The working title of this piece is "Too Much of a Good Thing?". I mention that because sometimes Ferrett changes my working titles, usually for the better, when he posts them. (Not this time, though - The Ferrett)

So I tried my hand at an analysis of Invasion's green cards and had a lot of fun doing it. Will my analysis be correct? Probably not... most of these early looks are notoriously off (Cursed Scroll was identified in early evaluations as a hopelessly unplayable card), but they can be entertaining. James Grimmett is right; even if a card isn't that great right now, it could be awesome combined with some, as yet, unreleased card. It happens all the time.

But there wasn't something that I didn't think about until just before the prerelease. That was the number of multicolor-dependent cards in the set.

Now don't send me hate mail accusing me of hating multicolor decks. Nothing could be further from the truth. Through most of the Masques block I have been looking at multicolor mana sources with the idea of trying to put together the next great G5C deck. I also adore splashing a color so that I can pull tricks out of an apparently monocolored deck that will catch my opponent off guard. And lately I've been playing around with G/U decks, just 'cause I find it entertaining to do so.

Multicolor decks seem to be a natural for Magic to me. Each color has its strengths and weaknesses. Each color has allied colors that, surprise, has strengths that are paired nicely with the weaknesses of the allied color. As I understand it this was intentionally designed into the game so that multicolor decks would be common.

That should establish me as a fan of multicolored decks. Is that clear? I LIKE MULTICOLOR DECKS.

We all know that Invasion is the set that was to bring back multicolor decks. And I think that this is a good thing. But I am wondering if Invasion might not be TOO much of a good thing.

Let's look just at the 330 cards in the set that are not basic lands. According to Chris Stead, there are 66 gold cards and ten multiple-color mana generators of some sort among these 330 cards. This is about 23% of the non-basic land cards in Invasion. Less than one-fourth of a set devoted to multicolor seems reasonable to me. I think that this makes multicolor decks attractive and when five of the lands are the new tap-lands, it makes multicolor highly playable, even ignoring the gold cards.

Those counts, however, do not include all of the green cards that include R or W mana in the kicker or activated ability costs. Same for red, white, black, and blue cards that include allied color mana in their activated ability or kicker costs. This also doesn't count any non-land cards that generate multicolor mana, or any other card that is only playable in a two, or more, color deck. I don't claim to have actually counted the number of cards in this category, but my impression is that it amounts to about one-half of the set.

So why should I be bothered by roughly fifty percent of Invasion being devoted to multicolor decks? Well, as much as I like being able to play multicolor decks, I don't like being FORCED to play multicolor decks. Despite the weaknesses inherent in a single color deck, I like having the option of playing a monocolored deck.

With so many cards in Invasion only being useful in multicolor decks, I have to wonder if Invasion isn't destined to kill the monocolored deck. If I play a W Invasion block deck, will I need to include G and U mana sources to pay kicker and/or activated ability costs? Will I have a choice?

So that's why I ask if maybe Invasion isn't just too much of a good thing. Sure, anyone who has ever wanted to play a multicolored deck now has lots of good cards to choose from to support that desire. But are there enough choices to build a decent monocolor deck with Invasion cards? Is there a future in the Invasion block/Standard for White Weenie or Green Stompy decks? Will the monocolored deck be one of those historical oddities that we old guys tell the youngsters about until the Invasion block rotates out of Standard in 2002? Will Invasion block constructed be a strictly multicolor affair, or will monocolor decks have a place?

No, I don't know what the future holds for monocolor deck strategies. Yes, I could be worrying prematurely. The second and third installments of the Invasion block might have less of the multicolor deck cards than Invasion. And, of course, as long as Masques block is in Standard there will be plenty of monocolor cards to choose from.

But I am worrying.

Why?

Because my observation of WotC is that they tend to overreact. When players were calling for more speed in the game, WotC responded with Tempest and Urza's blocks where games that lasted more than five or six turns were an anomaly and games where you played with yourself became all too common. (During IA and Mirage blocks, a deck that won in fewer than five or six turns required a "God draw" and usually a mana-screwed opponent. "Going off" on turn three was unimaginable.) They added too much speed to the game.

With no gold cards out there for two blocks, players have understandably been asking for good multicolor cards for a while now. But is the large number of them in Invasion yet another overreaction by WotC R&D?

Like I said, I don't actually know whether Invasion is too much of a good thing or not. I do know that the answer will start becoming clear with the release of the next expansion in February. I know that in two years, when Invasion rotates out of Standard, we will know for certain if this mass of multicolor-oriented cards was a rejuvenation of a missing element... or an overreaction that hurt the game.

But, for now, I will worry. And hope I worry needlessly.

Michael Granaas
Michael has a financial interest in the product discussed in this article.