Each era of Magic the Gathering can be defined by a color.  The mid-nineties were full of competitive decks built around Black cards like Necropotence and Dark Ritual.  The late-nineties saw similar success with Red decks focused on playing lethal Fireblasts as quickly as possible.  The pendulum is always swinging between colors at WotC, and it has swung as far in one direction now as it ever has.  White has become the most powerful single color in MTG and the field isn't even close.  One look at the poll ending this article and we see Magic 2010's impact on white.  M10 is the current core set, and the most lop-sided example, but the story of White dominance is seeded further back.  Perhaps even to Lorwyn.

When Lorwyn introduced planeswalkers two of them immediately caught everyone's eye.  Garruk Wildspeaker and Ajani Goldmane.  Garruk because as a stand alone he was clearly the best.  But Ajani caused an entirely different stir.  By the end of the Lorwyn cycle Ajani / Spectral Procession / Windbrisk Heights decks were everywhere.  WotC had basically drawn a map to the next great tournament deck and asked us all to follow along.   That was only the beginning.  Towards the release of Shards of Alara few people would agree that white was the dominant color.  Enter Elspeth, Knight-Errant.

Pro Tour veteran and WotC lead developer Mike Turian once said, "there is always going to be the best card in Magic."  Best in this case meaning a combination most sought after, valuable and useful.  For years it was Tarmogoyf, then Reflecting Pool.  Now it was Elspeth.  This meant a few things.  First, the most sought after card in Magic was White and looked to stay that way.  Second, in an impartial ranking of all ten planeswalkers based on popularity and effectiveness white would now likely place two in the top four.  Before any planeswalker with black or red and maybe even blue anywhere in the casting cost.

The one card, Baneslayer Angel, that looms close to competing for that top spot in 2009 also happens to be white.  Without context the best creature Magic has ever produced.  Even if one argued that Tarmogoyf is still valued more than Baneslayer it is a fact white has given us the most desired card in consecutive sets.  Perhaps it was a superfluous twist of fate that these two cards so caught the attention of the average duelist.  Perhaps another card from M10 will eventually trump Baneslayer in both usefulness and interest.  But neither are likely.  And let's not focus solely on the very tip of the iceberg.  Instead we should plunge down to greater depths where the lurking mass of white's rule awaits.

During the Alara expansions White produced the best planeswalker, the best removal card (Path to Exile), the best enchantment (Sigil of the Empty Throne), the best anti-combo card (Ethersworn Canonist), the best defender (Wall of Reverence), the best anti-planeswalker card (Oblivion Ring), and a freaking counterspell (Lapse of Certainty).  Exalted, one of the two best new abilities from Alara, is almost entirely white.  Of course it is tough to accurately rate colors within a set containing so many mutli-color cards.  How do we judge cards like Blightning?  As both red and black, and still no color appears quite as dominant as white.  The color was already becoming peerless within the wheel and then M10 stepped in to complete the process.

Magic 2010 leaned so far towards white that many casual gamers were almost baffled.  The poll referenced above gives an example of the reaction to seeing this new core set.  The cream of the crop has been referenced but not completely detailed.  A popular MTG internet card seller has six M10 cards selling at more than $10.  Four of them are white: Baneslayer, Ajani, Honor of the Pure, and Silence.  Most of the chase cards in M10 are white, so what?  Again it doesn't stop there.  The uncommons are flooded with former rares like Righteousness and Elite Vanguard (replacing Savannah Lions).  In fact white has the best creature drops at one, two, four, five and six mana.  Only a specialized sideboard card (Great Sable Stag) prevents the clean sweep.

Even the tweaks that came with M10 helped white an inordinate amount.  As mentioned above some cards that were once considered rare were now uncommon making them much easier to get.  And making room for newer and better rares.  White had three such cards, EV, Righteousness, and Serra Angel.  No other color had more than one.  In addition cards like Soul Warden and Stormfront Pegasus were downgraded to common after years as uncommon.  (Ed note: Soul Warden was originally released as a common, and Mistral Charger was uncommon in Dissension.) Fog re-replacing Holy Day was a moment for green, but then WotC gave white a replacement: Safe Passage.  A fog effect on HGH.  Along with the previously mentioned Lapse of Certainty this is an assertion from white that anything they can do it can do better.

Not everything has been roses for the new power color.  Changes to the wording of Lifelink during the infamous M10 rules changes hurt quite a few white cards.   Not nearly as much as red and black were damaged by changes in combat and the stack.  The rules changes barely brushed White as they wisped by to wreak havoc on other colors.  The other pox white has been forced to suffer during these bright days is the lack of competitive mass removal.  The absence of Wrath of God has made a serious impact on the Standard format meta-game.  However with unmatched creature production and buffing why would white want to clear the board anyway?  Besides, white still has the market corned with Hallowed Burial and Martial Coup.  With both Damnation and Evacuation out of Standard for the foreseeable future players are left with only one option anyway.

Admittedly the future is blury for white's reign.  Lorwyn/Shadowmoor rotating out will leave some massive holes to fill including the best one-drop ever (Figure of Destiny) and the best token creator ever (Spectral Procession).  Those losses do not make up for the massive boost from M10, but they do make a difference.  Especially in competitive level play.  Knocking out the Lorwyn/Shadowmoor block is Zendikar, a new set about which little is known.  What is known however, are the planeswalkers.  In an unprecedented move WotC has chosen not to include a mono-white walker in the Zendikar expansion.  Will this herald the rise of another color in our near future?  One that is able to contend in quality and quantity with White.  Maybe and maybe not.  Time will tell.  One thing we do know: that is the future and this is the present.  Like it or not, this is white's era and we are simply living in it.