZING.

[@suji-gm]

This made me imagine a plane where a color was missing, but was suddenly returned (perhaps caused by the visitation of a planeswalker of that color), and how it would find its place. For example, a sudden lushness and uncontrolled wild growth overtaking what was once barren landscape, and how people there welcome or resist it. Could be a whole set for each of these planes.

[@Fitzsully]

not gonna lie the thumbnail had me thinking this was gonna be a video about "If MTG didn't have blue mana" and I was VERY on board with that idea. good video none the less.

[@Distain_Gaming]

Honestly, the thing I like most about these planes isn't how they contain themselves, but the way that they're all so specifically vulnerable to incursions from their missing colors- The gaps left behind create potentially extremely compelling holes in the way the world works, that allow for some really, really interesting theoretical storytelling...

[@justseffstuff3308]

Come to think of it, you're right, that is incredibly interesting... A being with ambition ruining the balance of the black-less plane, a faction learning how to cultivate a harvest among the acid ruling the green-less plane, the ravages of progress ruining the blue-less plane, and a strong faction valuing community uniting many on the white-less plane... I struggle to think of how emotion could ruin the red-less plane, though, since it's kinda specifically made to stamp out emotion. Got any ideas on that?

[@kyzer42]

@@justseffstuff3308 Maybe when emotion is introduced to the red-less plane, it starts to "infect" people almost like a virus, spreading discontent and spurring people into spontaneous acts of art and vandalism. People start to learn what it means to love. Eventually, anarchy might begin to break down the carefully balanced legal systems, leading to utter chaos.

[@burner555]

​​​@@justseffstuff3308 emotion bringing life to mindless drones and rejecting manufactured ideals, thus rebelling against the system

[@Gibbons3457]

Can almost see Athas (Dark Sun) from Dungeons and Dragons as a world without green mana due to the defiling magic in its history.

[@CasualIvory]

These were all really good! I think the best story for planes like this would be a reverse Alara situation. Like, all these planes were once five independent, fully balanced planes that eliminated their respective missing colors around the same time in their history, and as a result have slowly begun drifting towards each other in the blind eternities in order to correct the imbalances. More omenpaths between the five begin forming, causing more chaos as a greater cataclysmic merging of the five planes approaches. The plot could be that the five planes become aware of one another, and while wars and conflicts would inevitably break out between them, they ultimately have to learn to fully balance themselves individually before the five planes collide and ultimately destroy/upend the planes entirely. There could even be an interesting phenomenon where planeswalkers caught in the five planes after a certain point can't planeswalk beyond those five planes, and thus have to solve the issue before they are destroyed along with the five planes.

[@hollowtruncatedicosahedron]

oooh this is actually incredibly cool

[@-Claws72-]

Wow you nailed it. This is possibly my favorite video yet, I think it gives a great understanding of each color that normal videos don’t offer. Each of the planes was fascinating, but I must say that I find Dracorium the most exciting and Aracelis the plane I would most like to live on! I am definitely building upon these worlds for future D&D Campaigns I run or stories I write! Thanks for this! 😊

[@DiceTry]

I'm glad you enjoyed it, it feels like it's been a while since I've made a world building video, so this sort of scratches that itch. Feel free to use or tweel any of the Planes I talked about.

[@Nathanael_Forlorn]

From a fellow designer: This was really nicely done. Well thought out and pleasantly presented. I can imagine this 1:1 in mtg lore. And it'd be one of the finer additions.

[@MrPunkdude82]

1:16 Dracorium - Lacking white mana 3:45 Aracelis - Lacking blue mana 5:55 Luminesca - Lacking black mana 8:01 Mythoria - Lacking red mana 10:07 Aethex - Lacking green mana

[@emblem3272]

Especially in post-MotM Magic, I think a cool way to make a set around this sort of plane would be to have an invading faction of the missing color. Have six archetypes of the color pairs natural to the plane, and have a seventh monocolor archetype for the invaders, to really enhance the alien feel of that color.

[@the1stcalling]

I feel like Dracorium could use more cohesion besides pitting artificers and warriors against each other under the pretende of war. Like when I think of Yidris, chaos is really what rules without order in white, and I think leaning on the cunning of blue and the possibilities of war and chaos could make the factions come to life. As if behind all bloodshed there's the will of the dragon that is fueled by the blood spilled on the battlefield, and its power rests in all its factions as that will is melded with betrayal, purpose, and possibility.

[@aapjew18]

You misheard the video. It's not artificers Vs warriors. He says every faction needs both artificers and warriors, no army is complete without both.

[@the1stcalling]

@@aapjew18 You're right, I just heard it back. I do feel that having something generative like having the factions share aspects of the will of the dragon would add a really cool dimension to the world, though. To me a concept like that would bring in other classes because black will look to answers beyond just artifice, or magic would amplify the warriors abilities, for example.

[@Powershade117]

So first I would like to say that this has made me look at the idea of 4-color philosophy in a different light. I was thinking too small, looking at individuals or factions. But I think where 4-color is best explored is when you think BIG like this; in terms of entire worlds. I LOVED the image of Dracorium and I think you nailed it on the head with how it would feel with no white mana. Sure there would be factions driven by common cause, but there is no true unity. There might be the worship of gods, but not with the same piety or doctrine that white brings. I am already just imagining what kind of clans or tribes there would be and how they interact with the Rakdos Warriors and Simic Inventors of the plane. Aracelis feels very grounded in green mana with the talk of traditions and the use of natural and wild magic. The black faction you spoke of actually intrigues me the most. I'm already picturing a set and story on Aracelis where this black faction actually seeks to conquer more territory, but they are perhaps in the central landmass of their continent, meaning that if they push too far, they risk attack from all sides by the other factions. And so what we have is sort of "Mortal Kombat" style story, where if they seek to conquer a certain piece of land, they will not win in through armies or mass slaughter. Instead the champions of the two sides will compete and if the black faction wins, then they get control of the piece of land they sought. To the others, it is a fair contest that keeps these powerful warriors in check...even as this black faction does seek underhanded tactics to give them an edge in this tournament that is just an upscale version of what they already practice. I like Luminesca's religious direction and how well fleshed out the leadership roles of the plane are. Their titles also exemplify each of the four colors that make up Luminesca, so that was a nice touch. This one also feels like one of your more fleshed out planes due to having names for a lot of things, even the enclaves...something that Aracelis was missing when you mentioned the factions there. And even with no black mana, there is still the potential for wickedness to occur; the governor who oppresses his flock because he believes too hard in the laws of the city OR the scientist who abandons compassion and instead decides to seek knowledge by any means necessary OR groups of anarchists who believe in true freedom or reject the doctrines of the Four Keepers. You painted just a visceral picture of Mythoria...a place of perfect order, where each color contributes and checks the others. Green brings tradition and core values. White brings unity and purpose. Blue brings knowledge and perfection. Black brings ambition and desire. Without red to stir the pot and whip up a little chaos, everything and everyone is allowed to live a peaceful and structured life. But at the same time, there is no freedom of expression, freedom of speech, or any practitioners of the arts. It is a place that will appeal to those who just want stability and can navigate the bureaucratic world. However, it would crush and suffocate those who just want to laugh, cry, rage, love, and experience all of these wonderful emotions. And despite me and my preference toward law, order, structure, and normality, I do believe that people should be free to express themselves. So while I would be content living on Mythoria for a bit, I would get bored of it eventually. Aethex Prime is a very cool world, if a little sad. And for me reading between the lines...I do believe that the one you suggested is not only possible, but very likely. In fact, I would suggest that in this world's distant past, the nations that lived here destroyed the plane and each other in a massive and cataclysmic war that destroyed the world and went so far as to damage or even destroy the very essence of green itself. And the Stonekin are the only relics of this ancient civilization. Where once they were little more than mindless golems that obeyed the orders of their masters and were used in this war...they are now infused with the mana that now flows through the plane and take on identities of their own, becoming their own masters. Their memories of this ancient time have been more or less forgotten, but they might speak of "old gods" that might some day return, those old gods of course being their creators. I'll stop here, but I have SO MUCH MORE to think about in terms of building WORLDS with 4-color identities. But I do leave you with this intriguing idea. What happens if a planeswalker of the missing color arrived on these worlds? What would Chandra do if she experienced the methodical coldness of Mythoria? What could Basri Ket accomplish on the war-torn and tumultuous plane of Dracorium? Ask yourself these questions. Because THAT could be a fun way to do a set with worlds like this. You have the world itself, but then you have this outside force bringing with it new and alien ideas, as they do not align with any of the colors present there.

[@flamefyr]

I would love a follow-up on each of the planes in the future, maybe a character or a planes walker from these worlds, and their reactions to a world full of a mana they don't have? What would a Stonekin Planeswalker say when upon Ixalan? What would someone like Chandra feel on the world without red mana at all? So man stories await!

[@truekurayami]

An interesting thing about these is, the nature of the missing Mana Color is still present but not easily noticable. Best example was from the plane without Blue. While Blue represents inovation and development, all it did was enhance those aspects to a much more noticeable point, where it's lack left a world EVOLVING at a natural rate instead of the enhanced rate by drawing out the Blue aspects of the other colors. The plane without White is a similar but less noticeable case as there is a clear order to the world functioning in that chaos, by showing how the different factions organized themselves for themselves and against others.

[@TheJamesGamel]

This is very well done, Dice! I had a couple of doubts going in, but from your starting premise, through each of these 5 planes, all the way to the moments of your final thoughts, this was incredibly beautiful. I could see a 3 set block for each of these planes and even see how you could print entire sets without a core color. It is nice to see how you had your mind changed, and we get to see the creative benefits that come with these philosophical breakthroughs.

[@AegisAuras]

I really like the idea of a plane that lost its source of green mana because of an ancient man-made doomsday event.

[@robertgronewold3326]

My personal little thought experiment concerning the creation of a plane is one where there are five perpetually warring factions, because while each faction is dominated by one of the main colors, they also represent both of the enemy color pairings for that color; for example, white main color with black and red included in their makeup.

[@RandomGuy-nt1no]

Yes I would very much like to see that

[@voraito]

Tarkir?

[@robertgronewold3326]

@@voraito Probably the same vibes, though my imaginary plane is based around a WW1 aesthetic.

[@Takesis]

I think Tarkir is more allied colors and their enemy color. Wizards have not created true Wedge factions yet.

[@hickknight]

It feels like anything that magic is, has changed and one of those things, is getting to know the planes themselves, their flaws and advantages. Like, I don't think a plane had really has left much impression nowadays. Amazing video. I loved this one.

[@pokegard]

I really like these planes, and I would imagine that witch, ink, and dune has a single avatar here, while yore has 4 and glint has 2

[@adrianregnier5673]

What an amazing, loving letter of speculative design! My hat's off to you, good sir!

[@DiceTry]

Thanks, I always find this thing fun to do, so I'm happy when people enjoy it

[@BouncingTribbles]

From a set design standpoint exploring the isolated color would also be interesting. A satellite minor plane where the color is defined by having all the other colors forcefully removed could be really cool, what happens when a color is pulled fully into that black hole? Great video

[@adventurer3288]

That's really cool. Could they maybe function as moons of each main planet of a plane?

[@andresmarrero8666]

​@@adventurer3288if they are moons then perhaps rather than hanging near their selected plane they are instead part of the hands of time and they drift towards and away the other four colored planes like marbles in a bowl. When two moons crash into each other the beginnings of the birth of a new minor plane is born.

[@jacksonletts3724]

These were great! My one thought is that I'm not sure on the plane that's missing black. The other 4 are mostly dystopias, and I think that's a strong thematic message; that all the colors are needed for a healthy plane. My idea for the plane missing black is that it's a plane without death (traditionally a black pr maybe green sphere of influence). Without death, the plane's social structure has calcified into an unchanging aristocratic caste system where nobody can change their societal position. This dovetail's nicely with the loss of black's positive attributes of ambition and self improvement.

[@maxmichalik4938]

How does that jive with both Red and Blue still being fully present?

[@Seraph-qp7hz]

Assuming black is soley responsible for all ambition and desire for self improvement, why would the inhabitants of the plain even care that their society is rigid and unchanging? It seems to me only outsiders would find it disconcerting while someone living in it may be perfectly happy to be the janitor for some minor government office building for all eternity.

[@maxmichalik4938]

@@Seraph-qp7hz You'd still have clashing desires. Red would see unoptimal treatment of people close to them and feel strongly about improving it as fast as possible, which clashes with White's striving for order and global equality and Blue's striving for progress and scientific discoveries at a slow and steady pace. Blue would put advancements that improve future quality of life (or even just future scientific endeavors) over everything being fine now, which pisses off Red. They would also have little respect for any traditions that they see as holding society back. Or to go with the specific realm in the video, I expect the Keeper of Knowledge to want to uphold the truth even when it hurts or angers people (anti-Red) or puts the value of long standing traditions into question (anti-Green), while the Keeper of Compassion will want to protect outliers and defects at the expense of the whole (anti-White) and advocate for swift solutions (anti-Blue).

[@rrteppo]

Without black there would be no death or decay. You would have a technologically advanced, unsleeping, uneating people who have no homes or anything like that where indentured servitude is common because what's a few hundred years for an immortal, fighting is purely for sport since no one can become injured (and a common sport at that, considering the red mana with no consequences for misuse) The wilderness is so thick the sun is only visible to the young who are allowed to live above the trees until the trees become taller blocking out the sun for them and they join their ancestors in darkness/electrical/luminescent moss light for the rest of their unending lives.

[@jacksonletts3724]

@@maxmichalik4938 Both red and blue would still exists, but they'd be rendered impotent by the lack of their ally in black. For Red, I think honor duels and gladiatorial combat would be common as the immortal natives would need entertainment to break up the monotony of their lives. But ultimately this expression of red is just a distraction, it's lost its power to be transgressive and revolutionary. I don't have quite as clear an idea for blue. It would probably be something like they have all the knowledge of the world but no desire to create anything without black. This would be represented by a lot of card draw type affects, but almost no artifacts.

[@ryancoldiron554]

Aracelis sounds like a fantastic place to live. Tranquil and stable but allows expression and competition.

[@ryancoldiron554]

@@loneoutsider8004 GRUUL BABY

[@DiceTry]

So if you had to live on one of these Planes which would it be?

[@warpsterdash5420]

Mythoria, Witch eye plane that single handedly shines to a lot of my deck's playstyles and would easily be some of the very strongest cards.

[@pokegard]

I like Mythoria the most, but I would pick Luminesca so I dont get arrested for singing

[@shineyydesigns7696]

Luminesca sounds like an actual paradise. People all working together to create a sustained and equal community where peace and cooperation are prioritized, yet individuals can still feel important and bring value to society

[@Number1masksfan]

Luminesca sounds actually like a paradise, from the description given, how ever I feel their would be some strife, not plane defining nor usually violent, I think this strife would come between white and red

[@DiceTry]

@benjohnson7793 I am sure there is something unsavory happening behind the glossy sheen. Does the Old Father have the people's interests in mind? Is there part of our humanity missing when Black is removed?

[@JohnDoe-sx6iw]

I believe that four color cards should only be made in commander decks or as set design. For example, if you had a (WBGR) Commander then you would "skip your draw phase", however; your deck would have the different flavors of draw spells from the other four colors. If you had a (WUBR) Commander then your creatures would lose all Keywords and "natural abilities", however; your deck would have different ways to grant your creatures said keywords and abilities through the other four colors. If you had a (WURG) Commander then you can never personally sacrifice or discard a card to pay for a cost, however; your deck would have ways to circumvent this restriction. If you had a (UBRG) Commander then you can never gain life or go past your starting life total, however; your deck would have cards that can heal you back up. If you had a (WUBG) Commander then you skip your combat phase, however; your deck would have cards that "target" other players so as to have ways to circumvent this restriction.

[@ndefied3594]

OK, I really want a set like this now... Very well done.

[@kyzer42]

I absolutely love this video; the ideas you presented here are truly inspiring, and really helped me understand the philosophies of the five colours as well as the five four-colour combos. I really want to write a story or TTRPG campaign where characters from one of these planes find omenpaths leading to the other planes, and realize all that could be gained by bringing the philosophies of the missing fifth colour back to their home plane. However, they would have to be careful, as bringing in a fifth colour to any one of these planes could easily destabilize it and lead to destruction.

[@flaetsbnort]

About the blackless plane, since black is the colour most directly tied to self-interest, I think that in the black plane there would literally not exist any concept of the self. People would only see themselves as parts of a whole. They'd be a member of their family, a worker at their position at their place of work, and perhaps a part of a philosophical, political, artistic etc. movement. You wouldn't even have a name, you'd be Young Adult of Smith Family at home, Data Entry Expert at City Hall at work, and Futurist in the agora or whatever. If you had a brother who worked at the same place and belonged to the same movement, the two of you would be literally indistinguishable. Which also means that there wouldn't be a Keeper, there'd be like a Comitee leading the plane, with many people speaking as one.

[@JoriamRamos]

I absolutely love those worlds you created - and I can really feel the lack of the colours you mentioned. Great creative work, Dice!

[@JoriamRamos]

omg this non-red plane is my absolute nightmare

[@timebreach9295]

One of the reasons why four color is important is the aspect of building your deck for Commander so if you are going to State factions like this that are dual color or mono color or even tricolor a suggestion is to do partner commanders and lore implications is that they are on the different planes

[@cloud13Wizard]

Well, time to design 5 small sets, each with unique mechanics themed around these planes

[@lordgaming7717]

Your first plane Dracorium for some reason gave me the vibes of the book/movie Mortal Engines

[@freedomforall1712]

This is cannon and no one can tell me any different! Amazing, bravo!

[@tonyleier]

a way for the color missing in a plane to be drawn in is maybe using wastes, like have a card that needs both a color and specifically colorless mana.

[@TheTransforcer]

You did a great job naming the planes, I could peg which color was absent. Really great descriptions!

[@charajeux]

Based on the planes you described, I could see some mechanics to be a fit: Dracorium (Lack of White) : powerful stuff but with drawbacks like upkeep costs or penalties when you don't attack Aracelis (Lack of Blue) : Lots of activated abilities (like channel) and cards who grow stronger and activates more abilities when you don't cast spells Luminesca (Lack of Black) : Cooperation mechanics like giving something to all other players while you grow in power Mythoria (Lack of Red) : winning without attacking with bleeding and milling mechanics Aethex Prime (Lack of Green) : low mana value matters and resistance mechanics = small stuff but ennoying and hard to kill

[@TotallyACat]

Evacuate the Mana Vaults! Engage all Soul Rings! And get this man a job at WOTC. This. Is. Amazing.

[@monkaeyes]

I think this is perfect. You have made excellent world building here. It feels so authentic to something in the magic multiverse, and this whole video was made in response to commenters. You made a good original video which this one was based on, then the community responded and you have produced a video even more enjoyable.

[@EmpathNaga]

This thought experiment has really showcased what taking one color away from a plane leaves behind: _Stagnation._ In two examples, the denizens are too busy fighting each other, and in two others, great efforts are taken to make sure nothing changes. Even in the non-Black shard, with everyone neatly in their assigned place in society and never stepping out of it, how will anyone ever amount to anything more than that?

[@andresmarrero8666]

They don't look stagnant to me as change is synonymous with life. Each one is constantly changing in their own ways.

[@Qub3rs]

I love this video. Focusing on what the plane/world would look like with a missing colour is genius.

[@tuxxle8830]

Thought you was gonna talk about how blue was conceptually broken from the beginning lol. A sentiment I share, but I was pleasantly surprised to see custom MTG design, KZbin doesn’t usually recommend that

[@GuyFromCanada]

Hey look ma it’s me! In all seriousness I think this is an excellent extrapolation on the broken plane idea. All of the planes are very evocative, and I feel they fit the idea of the broken pie very well.

[@geraldposter1496]

I think a plane without black mana could work also as a world without death. Which in turn leads to a lack of ambition and everything feels hollow. Theres still art, but no one feels the need to make that new masterpiece to leave their mark on the world if theyll always be there. Things are orderly, but no one feels the drive to advance their station, no scientist has that urge to understand more than what is already known, just better understand things as they are. Or in a weird way, the lack of death creating an immortal world that paradixically feels like it isnt alive at all.

[@josephwodarczyk977]

Dude, this is amazing. It feels like you perfectly solved the four color problem.

[@DiceTry]

At the very least it's a good start to the conversation.

[@shineyydesigns7696]

Luminesca sounds like the perfect place to live, a vibrant world of cooperation and expression, where tradition is valued but not oppressively forced, and rulers are appointed by community rather than sheer power.

[@MeZmerTized]

The only thing I have to say, and I'd love for you to do another video on this, is: the idea that four color must be 5-color but with the one missing color carved out. This is very outdated especially after Strixhaven showed that colors can be viewed differently. A four-color plane or card can be two Two-color pairs but togther, or all the three color combinations the four-color available allow. Thank you for making the vid, I find many usually refuse to even touch upon four color. Even WotC! And I hope the bredth with which four-color can allow, is dived into further!

[@trunkage]

I appreciate how you took on other people's criticism to create... to extend yourself Thanks

[@EstradusTheDragon]

Okay this? Is really cool. A fascinating exploration in what the colors contribute via exploring their absence. I like it.

[@andresarancio6696]

So adding a game design element to this, I imagine a plane like this would require more than one set. I know, I know, Vorthos all around the world have said they want the return of set blocks, but I mean more from a gameplay perspective. How do you build a limited environment with 5 planes each with 4 different interpretations of each color? Well, you would need 20 draft archetypes spread over 2 sets. Of course the main problem of that is how to spread that evenly across the set. You could have something like exploring two planes fully and half of one each set. I could see a story following one of our protagonists moving through each mini plane, with the first set of stories exploring two of them and ending in a third one, and then starting the second one in the third one before exploring the fourth and fifth one

[@ThymeWyatt]

The narative choices are interesting, each of the planes having a distinct history built off missing concepts is a good one to represent four color worlds. If we were to dream of this set being real, I'd imagine a 3 part story, introduction to planes and the depths of their characters. Then a force that threatens their respective worlds, something that seeks to introduce the "new" mana to each of them. Then an avatar from each of the planes supported by key characters that looks to battle against this force or dominate it. and finally a conjoined force of five colors that draws beings from the planes to see what they are missing, a bridge that offers to show the inhabitants of one world what they are missing in another. That would be how I shaped this story, not to "rejoin" the planes or disrupt their final state but to show characters interacting with different itterations of common color ideology with subtle or strong shifts from the color pie. Wizards has toyed with the idea that the color pie can be flexible naritively, taking any of the colors to the extreme often leads to negative outcomes, creating "evil" characters from colors that are not typically considered "bad". It's a trope that black is the color of evil, but it's just an extreme of one end of blacks scale, similarly White is "good" and orderly. Inversions of this trope are ripe for creative story telling.

[@imposifle9792]

Gods, the redless world actually sounds like a nightmare. Of course this set would have more 4 colour legends, which would be interesting

[@Sir_Pleasant]

Fantastic watch. This is head canon for me now.

[@AmataTai]

This vid really made it clear that I would not survive without red and green mana, my fave colors to use

[@AmataTai]

Plus I'd be so lost without my fellow gal pals Chandra and Nissa XD

[@VultureXV]

Everyone thinks the null-black world would be a paradise until you realize you would have no self identity, no ambition, and no means of grasping personal power. Your life will be decided by other people and you will be happy about it. You will never be able to grasp for more, you will be free to an extent to wonder just where life might take you, if not for an established doctrine which has you solely fit into a caste. You will be able to learn everything about your rulers, only to find that you may never challenge them. You will have harmony with the world, but only granted as much as everyone else no matter what accomplishments you might have. You will have the freedom, but never the capability, to seek power above your rank or post or caste or even 'denomination' and to do so would be seen as defilement of the order of your realm. You will be born, and die, a slave in it's own right and nothing will truly change that. There's no reason to push for more because you will receive none. A world hamstrung by it's insistent urge to keep everything "equitable" as anyone born with more must be stripped to something lesser befitting it's caste or 'position' in society and will not be able to seek more. "Utopia" for who?

[@ScadrianGhostblood]

I would love to see you making a series about those planes

[@zacharythorp6095]

Excellent video! I love the worldbuilding aspects. It's like the science fiction approach of change one aspect of the world and see what the resulting place looks like! From a deck design perspective, the set would have a number of mono-colored cards, dual-colored cards, then a large number of 4-color cards replacing the traditional 3-color ones. For instance, a 2AB card with a C/D hybrid mana activation; or a 2 A/B A/B card with a CD activation. It seems like it would be quite doable, aside from finding a decent, short name for the color combinations ('Mithoria' is a bit of a mouthful, though pretty).

[@idontneedanameify]

this was really interesting, especially with how passionate you clearly are about the philosophy involved. The world are interesting settings on their own, I might try and include them in my tabletop games somehow, thank you!

[@hyperion9934]

This would be a very interesting block. My interpretation of planes of a broken pie would be 5 planes of eternal war between two factions each with their only similarity being their shared lack of a magic that never existed. Think of a shattered Ravnica.

[@boatghost2543]

ideas for mechanics in each area dracorium - aiming for cultivation and unfair gathering of resources accumulate - whenever this card enters the field, look at the top card of your library, if it is a nonland permanent, you may reveal it and cast that card this turn or put it to your graveyard. also brings back the prototype mechanic aracelis - primal glory, and using magic and traditions to thrive inherit - whenever this card leaves the field, you may exile it, if you do, another permanent that shares a card type with it gains the exiled card's abilities (example: a land with inherit taps for a colorless and also has the text "if it was inherited, this ability taps for 2 colorless instead") also brings back the historic keyword luminesca - togetherness and purpose, co-operation is the main ideology Operate X - the next creature spell you cast costs X less (example 3 mana 1/1 with "when it enters the field, operate - blue" : this means the next creature spell you cast cost one blue mana less) also brings back convoke mythoria - function trumps expression supervise X - as long as you control X or more other permanents with supervise, this ability happens (example 1 mana 1/1 with "supervise 1 ; this creature gains firststrike") also brings back the cleave mechanic for bureaucracy. aethex prime - squeeze out as much resources as possible extract X- each player exiles the top X cards of their library, you choose up to one card from among them and put that card to its owner's hand, if you don't, each player may play those cards this turn. also brings back ingest.

[@pokegard]

Especially if you can combine ingest with card theft(similar to rogue class)

[@Greenknight3]

I'm making art for the plains now. I think these plains are connected somehow, maybe through a entity or such that is the reason they are missing a color. Diastry (deis-tree), lord of the fractured worlds.

[@RandomGuy-nt1no]

You mind posting a link to those images here when your done

[@Greenknight3]

@@RandomGuy-nt1no sure thing.

[@RandomGuy-nt1no]

@@Greenknight3thank you

[@SillySleeper]

Oh my god I really freakin love this! As a huge fan of Four Color cards this would be amazing to see. I could see some interesting designs made from the twisted and differently shaped mana colors from such environments. Kinda like how Strixhaven helped shape the color combos in a new light, like with Lorehold and Boros, I think having these two color factions use unique mechanics because of the lack of another sort of mana would be interesting and would make for very creative decks. Then comes the straight up four color cards. While I want more of them, I agree that making too many in this set would not work, but that leaves them open to some creative designs. I imagine they would be sort of like the Ultimatum cycle, where gathering the certain colors together shape how much they lean toward one another or perhaps an effect that seems like a twisted version of the opposite of the color missing. With having to confine it to gathering colors such as WUUUBR or even WWUUBBGG or something, it would be some sort of powerful effect, but I feel with the color missing it should be fragile. No inherent protection, but something that, if left to fester, will be devastating, sort of like an unstable spell or void that warps stuff around it.

[@Kaii-Rodgers]

mythoria's sense of role and logic, having your being be what you're role is, while striving for a higher role, brings such an emphisis on the lack of red mana but having it as its identity so well. no form of expression or need for it, yet still being one with your role and embodying it is such a good twist of fate with a lack of red mana.

[@thepixelslime4647]

This is a great video! I feel like one way you could spice up a plane like this would be to include the missing color ever so sparcely in cards. Since colors represent ideas as well, it would be wild to imagine a world where these ideas never take fruition. Why not an inventor learning to experiment having the red/blue hybrid symbols in their card to show that while red mana isn't present on the plane, the ideas red represents are still there, if ever so sparcely present.

[@aceundead4750]

From this video i see 4 color sets or a block (god forbid Wizards do blocks again) as an absolute win.

[@vindicator0984]

I love videos like this. It's so cool seeing other peoples creativity and ideas.

[@RedClaw87]

Since creating the Quadlands for you, I thought about the plane they fit in and am going to building a set around. Here is what I have so far: One of the main mechanics of the set will be meld. The plane has a natural affiliation to fusion and so combining creatures becomes a constant and important thing, that defines the five Regions of the plane. So the four colored cards will be mostly the result of the meld, but maybe it will have a few naturally four colored cards. (Depends on the ideas I have.) 1st Region: Wilds of Anarchia (UBRG) There is no governing body in this Region. "Might makes right!" You will also find almost no structures build in this area, but many ruins. Everyone is at war with everyone else and the biggest group of people supporting each other you'll find here are family units at best. Everybody uses the skills he has to his advantage to survive against the other struggling for control. They desperately desire control without ever being able to achieve it. You*'ll find the biggest and toughest monsters in this region. Due to this no other Region was able to extend his domain into this region, but on the flip side the constant fight amongst each other keeps them from expanding outward as well. The current strongest characters in this region are the Dragon Siblings (yet to be named). The Dimir colored male sibling resides in a castle he build using mana and working slaves to death. He is the only permanent resident of this castle as his paranoia of a usurper won't allow any lasting society being established her. The Gruul colored female sibling roams the region taking what she wants when she wants. Here brothers castle is a constant thorn in her eye as it is a symbol of his power and she wants to tear it down, proving to be the stronger one. Her brother also tries to get rid of her since she is the biggest threat he sees in this world to him. On occasion the natural flow of the plane - usually when Anarchia comes under attack from another region - the clash between the sibling results in them fusing together to become an elder dragon thwarting any attempt at invading Anarchia before the mana flow fades and the fusion is broken again. 2nd Region: Wilds of Artificia (UBRW) This regions main inhabitants are humans, dwarfs and demons. Each of those races have their own societal group, which is technically allied with the others. In recent history the humans grew weak to a point, that today most of them live as slaves under the dwarfs and demons though. Despite the outwardly civil demeanor of both groups, this region is defined by intrigue and political backstabbing. To further their claims to power the natural resources of this region are exploited drastically to be used in manufactorums to build all types of machinery to help them gain an edge. The current leader of the Dwarfs is the (yet unamed) esper aligned High Chancellor. He rose to power through creating a personal honor guard of constructs for himself securing his position and his life. The Demons are lead by a (yet unamed) Demonlord going by the title of Baron. He secured his power by obtaining an ancient artifact with immense magical power. 3rd Region: Wilds of Barbaros (BRGW) Goblins, Orcs, Minotaurs, Centaurs and Humans roam the Wilds of Barbaros. They group together in Clan Tribes with the strongest amongst them leading each Tribe. At the centre of their culture are the fighting pits. A traditional ritualistic arena to test the strength and determine the strongest amongst them. At any point in time one of the clans can call for the Clan Combat. It's the traditional tournament to determin the strongest of all the Clans, who will become the Head Chieftain of all the tribes. To win in this tournament the opponent has to surrender or be killed. Currrent head chieftain is a (yet unamed) Centaur, who is Naya aligned. He defeated a Jund aligned Orc Chieftain of a different Clan in the finals of the last tournament. During the final match of the tournament they head to fend of a giant Bullwyrm, who interrupted the tournament. The mana set free by the ritualistic combat resulted in the temporary fusion of the two combatants, who in turn killed the Bullwyrm, which in of itself was a fused creation. (There will be none legendary meld cards.) Overall these tribes are barbaric and their understanding of technology is almost none existent. The Goblins were barely able to obtain a method of smithing by the means of using vulcaninc Lava. And all their traditions are passed in an oral tradition since they aren't able to write or read. 4th Region: Wilds of Dismaltria (URGW) The existence in Dismaltria is very miserable. Plagues and diseases are common amongst the Elves and humans living in this lands. Those circumstances lead them to develop a plethora of medicines and poison. But don'*t expect any compassion from your comrades. Once you aren't useful to them anymore and you have come down to an illness you'll be tossed aside like a broken tool. Trying to escape the depression of the constant struggle is a worthless effort. Sooner or later everyone succumbs to it. Therefor ending your own life is common place. So the mortality rate among the elf population is rather high despite their naturally eternal life, because to them it just means eternal torment. To fight the depression a famous (yet unamed) elf shaman (Esper aligned) has developed a potion to numb every emotion. Due to this he is the oldest living creature on the whole plane. 5th region: Wilds of Tranquilium A peaceful place on the plane, that hasn't seen any conflict amongst themselves ... ever. This is also the home of the smartest people of the plane. Buttheir minds are fickle and they get bored easily. While being able to produce greatness it also never happened since they got bored and moved on to different projects. They cultivate fields, precure the arts and tend to waste the day. They can fight, if their is need be to defend against outside forces, but would rather avoid everything else, that's costing to much effort. They are ruled over by a council of wise wizardkings, who barely leave their ivory tower. The lack of ambition infuriates and confuses the inhabitants of all other regions. So they'*re are often constipated, that every attempt of them claiming part of Tranquilium as their own has been defeated in battle.

[@CunningLingu1st]

We will watch your career with great interest.

[@CianDelano]

These are absolutely amazing... I love all the designs you came up with and hate how it sparked an idea for the "How" this happened as I don't have the focus to write it all... ... the reason these planes are like this? An experiment started long ago... by a Planeswalker before the first Mending... hidden in each plane in a... Massively powerful artifact... that draws in all mana of a certain color into it... locking it out from the rest of the plane. It isn't that the mana has never been present... but after the Mending, the planes were left for centuries without access to one source of mana as the original planeswalker got stuck, unable to travel between them again to end his experiment... possibly stuck as the Allfather of the supposedly idealic plane... -shrug- brain just went off, your series are always deeply enjoyable =D

[@rafaelvarela1024]

Very cool video. I tried this exercise myself years ago, kind of got to a greenless world and a whiteless world, and hit a wall. Really imaginative stuff!

[@jackchaplin3794]

Great stuff, I followed your instructions to the dominant colour video. You mentioned in that, that maybe you would do a video looking at what would happen when the 4 minor colours team up to fight the dominant colour of those planes. And I love to see how you mix that concept with this video. Maybe the dominant and missing planes collide? But I wanna see how you would create 2 factions for each plane, one with a dominant colour vs one where that colour is totally void and how they battle.

[@noestusallowed5203]

I would fkin love a 4-color themed set like this. The idea is just incredible.

[@gabrieljoseozanan6989]

Campaign idea: One of the 'Colorful Vilains' finds their way to one of the planes lacking their own color and starts causing havok.

[@Trockenmatt]

This idea is fascinating, but I agree that a single set to establish all 5 of these would be ... unwise, to say the least. Instead: imagine if you will a block of 5 minisets, one for each of these planes. Then, have a 6th set that only has a few new cards (but mostly reprints) as your "Conflux" set of sorts, and the fact there are all these wildly different mechanics within one set could be a selling point in and of itself.

[@admiralcasperr]

One part I'd disagree with is Aethex, where, despite lacking nature to replenish the organic rescources, minerals would be plenty. The rock beneath each inhabitant is basically ore read to be harvested. It would turn into a sort of Esper situation, aside from the inhabitants themselves which would either mutate like seen on pre-Phyrexia Mirrodin or be metallic/rocky lifeforms themselves.

[@masterlightningpanda8665]

Ive been trying to wrap my head around trying to build some 4 mana commanders without making it a "keyword soup" like you said in your last video, and this video kinda helped me with that. Amazing work man, keep it up!

[@clickpause8732]

I feel like Luminesca would be a plane with very little ambition. People don't have vast personal goals or even small ones, and so most individuals are slightly, in their own ways, aimlessly discontent. Perhaps this is what Red is in this plane, some kind of impulsive aggressive acts like fight clubs without monetary stakes or daredevils leaping from great heights, desperate to fill the void of ambition and personal conflict that is at the heart of humanity.

[@TheLangenator]

Luminesca could also be a world without death. There is no ending to anyone's story, so they have no ambition. Artificers would still invent, and Painters would still make art, but there's no drive to be the best and compete because there is no finish line. An immortal world that feels even more dead.

[@tristandukes5548]

I think your no blue plane lacks a certain horror that a lack of Blue represents. Blue isn't just progress and light switches, it's our ability to make sense of the world, so a world without it is beyond defening. There are no rules you can trust, no why. One moment you could be living life, the next you could be tossed into eternal torment, just because. No way to avoid it, no way to understand it, just because

[@TheLangenator]

Everyone is basically uneducated cavemen and shamans living in mud huts solely because "it works fine as it is, so why bother improving"

[@lichttod]

I find it important that there is someone/something that embodies those missing aspect. While yes, you can see what happens to the individual colors, you don't see how that realm as a whole would be with something resembeling all colors that are there.

[@Atmatan]

Ffffffff i love this video. We need to make these sets now, complete with lore stories.

[@TheRealMurKziLLa]

I hope someone from WOTC watches this episode and turns it from thought experiment to reality.

[@PaulGaither]

I know this is a lore channel and game play really isn't the topic, but if you might permit me to say, I like how at least two of the 4-Color commanders were created. Breya is Esper + Red, rather than trying to force Grixis + White or whatever. Red has a lot of cards which positively deal with artifacts. It isn't simply Orzhov + Izzet. Similarly, I like Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis as the "sans-black" commander. Similar to my previous example, we kind of have Bant + Red, as opposed to Naya + blue or whatever. When done well, 4-color cards are more than just the absence of a color (to me) and can be what a Shard might look like with a fourth color added.

[@Shoyro]

I could see a set that would also have Colorless as a replacement for a four color plane. They would have like Black-Colorless combinations for example. Basically, the colors lore wise are reliant on the colorless that replaces the missing color to keep a fragile balance. The colorless cards can't be that strong by itself, as with the colors. They could function with the established colors, but the best abilities of the cards require the "diamond" colorless mana to activate. I can imagine these being a plane that was razed by the Eldrazi, but it survived by the Titans being drawn to Zendikar before this plane was consumed entirely. This fractures the plane into five different planes that each have a color missing. Unlike Alara, these "chips" still remember that they used to be part of a singular plane, but details were lost to time. The Omenpaths eventually connects each Chip to each other, and each shared their confusion over the traits one Chip had and not found on another.

[@slayerofthebuzz1]

Thumbnail led me to believe this was a video about blue being broken. Was pleasantly surprised. Maybe we'll get fantastic planes like this to explore after Rick Grimes and Optimus Prime finally hunt down The One Ring on Ravnica and take it to Jurassic Park so Mr. House can meld it to a T-Rex using Necron technology that Sephiroth and Ezio Auditore recovered from the Undercity. Oh, and cowboys too we gotta wait for after the cowboy set.

[@MajraMangetsu]

Also the planes names would be SOOOOO easier to recall, I wish your idea existed just for that resaon alone.

[@viniciuscatais8126]

Can't stop getting back to this video

[@DiceTry]

Well you're in luck, I'm dropping a follow up to this one tomorrow. In that one we will start to discuss the factions of these worlds.

[@clickpause8732]

In terms of four colour cards from this set, you could have five four colour planeswalkers, perhaps planeswalker commanders, that parallel the existing quintet(s) of mono-colour planeswalkers. Maybe even avatars of each realm to complement the set's design and serve as "leaders" of each plane.

[@helline9]

Luminesca sounds awesome :) Planeswalkers from each of these planes would be interesting! Being paragons of their homeworld and being completely deigned being shaped by a colour would make for some interesting stories and character development.

[@za_chrome]

Something I find interesting about your 5 planes, is that by lacking one aspect of mana, they amplify the 'enemy' / opposite mana. As if they're not 4 mana planes, but 1-2 greater mana, and 2-3 lesser mana

[@snowboundwhale6860]

You mentioned how the absence of a colour is interesting for how it warps the colour pie in these 4 colour settings, and I think that's really the strongest way to handle such a place. The enemy and ally colour relationships are such an impactful part of colour philosophies, and with one colour removed you'd also lose those "overlapping areas". Red and White work together despite being chaos and order respectively because they both share the capacity to care about others/ something other than themselves. Would a Red that has never known White, but which does know Black's selfishness still have that capacity? If Blue didn't have White's structure and communities to shelter and share it's research, how far would it's advancements ever get? It'd be stranded, people working and advancing as individuals or small groups rarely sharing intel with others, a bunch of people "reinventing the wheel" thinking they're the first to make it.

[@keegansantoroski9042]

I'd love to see a short series where planeswalkers from Dominaria get stuck in one of these planes for a while. I also really like the black manaless plane is really cool.

[@denisdionigidelgrande7961]

imagine Chandra visiting Mythoria

[@justlittleoldme4589]

I think an alternate way to create factions for those planes is to make them three colored , with the main focus of the enemies of the missing colors. So for example , draconium , enemies of white are red and black , so the warrior and artificer factions could be red-black-green and red-black-blue

[@ANitschkeProduction]

I'm a very white aligned planeswalker. So the nonblack plane looked the most ideal to me. When you talked about the nonred plane, i was sad. There wouldn't be any self expression. I'm an artist and that's how i express my emotions the best. Even those red is low on my colors, i wouldn't want to take it out entirely.

[@BloodwyrmWildheart]

"Self excretion"?! I think you mean self-expression, unless everyone on that plane is constipated.🤣