Having access to colorless group hug staples will really help because they will slot into any deck no matter what color your building. Colorless has a lot to offer group hug, from card draw to ramp, as well as free or discounted permanents (sometimes with strings attached) there is even a political board wipe. Let’s take a look at a few of the colorless staples for group hug.

  First up let’s take a look at card draw. Always keep in mind that colorless has a hard time selectively helping players in group hug. Most of the effects are symmetrical so all players will get the benefits. This can make games over quickly if one player at the table has a deck that is more powerful or if someone’s deck benefits from card draw more than average, such as an aggro deck or a control deck. Horn of greed for instance turbocharges Landfall decks so keep this in mind before playing it if your meta is heavy in that type of deck…

Or you know what, try it and enjoy the show!

  There are some very interesting ways to ramp in colorless and again most of these are symmetrical so they help the whole table.

Ghirapur Orrery allows players to play an extra land per turn and is very good because unlike the card draw artifacts, this helps you the turn you play it.

Helm of Awakening isn’t technically ramp but it makes all spells one colorless cheaper.

Coveted Jewel is a very fun card that feels a lot like the Monarch mechanic but turbocharged. A repeatable Black Lotus that allows you to draw three cards when you gain control of it is a big prize! It’s best to play it, use it once and then standby and let the table fight it out over it! It really adds excitement to the table!

Extraplanar Lens and Gauntlet of Power both allow you to ramp a specific color which can sometimes be very relevant if there is a player that you are specifically trying to help, or not help as the case may be.

Rainbow Vale is color fixing and ramp for the whole table but requires some finesse to play. It is a good idea to have a talk about the function before playing it. The player who taps it gets to choose which opponent gains control of it so its a great card for testing to see how open to deals players at the table are. Just make sure you include yourself in the deal before you play Rainbow Vale!

  Everyone likes things that are free!

Gate to the Aether is a very exciting chaotic card that can really get out of control. These are the type of effects that some players despise so keep that in mind if you are in a new meta. Another thing to note is the wording “put into play'“ gets around counterspells but also skips cast triggers.

Assault Suit is one of my favorite Magic cards! It’s so sneaky and really speaks to my sneaky Timmy soul. If a game is going long equipping a Blightsteel Colossus or a Kozilek with an Assault Suit isn’t exactly a group hug move buuuuuuut…

  Board wipe and group hug are not usually two ideas that fit together. I play Magic by the rules of improv, which means that I always say “Yes, and!” In other words unless someone is trying to kill my creatures or prevent me from drawing cards I usually don’t mess with what they are doing. But sometimes the game will just be over without a board wipe and the table as whole (minus the one problem player) just wants to reset the board state. Coercive Portal is great too because in the meantime you get to draw cards off of it. There is usually one player headed for archenemy status that will always vote for Homage and all you have to do is vote Homage yourself and you will at least tie the vote and draw the card. I find these voting cards to be great ways to bring political play to the table! Just be aware that if you make people vote on more than a few things each round it will become a bit tedious.

That was just a brief snapshot of the colorless cards that I think of as staples! If you have any to suggest feel free to reach out to me on twitter! I’d love to chat about Magic any time!

-marksquare