Allied color

Allied colors are two adjacent colors of the color pie:, , , , and. A deck may be ally-colored if it uses any of the aforementioned color pairs as its main colors (e.g., Fires). A multicolored card may require mana from both allied colors in order to play it (e.g., Meddling Mage), or it may use hybrid mana of allied colors (e.g., Wild Cantor).

Allied colors tend to naturally complement each other, but tend to share a blind spot.

Sets centered around ally colors are Invasion, Shadowmoor, half of Ravnica's guilds, and Dragons of Tarkir. Shard sets like those in Alara block and Planeshift also have a bias towards ally colors.

Control magic
White and blue is a combination that is very controlling in nature. As such, white/blue uses many counterspells (e.g., Absorb, Overrule), inhibiting enchantments (e.g., Plumes of Peace, Curse of Chains, Teferi's Moat), and cards that protect the player's battlefield (e.g., Cloud Cover, Grand Arbiter Augustin IV</c>, Reparations</c>).

Flying and defensive creatures
White and blue creatures often have flying or some other form of evasion. Some well known creatures include Pride of the Clouds</c>, Isperia the Inscrutable</c>, Iridescent Angel</c>, Plumeveil</c>, and Windreaver</c>. White and blue also offer many great defensive creatures, such as Plumeveil, Wall of Denial</c>, and Ith, High Arcanist</c>.

Multicolored examples
These multicolored cards best exemplify the strengths of these two colors:
 * Angelic Shield</c> — White's defensive nature and blue's ability to bounce creatures
 * Deft Duelist</c> — Efficiently combines evergreen mechanics common in white (first strike) and blue (shroud) onto one creature
 * Palliation Accord</c> — White's damage prevention ability and blue's ability to tap creatures
 * Spectral Shield</c> — White's defensive nature and blue's shroud ability
 * Wings of Hope</c> — White's defensive nature and the two color's flying ability

Removal
Blue and black are both known for their removal effects; blue is very good at "bounce" effects (Boomerang</c>) while black is very good at targeted creature destruction (Doom Blade</c>, <c>Terror</c>). Many blue and black instants focus on dealing with one creature at a time very effectively (e.g., <c>Agony Warp</c>, <c>Deny Reality</c>, <c>Essence Vortex</c>).

Manipulation
Not only is blue/black very manipulative flavor-wise, but multiple cards exhibit this pair's tendency to manipulate opponents and take advantage of their cards. Blue/black has access to many counterspells (e.g., <c>Perplex</c>, <c>Countersquall</c>, <c>Undermine</c>) and card advantage (e.g., <c>Dire Undercurrents</c>, <c>Lim-Dûl's Vault</c>).

Mill effects
"Milling", or the process of putting cards from a library into a graveyard, is one of blue/black's strongest suits. Powerful mill effects include <c>Mind Funeral</c>, <c>Glimpse the Unthinkable</c>, <c>Nemesis of Reason</c>, and <c>Oona, Queen of the Fae</c>. This mechanic is usually associated with the Dimir guild, as many iconic milling cards came from sets featuring the guild.

Evasive creatures
<c>Shadowmage Infiltrator</c>, <c>Dimir Infiltrator</c>, and <c>Ghastlord of Fugue</c> are all very hard to deal with in combat. In addition to being evasive, a handful of creatures copy other creatures. <c>Dimir Doppelganger</c>, <c>Evil Twin</c>, and <c>Cemetery Puca</c> are all powerful cloning effects.

Multicolored examples
These multicolored cards best exemplify the strengths of these two colors:
 * <c>Recoil</c> — Black's discard ability combined with blue's ability to bounce permanents
 * <c>Sleeper's Robe</c> — Black's fear ability combined with blue's card drawing ability
 * <c>Blizzard Specter</c> — Black's ability to disrupt a player's hand and blue's ability to bounce permanents

Self-sacrifice
Black and red cards often require the player to sacrifice a resource, usually cards in hand or life, for powerful effects. The Cult of Rakdos from Ravnica block took advantage of self-sacrifice with the keyword Hellbent. <c>Ashenmoor Gouger</c>, <c>Avatar of Discord</c>, <c>Army Ants</c>, <c>Anthem of Rakdos</c>, and <c>Lyzolda, the Blood Witch</c> all exemplify this trait.

Aggression
Black and red is a very aggressive combination. It has access to some of the best removal and most punishing cards in Magic. <c>Bituminous Blast</c>, <c>Terminate</c>, <c>Rain of Gore</c>, <c>Everlasting Torment</c>, and <c>Demigod of Revenge</c> severely punish opponents.

Multicolored examples
These multicolored cards best exemplify the strengths of these two colors:
 * <c>Blightning</c> — Black's discard ability combined with red's direct damage
 * <c>Sarkhan the Mad</c> — Black's "greatness at any cost" combined with red's direct damage
 * <c>Malfegor</c> — High-powered dragon combined with red and black's tandem field wipe
 * <c>Deathbringer Thoctar</c> — Red's growth and damage dealing capabilities teamed up with black's death motif

Acceleration
Green and red make for a very fast deck. They are especially good at building up mana quickly to unleash large creatures. Such acceleration includes <c>Exploding Borders</c>, <c>Frenzied Tilling</c>, and <c>Wild Cantor</c>. Both green and red are particularly good at accelerating on their own, too.

Aggressive creatures
Creatures in red and green are known for their speed and brutality. Many creatures boast trample (e.g., <c>Blitz Hellion</c>, <c>Borborygmos</c>, <c>Deus of Calamity</c>, <c>Giant Solifuge</c>) or haste (e.g., <c>Bloodbraid Elf</c>, <c>Boggart Ram-Gang</c>, <c>Rip-Clan Crasher</c>, <c>Raging Kavu</c>), allowing them to deal damage quickly and through blockers. Red and green also use creatures with high power-to-mana ratios, such as <c>Rumbling Slum</c>, <c>Tattermunge Maniac</c>, and <c>Streetbreaker Wurm</c>. Some red and green creatures also aim to disrupt control strategies (e.g., <c>Spellbreaker Behemoth</c>, <c>Vexing Shusher</c>, <c>Burning-Tree Shaman</c>).

Removal
Red and green are particularly effective at destroying artifacts (e.g., <c>Hull Breach</c>, <c>Artifact Mutation</c>, <c>Vithian Renegades</c>). Green complements red in its answers to enchantments, of which red has almost none. Land destruction and board sweeping is also a forte for red and green.

Direct damage
These two colors are great at dealing with flying creatures (<c>Branching Bolt</c>, <c>Deadshot Minotaur</c>) as well as sweeping the board (<c>Firespout</c>).

Multicolored examples
These multicolored cards best exemplify the strengths of these two colors:
 * <c>Hull Breach</c> — Seamlessly combines red's artifact destruction and green's enchantment hate
 * <c>Horned Kavu</c> — Combines the two colors' love for cheap, mid-sized creatures
 * <c>Decimate</c> — Clearly demonstrates the colors' ability to deal with permanents of many types in an efficient way

Green/white
Green and white exemplify all things of peace and nature.

Efficient creatures
These allied colors have the most efficient small creatures. Green and white have produced some the best creatures pound-for-pound in the game. Incredibly efficient creatures include: <c>Knight of the Reliquary</c>, <c>Kitchen Finks</c>, <c>Watchwolf</c>, <c>Loxodon Hierarch</c>, <c>Mycoid Shepherd</c>, and <c>Steward of Valeron</c>. Green and white also have very good ways to tutor creatures, e.g., <c>Eladamri's Call</c>, <c>Congregation at Dawn</c>, and <c>Altar of Bone</c>.

Token generation
White and green are the colors where generation of creature tokens is the most common and efficient. Examples of this include <c>Call of the Conclave</c>, <c>Trostani's Summoner</c>, and <c>Rhys the Redeemed</c>. The two keywords of the Selesnya guild, convoke and populate, both deal with token generation.

Artifacts and enchantments
Strangely enough, green and white simultaneously love and hate artifacts and enchantments. They use some of the best removal (e.g., <c>Aura Shards</c>, <c>Aura Mutation</c>, <c>Harmonic Sliver</c>, <c>Qasali Pridemage</c>) and best ways of abusing enchantments (e.g., <c>Sterling Grove</c>, <c>Femeref Enchantress</c>, <c>Privileged Position</c>).

"Pump" effects
Green and white are great at boosting power and toughness, or "pumping", creatures. Notable pumps are <c>Armadillo Cloak</c>, <c>Behemoth Sledge</c>, <c>Knight of New Alara</c>, <c>Sigil Blessing</c>, and <c>Wilt-Leaf Liege</c>. These boosts are crucial to maintaining board presence in the late game, where creatures with power 3 or less normally aren't very relevant.

Life gain
Green and white are very good at gaining life. Powerful life gain effects can be seen on <c>Vitalizing Cascade</c>, <c>Heroes' Reunion</c>, <c>Captured Sunlight</c>, and <c>Dawnglow Infusion</c>.

Multicolored examples
These multicolored cards best exemplify the strengths of these two colors:
 * <c>Heroes' Reunion</c> — combines the two colors' life gaining abilities into a very efficient card
 * <c>Aura Shards</c> — one of the most powerful artifact and enchantment hate cards in the game
 * <c>Autochthon Wurm</c> — green's large power and toughness combined with white's benefit of producing many creatures