Ranking for support colors?

[DirkGently]

They've just spoiled a sweet new commander you want to build. It's main synergy is clearly in one color - you expect 2/3 or more of the cards will be within that color - but it's got one other color that doesn't have any significant synergy and will mostly just be used for support. Which color are you hoping it is?

Been thinking about this a bit for some reason - I think my order would be:

Blue - only color with counterspells, good draw, some decent removal options and tutors
White - best removal colors by a wide margin, targeted and wipes
Black - best tutors, good draw, some decent removal options
...
Green - land ramp, dork ramp, okay draw, creature tutors, artifact and enchantment removal
...
Red - some decent wipes...mostly individual good cards like Dockside, Gamble, Blasty Act, etc.

Honestly I could see any order for blue white and black, they're pretty close together (I think blue on top is correct, but white and black are a toss-up). I feel pretty certain about green being 4th and red being 5th, though, which is interesting because I feel like once upon a time green was widely considered to be the best support color by a wide margin. But I'm not really sure what it brings to the table tbh - I think fixing was widely touted as its strength back in the early days, but any deck can trivially fix itself given a decent manabase so that doesn't even merit a mention imo. And land ramp is more robust than artifact ramp, but it's also usually more expensive so land ramp isn't automatically better (and dork ramp is cheaper than artifact ramp, but even less robust, so it all kinda exists on a continuum with none being markedly better than the others for the most part).

What do y'all think?

[Mookie]

I would generally say white > blue > black > green > red. The stuff I look for from colors acting as support, in order:

• White - board wipes, artifact / enchantment / creature spot removal. None of these things are unique to white, but the fact that you can get all of them from a single color without needing more is quite nice.
• Blue - countermagic, card draw. Counterspells are the real draw here, since no other color really has a good suite for stack interaction. That makes blue an excellent support color for control decks. Blue has the best card draw, but it's not really unique - every color has access to card draw these days (or just use artifacts).
• Black - creature removal, card draw, reanimation. Black's toolbox generally feels narrower than white, but more efficient.
• Green - ramp, artifact / enchantment removal. Green's artifact / enchantment removal is arguably better than white's, but it lacks mass and creature removal. It has the best ramp, but that isn't necessary unless you're doing a ramp deck (in which case green is likely the primary color) - for other decks, mana rocks are generally sufficient.
• Red - artifact removal, some board wipes. I think red provides very little as a support color, and is generally outclassed by white.

I'll note that every color has standout powerful cards - Dockside Extortionist, Smothering Tithe, Cyclonic Rift, etc. However, one or two cards don't really make much of a difference in the 99, so I would focus more on the broad themes the colors provide that may be contributing 10+ cards.

[PrimevalCommander]

I want my support color to be GREEN. My favorite magic color, and tied for most powerful color in commander. Ramp, Draw, Tutor, with other colors picking up the removal. I also like playing creatures, lots of them... and lands!

But more seriously here is probably what I would go with.

Primary Green splash Black for removal and recursion
Primary Black, splash Green for ramp, beef, and Life from the Loam, maybe Survival of the Fittest
Primary Blue, splash Black or White depending on the synergy.
Primary White splash Blue or Green depending on the synergy.
Primary Red splash Blue for counters and card draw. Lets be honest, it takes some dedication to make a 2 color deck that is mostly red.

Red is a fine enough support color if I like the commander, but in general I still think it is the weakest support color and always has the lowest color density in any multicolor deck with red included. My 3 color decks with red are typically 15% or less of non-land cards being red. This leaves about 42% for each of the other two colors, which shows the disparity between them.

[TheGildedGoose]

It depends, right? Since each color has a different niche, they complement the other colors in different ways. For example, white has the best removal for sure, but black isn't too terribly far behind, so white tends to make an okay support color for black, but otherwise white is an excellent support color for other primary colors. Conversely, green pairs poorly with red, because red sucks.

If I had to choose an objective ranking, it would be this:



Blue is the strongest color in EDH and gives you countermagic, top tier card draw, mid tier spot removal, a generally diverse toolkit outside of that, and a smattering of random broken cards. As a support color, black is extremely strong primarily because of the efficient tutors and a diverse toolkit. White gives you removal, green gives you ramp, and red gives you Dockside Extortionist.

EDIT: Though it's a tangent, I would argue that mana rocks are better at fixing than green ramp, particularly now that we have enemy Talismans and Arcane Signet.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

I don't think you can really evaluate colors in a vacuum without the context of why you'd want them in the first place.

For example, if I'm playing combo (e.g. Storm, etc) I prefer to have UBR because those colors support spellslinging, tutors, and mana rituals. If I'm playing aggro, I prefer to have GWR for good creature support and haste access. If I'm playing control I usually want UWB for the best answers.

Granted, all the colors can do every archetype, it's just some do certain things more efficiently and with fewer hoops. And I %$#% hate jumping through hoops.

[PrimevalCommander]

Everyone putting at 4th place is wrong *according to my objective analysis* Artifact ramp is too fragile and just asking for you to get Austere Commanded into oblivion. Green ramp is the most reliable form of ramp since land destruction is shadow banned from commander thanks to the social construct round it. Green card draw has been bolstered significantly with a slew of various draw options from large hand refills (usually reliant on having creatures in play), to efficient draw engines (also usually reliant on casting or making creatures). Despite needing creatures to get green draw churning, everyone knows combat damage is the only socially acceptable form of win condition, so you will be playing minimum 30 creatures in your green decks . Greens finishers (creatures) are excellent, efficient, plentiful. Green is weak at creature removal, so in the context of multicolor, this weakness will be lessened by whatever color it is paired with. Also land Shenanigans are hard to interact with and give inevitability in the late game. Hello Field of the Dead + Life from the Loam.

I'm only half kidding, but I like green enough to put it tied with second place with black since either one is very good support color. White having the most premium removal has been watered down by all the other great removal that every other color has been getting. Whites draw is weak compared to U, B, and G. Solid wipes can be had in every other color but green. At least enough wipes for the 3-4 I am likely to run. No decks of mine run more than 5, so I don't need a deep pool of white board wipes to be happy. I can always fall back to All is Dust and Oblivion Stone. Teferi's Protection is a card though.

My ranking: >=>>>>>

[Moxnix]

I think black is the best splash color by nature of the fact so many cards with a single black symbol are high impact like tutors will etc. Green I don't like to splash I feel like when I go green I'm goign bodies I'm playing lots of dorks I cant think of many decks I've just splashed it in. Red has some excellent high power splash cards too like wheel dockside red yawgwin etc so its not bad splash support either but I like it more as a color number 3 very light splash. White Has some good control splash staples like swords and disenchant and wipes to support colors that don't have those effects. Blue is just the best color period it has more depth than any of the others and is a clear one. I put green in last not because its bad its great i just rarely run green decks with low green count cards i want to be able to pitch force of vigor if I'm in green not just play 5-6 cards.

[PrimevalCommander]

I put green in last not because its bad its great i just rarely run green decks with low green count cards

I will concede that when I play green, it is never a splash color. So in that particular instance I can see arguments for green not being the best choice. When I play green, it is a defining trait of the deck to play green. Though the same is typical of blue also. I don't every find myself splash blue because of what it brings to the deck. Lots of blue's best cards are , which requires a bit more commitment to the color.

My buddy runs a "mono red" Xenagos, God of Revels Dragon deck with maybe 5 green cards, but that is a restriction he purposefully placed on the deck for flavor.

[Moxnix]

I have a hard time not goign ham on blue too but I have had decks where I splashed blue and it felt really good. Even if the best cards are UU lots of not quite as good 1U cards with similar effects that are still hard to find outside of blue. Like you though if I'm in green I'm GREEN.

[NZB2323]

I don't know if blue is the best. If you're playing an aggro deck you may not want to be holding up mana for counterspells. Also, a lot of the free counterspells in blue are hard to play if it's a splash color, like force of will and force of negation. kindred discovery is pretty great for tribal strategies though.

Green is a really great splash color if you're playing a lot of colors, but if you're just splashing green for a second color I'm not sure how great the ramping is. Beast whisperer is great for a creature strategy.

I can only speak to the decks that I have:

Morophon, the Boundless. Technically this guy is all 5 colors but because of budget and Kavu themes, I've made him gruul. Since it's a combo deck you could argue black for tutors or blue for counterspells/draw. Since the combo is a creature combo I feel like green has enough tutors, so it's probably blue.

Éowyn, Shieldmaiden. This one is really tough.

Green:

• Kyler, Sigardian Emissary
• Aragorn, the Uniter
• Katilda, Dawnhart Prime
• Sigarda, Font of Blessings
• Sigarda, Champion of Light
• Torens, Fist of the Angels
• Heronblade Elite
• Champion of Lambholt
• Avacyn's Pilgrim
• Noble Hierarch
• Sigarda, Heron's Grace

Black:

• Dark Confidant
• Opposition Angent
• Jirina Kudro
• General Kudro of Drannith
• Jirinia, Dauntless General
• General's Enforcer
• Species Specialist
• Zulaport Cutthroat
• Xarthrid Necromancer
• Judith, the Scourge Diva

I'd probably go black for the low mana curve.

Legolas, Counter of Kills. Definitely black. The deck is based on removing my opponent's creatures.

Tymna the Weaver/Ravos, Soultender. Definitely green. Both commanders create card draw, and the deck could always use more mana/ramp.

Neheb, the Worthy. With blue, it doesn't make sense to play counterspells in a deck where I'm making myself discard. White would make it Chicago Bulls colors, and both white and green provide enchantment removal, but green also provides nice ramp. I'm not sure what the deck would get with white. It already can play board wipes in Rakdos. Green probably has more GY interaction than white. Wait, just realized, it's blue because of wheels.

Edric, Spymaster of Trest. I'm guessing that black has more creatures that cost 1 mana that have evasion than red or white, so I'm going with black.

Edgar Markov. Probably blue for Kindred Discovery.

Kaalia of the Vast. Green gives me ramp. Blue gives me counterspells, but Kaalia can cheat angels into play where they can't be countered. I like turn 2 ramp for a turn 3 Kaalia.

Ghen, Arcanum Weaver. Cheating Omniscience into play and drawing cards with Rhystic Study and Mystic Remora is better than anything green can offer, plus wheels.

Captain Sisay. Black. Searching for fun black legends would be fun.

Nymris, Oona's Trickster. Probably green for ramp and cards like Nature's Lore, Return to Nature, and Noxious Revival.

Sarulf, Realm Eater. Probably blue because the deck is a draw-go deck.

Niv-Mizzet, Parun. Black for tutors or green for ramp? Green creature tutors can also find Tandem Lookout, so probably green.

Winota, Joiner of Forces. The deck is all about creatures cheating out more creatures, so green. Also turn 2 ramp for turn 3 Winota sounds good.

Sidisi, Brood Tyrant. Neither? BUG is the best colors anyway. I guess with white the deck could play Varina, Lich Queen, Nevinyrral, Urborg Tyrant, Wayward Servant, Corpse Knight, Ratadrabik of Urborg, and God-Eternal Oketra.

Final count: 5451. But you could make an argument for green for human tribal.

So yeah, I guess it's green. Noxious Revival, Boseiju, Who Endures, Nature's Claim, Return to Nature, Farseek, Three Visits, Nature's Lore, Sakura-Tribe Elder, and Rampant Growth are good in every deck. If your deck is based on creatures, green is the best color for creatures. If you want to tutor for creatures, green is the best. If you want protection you have Heroic Intervention and Veil of Summer.

After changing Neheb, the Worthy from green to blue, now it's a tie. And I feel like black has an argument with Demonic Tutor and Black Market Connections. But I'd still say green for most decks.

Out of the 100 most played cards on EDHREC, 23 of them are mono green, 14 are mono blue, 8 are mono white, 6 are mono red, and 5 are mono black.

If you want to play counterspells and draw a lot of cards and play cyclonic rift then just make blue your primary color.