Gold cards are nothing new for MTG, even if we have never been graced with an all-gold expansion before.  The ‘gimmick’ of Alara remains the use of tri-colored cards more so than simply gold cards.  Those tri-colored ’shards’ of the Alara spectrum have given us many of the best cards in the set.  However, like the idea of gold cards, tri-colored cards are nothing new.  In fact some examples of tri-color power popped up as early as 1994 with the infamous Legends expansion.  Being that my earliest playing days were not long after Legends, I have had the pleasure of playing with and against some of the more interesting and fun tri-colors in MTG history.

possibly my favorite card ever

My very first dual colored deck was an ill-conceived swampwalk/counter deck that revolved around Sol’Kanar the Swamp King.  Not a great deck, mainly because I wasn’t too sure about how to balance my mana sources.  A major issue being the lack of any dual lands, and only one Castle Sengir.  If and when I did manage to succeed in dropping my opponent to zero life it was rarely due to Sol’Kanar.  Poor mana fixing would routinely make me pay six or even seven mana for my centerpiece.  By that time the game was already decided.  This had nothing to do with Sol’Kanar as a card, more it was my own poor planning and even poorer collection that led to his obsolescence.  (Ed note: If I were to make an ‘Elder Dragon Highlander’ deck it would most certainly revolve around Sol’Kanar.)  Legends included many monsterous tri-colored creatures, including some of the most famous cards ever printed.  Sol’Kanar is still my favorite and his legacy lives on through Grixis.

the best tri-colored card outside alara?

Not long after Legends, WotC released another block with multiple tri-colored cards.  The Ice Age/Alliances set brought one of the most abusable tri-colored cards ever played.  Merieke Ri Berit is not only hard to pronounce, but hard to stop once any number of combinations get going.  Not only can she be used to steal creatures, if she is untapped or otherwise removed the targeted creatures is destroyed.  Fantastic!  Originally I played her in a blue deck that splashed white/black and used Twiddle to repeat her ability, killing my opponent’s creatures with each use.  These days, with cards like Turn to Mist, Mistmeadow Witch, and Vedalken Mastermind I could turn her into an assassin! Like Sol’Kanar before her Merieke was returned from obscurity as a ‘Timeshifted’ card in Time Spiral.

Speaking of Time Spiral the block released its own set of Dragon Legends, inspired by the Invasion block Dragons.  Those had been inspired by the original Legends.  A major issue with the Time Spiral/Planar Chaos dragons is that they do not fall into any ’shard’ tri-color scheme.  The second major issue, a problem that encompasses all these dragons, relates to the abilities activated after you do combat damage to a player.   Maybe I am missing something, but if you’re already hitting opponents with a 6/6 flyer do you really need to pile on?  You know what, I don’t care.  Because my initial reaction is all Timmy: “Dragons!?  Hell yeah!”  Needless to say, I have found a home for these creatures in my casual decks.  Teneb the Harvester fits nicely with another tri-color nasty.  One from a more recent set.

or is this?

Sometimes there are cards that force me to change.  To play outside my comfort zone.  This experience was exemplified by Doran, the Siege Tower.   Describing the abilities of this guy, and his uses in every format, would be folly.  We all know by now, after all Doran was the most famous creature in Lorwyn/Morningtide.  However, that Doran caused me to break my own strictly held policy of no tribal decks (especially three color tribal decks) .  Maybe it’s my rebellious side, but I don’t feel too special playing with a deck WotC made for me. (My biggest problem with recent sets, but that is another article entirely.)  Well, now I have a treefolk deck, and a giant deck, and toyed with kithkin and elf decks.  All of this was due to my initial reaction to Doran and his inspiring power.

It seems through MTG history, at least up until Alara, that cards with three colors had been reserved for creatures of legendary power.  One of the rare examples of tri-colored non-creature cards are the Planeshift charms.  Even these are obviously based on the dragon’s of their namesake.  Maybe that is my point.  Before now I always felt tri-colored cards were cool.  Something that would pop up every few sets.  An excuse to drool over some new and enticing creature.  Sure nothing about Doran is black, just as nothing about Sol’Kanar is blue, but the point is they were unique.  After 2009 it may be a long time before we look at any gold card as special again.  I for one think that is a shame.

Like this article? Try these:

1. Alara Reborn is Golden – Reactions and Analysis
2. Alara Reborn Predictions (Post-Spoiler Retrospective)
3. Why you gotta (color) hate?
4. Alara Reborn – Predictions and Conjectures
5. What’s in a Gimmick?