Artifact Classic Understanding color identity

Primer

There are four colors in Artifact: Red, Green, Blue and Black.

They are commonly referred as R, G, U and B respectively.

Each card (with the exception of Items) has a color.

You must play 5 heroes in a deck. There is no restriction on the color composition.

A card can only be played if a hero of matching color is on the active lane.

Each color has an identity, they have strengths and weaknesses.

Each color is not balanced by numbers, but what and how the color perform as a whole.

Below is a carefully crafted chart on what each color is good at.

Do not feel overwhelmed. Continue reading for detailed explanation.

Red

Red is the color of the Bold.

Red loves direct combat. They use their superior bodies to bully and overwhelm their opponents.

They focus on keeping their units big and scary, and oppositions staying weak and puny. They thrive on early game because of their innate stats, an advantage that will allow them to inch towards victory. However, they have little means of retaliation outside of building their elite few.

Red's playstyle commonly revolves around adapting to enemy presence and pushing the appropriate buttons to ensure they are eliminated within as few combat phases as possible.

Spill: Cleave

"When blocked during the combat phase, in addition to battle damage to the blocking unit, also deal the Cleave damage to that unit's neighbors."

Red loves to fight unit vs unit. They often don't have much reach, but stand within one and you will feel the pain.

Blocking

"The unit's current combat target that isn't a tower."

Red benefits for standing directly in front of their targets. Many have modifiers when they deal battle damage to their target, and certain powerful spells become usable.

Device: Armor

"Armor reduces each incoming damage source by that amount."

Many red units have armor. When their armor exceeds incoming damage, they take no damage. This allows them to firmly stand their ground for extended time, sometimes with little external support.

Debuff: Offense

"When an effect modifies another card it applies a permanent debuff to the target. Heroes retain modifiers through death."

Red ensures that they are huge in comparison, and wearing their adversaries down is a valid strategy. They can apply debuffs such as reduced Attack or Armor via spells or battle damage.

Modify: Heroes

"When an effect modifies another card it applies a permanent buff to the target. Heroes retain modifiers through death."

The motto of Red. Most of their cards either give their heroes permanent increases, or temporary boosts to overcome even the harshest punishment.

Removal: Improvements

Improvements are persistent assets that are unreachable by units. Red is the only one who has the ability to remove them.

Weakness: SupportRed is selfish and stubborn. While they ensure they are strong and tall, they have little influence at areas that are outside their reach, this includes dealing with other lanes, and lanes swarming with units.

Black

Black is the color of the Cunning.

Black is concentrated and efficient, wasting no more than needed to finish the job.

Their focus lies within precision and aggression. Their targets are few, but are hit fast and hard. They assume victory by selectively depriving and delaying their opponents' strategic key assets. Offense is the best defense. However, they have very specific game plans and have trouble competing should their plan foil.

Black's playstyle commonly revolves around aggressively eliminating important assets that might get in their way before the opponent can make use full of.

Spill: Siege

"When blocked during the combat phase, in addition to battle damage to the blocking unit, also deal the Siege damage to the enemy tower."

The objective of the game is to take down the towers. The tower is a target Black can paint.

Bounty

"Gold is a resource used to purchase items between rounds."

Money can buy power. Either via investments or snowballing aggression (gold is awarded for kills), Black may use the amassed gold to purchase tools to empower their primary game plan.

Device: Mobility

"Move or attack between lanes and combat positions."

Units and damage are assets to be moved around the battlefield, ensuring everything is where they should be for maximum, undiminished output.

Control: Single

"Mark a unit for death."

Damage is a resource that should be aimed at targets that needed to go the most. Black makes it happen either by instant damage, or redirect boosted battle damage.

Disrupt: Mana

"Mana is a resource used to play non-item cards."

Black can go uninterrupted for more turns by siphoning or reducing opponent's mana pool.

Removal: Target

None rivals Black when it comes to wanting something dead.

Weakness: DefenseBlack is a glass cannon, and relies on offense to protect themselves. Should they find themselves in unfavorable grounds with no suitable resource to spend, they tend to go down quick.

Green

Green is the color of the Dreamer.

Green endures and outlasts their enemies through undying perseverance.

Their forte is keeping stuff alive. If units stay on the field, reinforcement eventually comes, and their numbers begin to pile and spiral out of control. However, they are often powerless until the combat phase.

Green's playstyle commonly revolves around passively tending to their side of the board, protecting and working towards favorable combat phases, their army soon grows too huge to be dealt with.

Mana: Ramp

"Mana is a resource used to play non-item cards. Each round, towers refresh their mana and increase the amount by 1."

Green wants to accelerate their growth. They have tools to increase mana beyond current capacity, allowing them to introduce bigger threats sooner than others.

Heals

"The unit heals during the combat phase. Regeneration is applied before checking for death."

Green excels at keeping as many allies alive as possible by keeping their health above 0 through any necessary means.

Zoo: Growth

"Persistent units grow in both size and number."

Green's units are capable of growing on their own, as long they are kept alive.

Debuff: Defense

"Avoid unfavorable conflicts, or make unfavorable conflicts favorable."

Green prefers not to have their units die, they may prevent their opponent from engaging, either by reducing their attack, disarm, or moving them out of the way.

Modify: Creeps

"When an effect modifies another card it applies a permanent buff to the target. Heroes retain modifiers through death."

It is not just numbers, Green ensures that even their weakest unit can stand on their own, with tools that either affect entire lanes, or select units that buffs their neighbors.

Removal: Modification

Green can remove both temporary and permanent positive/negative enchantments placed on either side. Green wants all the advantage they can get.

Weakness: InitiativeGreen is fair and self-absorbed, and have little ways to influence their opponent's board until the combat phase, allowing the other player to execute with little to no interruption.

Blue

Blue is the color of the Wise.

Blue is the premier spellcaster. They command powerful spells that can turn the tide of battles.

They have plethora of utility at their fingertips. With the correct cards at the correct time, the opposition could be annihilated with just a single move; they can even work towards future advantages while facing an empty board. However, Blue units are squishy and tend to be pushed around before their powerful spells become available.

Blue's playstyle commonly revolves around manipulating the battlefield and unleashing their wrath when on the most opportunistic moment.

Mana: Refresh

"Mana is a resource used to play non-item cards. Each round, towers refresh their mana and increase the amount by 1."

Blue has many powerful cards to play, they have ways of refilling their mana so they can play more cards than others.

Draw

"This allows me to draw two more cards from my deck!"

Blue, by far, has the most amount of spells that draw cards, sometimes in addition of a minor effect (cantrip). This allows them to find their trump card sooner.

Zoo: Token

"Create a unit and immediately put it into a random empty combat position."

While they are masters of ravaging entire armies, Blue is also capable of making theirs at a pace faster than most.

Control: Area

"A stunned unit is silenced and disarmed."

Blue has many ways of stopping their attackers on their tracks, ranging from disallowing them to use cards, attacking or even eliminated without lifting a finger.

Disrupt: Lock

"Cards cannot be played as long as they are locked. Lock is applied for a duration in rounds. At the end of a round, all locked cards lose 1 Lock."

To ensure that Blue is the only one with surprises, they can lock their opponents cards and render them unplayable until it is too late.

Removal: Board

Blue is unparalleled when it comes to smiting entire oppositions and reclaiming lead.

Weakness: SustainBlue is expensive, although they have powerful cards are explosive that will surely leave a mark, their resources do not generate lasting value that stays beyond the turn they are cast, and their units' weak stats are of no help, either.

Mixing Colors

While it is possible to have any color combination in a deck, take precaution on these restrictions:

There must be 5 heroes in each deck.

Cards can only be played when hero of matching color is on the active lane.

Minimum of 40 non-item cards in a deck.

Why play more than one color?Playing more than one color allow them to utilize traits from the other color while also possibly covering each's weaknesses. More color means more perks, but they will be spread thin as each color will no longer be able to be present on every lane, thus restricting card play.

Ratio and compositionThe common advice is to have 8:1 card to hero ratio for each color, but adjust accordingly base on playtesting. Heroes who can stay on the field more frequently might be able to afford better ratio.

For example, take a Red/Green (RG) deck, with 3 red heroes and 2 green heroes. The color ratio would be 24 red cards and 16 green cards, for a start.Having only one hero of a color is called 'splash'. Be careful, your opponent might take advantage of this and continuously kill that hero to deny the color before any card can be played.

Sample multi-color archetypes G/U - Green's ramp in conjunction with Blue's refresh for excess mana.

R/B - Black's precision to redirect Red's powerful bodies in the right direction.

R/G - Red's armor and Green's heal for a very resilient lineup.

U/B - Blue's constant draw to replenish Black's relentlessness.

R/U - Red to protect Blue until their powerful spells become ready to use.

R/B/G - Green's ramp to allow Red/Black to play their powerful cards sooner.

Nothing is exclusiveEach color has exceptions, some that might borrow traits from another color for whatever reason unknown to us. For example, (Black) Tinker's March of the Machines is an AoE damage improvement that would easily fit Blue otherwise.

ItemsItems are available to every color and they tend to allow decks with limited colors to patch one or two weakness without introducing another color to the deck.

Final Words

Now that you understand what each color is capable of, the best way to learn more is to actually play the game. Please go to your Library right now, launch Artifact and let the theorycrafting begin.

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Changelog 28th January 2019 Adjusted wording on Black and Green's core identity. 4th February 2019 Added link to my second Artifact guide. 8th February 2019 Added link to my third Artifact guide. 25th February 2019 Added link to my fourth Artifact guide.

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Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1630132756

Understanding color identity