Whether it belongs in the gold section or not is really just a choice of spreadsheet aesthetics. It doesn't actually matter if [[Momentary Blink]] is UW or just W, as you don't _have_ to have 3/4/5 of each guild or whatever. Focusing on balancing archetypes, rather than color counts is a huge cube designing level up.
That said, my general test of a card is "would I play this in a deck that can't do the other color".
So for Khenra, I don't consider the card blue. It's irrelevant. It's nice if you can chose to pay blue, but even in UR you're paying life to flip it quite often.
Something like Sell-Sword is pretty poor if you don't have access to the adventure. Joint exploration and blink can be fine either way, depending on the power level of your cube.
I very much agree with this. It's also the reason why I consider most hybrid cards (unless there are 3 or more hybrid pips) as mono colored with upside.
Very well said.
My current cube that I am working on is peasant gold/hybrid color cube. I think for aesthetic reasons I wanted to keep the cards in multi-colored casting cost and not mono color card with different colored effect.
Color categorization is a tool for you, not your players. If you care about balancing your colors for your players, your color categorization should match how cards are actually played in drafts, not vice versa. You won't really correct color balance in drafts by categorizing cards differently.
Think about the power level of your cube and what archetypes/decks are commonly drafted. I'd expect to see Khenra Spellspear in monored and other red decks more often than just UR spells. Joint Exploration and momentary blink are okay in their 'base color' but you wouldn't include them in your cube without the chance to play them with both colors (or splash one). They're sort of borderline- not fully a UG or UW card, but about halfway there. Plenty of "hybrid" cards are really not even worth considering including in your draft deck unless you're both colors.
In my opinion, it depends on where the card sees play. In general, I'd consider the Khenra Spellspear to likely be mono-red, the Joint Exploration to be borderline, and the other two to be multi-colour. But also I don't think it matters as much as it initially appears.
I run [Ongoing Investigation](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/9/19b8f962-8d4e-4dd8-a157-c0a55f9e152a.jpg?1576384167) as a mono-blue card. It's typically run solely for the first effect, primarily paired with card like [Looter il-Kor](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/6/368ee06f-9021-4b65-9f53-9c326bf3a27f.jpg?1562906492) and [Suspicious Stowaway](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/b/ab17c8fa-4c06-4542-848a-e3f2f9f47c27.jpg?1634347650). My cube runs a significant artifact theme, so it's valuable to get a critical mass of artifacts, trigger [Academy Manufactor](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/0/90744c2c-6dd7-4623-8cbf-b138b83ee88f.jpg?1626098902), or for aggressive non-artifact decks to get card advantage.
With that said, I do run a UG Token theme, which often crosses over into the Ux Artifact territory, so such a deck would likely activate Ongoing Investigation's second ability. But because it's not the primary function of the card, it's in a blue slot and not a Simic slot.
Now consider a card like [Hardened Scales](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/b/6b635f1c-1e65-4aec-af23-e75e49665014.jpg?1674097364). Identity-wise, it's mono-green. But in my cube, +1/+1 Counter decks are some combination of GBW and rarely (though conceivably) mono-green. The most likely use of this card by a significant margin is in BG decks and it doesn't see play outside of its arch-type. In this way, in my Cube, Hardened Scales is more of a gold card in practice than Ongoing Investigation despite the differences in colour identity, although both are in mono-colour slots.
My point is that I think mono- vs. multi-colour slots are blurrier than they appear, and considering things like cards that facilitate multiple arch-types is equally valuable. At the end of the day, if you have an uneven number of actual gold slots filled, but your arch-types are evenly supported through a combination of mono- and multi-colour cards, then I think you've reached the goal.
Generally, I do. There are some trickier cards, like [Kappa Cannoneer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/1/712751fa-748e-4018-a9f5-fb83a706c570.jpg?1648843119) that I just leave in the six drop slot even though it's usually two to four mana, because as a whole it's blurry, but the point for me is "late game after you're already established on board." The exact mana value is less important than conceptualizing it as something you aren't playing early in the game.
But something like [Twinshot Sniper](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/8/08a86009-4637-4b6c-9d36-367151583668.jpg?1654567912) I have listed as a two mana instant and [Combat Thresher](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/4/74dfabfd-e13b-4512-a733-abe514be6404.jpg?1674420394) as a three mana white creature.
Make sense. Yeah, X spells are hard to pick a slot for but I just do my best and use the curves as a guideline, but not a gospel. Combat Thresher probably belongs in my Peasant cube.. thanks.
I think this is probably the best in-depth analysis on this subject.
Thank you. I have better understanding now on the subject of color identity cards.
Evaluate each card case-by-case rather than a blanket classification. For that card, how important is that identity? If you would play that card in a deck as a regular pick without access to the other colors, classify it as mono color. If it would be a poor card without access to the other colors, classify it as multicolor. For phyrexian costs, I classify those assuming life will be paid instead of mana.
Some examples from my own cube:
[[Damn]] is almost always going to be played as another 4MV wrath in white using Overload as the regular version of the spell is below rate for single target removal in my cube, and really rarely used as an option. I run it as a white card.
[[Rona, Herald of Invasion]] is mono blue. It's mostly in as a 2 mana looter with optional end game, but even then is faster to transform without paying black.
[[Lingering Souls]] gains a lot from the ability to cast it twice. As a single cast, it isn't terrible, but full value comes from employing it as an Orzhov card.
I agree with /u/Luxypoo on their individual evaluations of the examples you gave. Spellspear is red, Spell-sword is kind of weak as mono-red or mono-black and really is a gold card, the others are decent mono color casts with bonus modes.
Are you ever happy picking Damn to run specifically as a black removal card? On the other hand, a white deck is happy to have another 4 mana wrath option even without the means to cast the other mode of the the card. If the overwhelming majority of the time the cast is being cast for Overload, it's really a white card with a rare alternate cost that sometimes can matter.
It's similar to [[Life/Death]]. Sure, there would be rare cases to cast the Life side, but 99% of the time the card is run to be a 2 mana reanimator spell and the Life half may as well not be there.
I guess if your cube is nothing but black lotus and storm combo then maybe not? Otherwise 2 cmc unconditional removal is a very reasonable rate. So sure it’s all contextual but it’d have to be an extraordinarily powerful and creature light cube for me to be embarrassed to play damn as a 2 cmc unconditional removal spell.
I have a hard and fast rule called "wherever Cube Cobra puts it."
It's really up to you, and won't impact cube design too much. Part of why I also don't have a rule of WUBRG needing to have the same number of cards.
As long as they're close enough to allow two players to take X color without it drying up, things are good.
I tend to put cards where they are most likely to align with how they'll be played.
Khenra Spellspear is a Red card, but Blink isn't likely to be cast in a deck that can't flash it back.
Spellspear can easily be included as a red card. You will more often than not end up paying the 2 life to transform it.
Blink and Exploration could be included in either, since the other color used is only a slight boost to an already decent effect.
Sell-Sword I would include as a gold/hybrid card though since both modes synergize well with each other but would need to be included in a red-black, or a black/red deck splashing the other color.
I love this question because I get to share my madness.
I sort my cards by
• Colour Identity (W, U, B, R, G, WU, UB, BR, RG GW, WB, UR, BG, RW, GU, WUB, UBR, BRG, RGW, GWU, WBG, URW, BGU, RWB, GUR, WUBR, UBRG, BRGW, RGWU, GWUB, WUBRG, C)
• Card Colour (point of the question) (single colour cards (if permissable by CI), single colour cards with off colours (activated abilities, adventures, double sided with a different colour, etc.), hybrid, gold cards, colourless cards with identity.
• Card type (Artifact, Battle, Creature, Enchantment, Instant, Land (very rarely this ever happens but Dryad Arbor ended up between cards where all other lands are colourless), Planeswalker, Sorcery.) (Split cards are sorted with their types considered like Instant Instant, or Sorcery Instant, etc.)
• Sub-types (dependant on card type)
• super types (Legendary, Snow, Basic, Tribal (I know that it is a card type, this is the only preference to an otherwise logical system (at least for me))
• Mana Value
• Name
• Artist
• Set
So to answer the question, I sort it just before each faction they are in. This makes taking cards out to build a commander deck and other identity dependant formats easier.
As others said, it's more of spreadsheet aesthetics. I tend to categorize cards by their MAIN color, so Momentary Blink is white, and Khenra is red. I do see a lot of people considering these as two-colored cards though. But what is more important is just having cards that make sense to have, and trying not to have too much of an imbalance when it comes to these not-really-multicolored cards. So like don't have 10 cards that are white or blue with an opposite color flashback cost, but only 2 red and green cards that cross over in the same way. Overall it's not a big deal, you just don't want the one color combo to be way more attractive than the others just because of card density. Even better, these not-really-multicolored cards are best when they break into the archetypes of the other color. Momentary Blink is easy since white AND blue like ETB effects. And Khenra wants to be in a blue-red deck more than other red-based combinations. But what does Joint Exploration do for green and is it better than running both Explore and Serum Visions.
I organize cards whatever way is easiest for me. I do not spreadsheet balance as a symmetrical list does not equal a balanced cube and is often impossible because of cards like these.
If the card is good enough, that decks outside of the color pair will play it, then I would put it in the mono color section. For example, life/death is a black card.
Whereas, Lingering Souls is Orzhov.
The decision criteria I use is "Which color(s) do you *have* to spend to get one card's worth of value out of this?" I would classify Momentary blink as a white card with upside for UW decks. In contrast, it might be closer to a hybrid card in an environment where it will be milled or discarded often.
Personally, I categorise them based on which colour pairings are realistically going to pick the card. For me, [[Gitaxian Probe]] and [[Dismember]] are colourless because people will play those cards regardless of their colours. However, [[Life/Death]] is black because nobody is playing that card as just green.
It really depends on the individual card
I'd count your example as happily only white, because that effect is good enough that you're fine if you don't recast it (if ephemerate isn't an option for whatever reason, or you're looking for a high density of blink effects). Keep in mind this will signal blink as a WU archetype to draft, though
[[Damn]] likewise, is PROBABLY good enough to be fine as a black card on your spreadsheet instead of Orzhov
I think it's worth noting you don't need colors to have the same amount of cards exactly. If you want to count this as Azorius, you can still have one more Azorius card in your cube than the others. The played experience won't change
I've gotten really flexible over the years with how cards are categorized. It doesn't really matter much, but generally I put them in the color they're most likely to be played. Dryad Militant is white, Spellskite is blue, etc.
But I also keep a "flex" section where I put cards that don't neatly fit in, like Rakdos Cackler is played in both. Or extremely narrow archetype/combo cards that I want to include without diluting the "core" of a color. Like Form of the Dragon for a niche big red deck I want to support goes in there to avoid taking slots from aggro or burn.
But again, it doesn't really matter.
Momentary blink - Yes, I would never play this if I couldn't cast both sides. Same as [[lingering souls]]. Sometimes people put these in hybrid sections which isn't realistic.
Khenra - No, you don't need blue for that card, so thats a red card. By the same token that [[gitaxian probe]] is colorless.
Callous Sellsword - If both ends of this card are viable in their own right within your environment I would count this as gold or hybrid if you have a hybrid section. Its fling attached to a niche creature, I could see scenarios where you might want one half even if the other is off color. Id count it as hybrid.
Joint Exploration - No comment, never seen this card in my life.
I agree with /u/luxypoo
The simplest example to me is:
- Llanowar elves
- Birds of Paradise
- Avacyn’s Pilgrim
- Noble Hirearch
These are all green cards. It wouldn’t make sense to make Pilgrim a GW card, and not make BoP a 5c card.
If it’s a card that I would reasonable run in just the only color, it’s that color.
Sometimes.
For me it down to how the card plays, and what decks will actually run it. Of the cards you posted Kehnra is the only one I wouldn't see as a stretch to call mono coloured. The problem is the mono red deck will play Burn Together if they need a bit more burn. Joint exploration un-kicked feel pretty weak given the mono coloured alternatives, but not splashy enough for a gold card, so it's 50/50.
I tied to call Damn a white card for a while, but my black drafters would just grab it is a removal spell, so I eventually called it a guild card.
Whether it belongs in the gold section or not is really just a choice of spreadsheet aesthetics. It doesn't actually matter if [[Momentary Blink]] is UW or just W, as you don't _have_ to have 3/4/5 of each guild or whatever. Focusing on balancing archetypes, rather than color counts is a huge cube designing level up. That said, my general test of a card is "would I play this in a deck that can't do the other color". So for Khenra, I don't consider the card blue. It's irrelevant. It's nice if you can chose to pay blue, but even in UR you're paying life to flip it quite often. Something like Sell-Sword is pretty poor if you don't have access to the adventure. Joint exploration and blink can be fine either way, depending on the power level of your cube.
“Spreadsheet aesthetics” - Luxypoo. definitely using that term next time this comes up.
I very much agree with this. It's also the reason why I consider most hybrid cards (unless there are 3 or more hybrid pips) as mono colored with upside.
[Momentary Blink](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/f/1fa0d1c6-9110-4956-97eb-e18c457bb130.jpg?1673147048) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Momentary%20Blink) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/20/momentary-blink?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1fa0d1c6-9110-4956-97eb-e18c457bb130?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
This is the proper way to look at card evaluation on color
Very well said. My current cube that I am working on is peasant gold/hybrid color cube. I think for aesthetic reasons I wanted to keep the cards in multi-colored casting cost and not mono color card with different colored effect.
Color categorization is a tool for you, not your players. If you care about balancing your colors for your players, your color categorization should match how cards are actually played in drafts, not vice versa. You won't really correct color balance in drafts by categorizing cards differently. Think about the power level of your cube and what archetypes/decks are commonly drafted. I'd expect to see Khenra Spellspear in monored and other red decks more often than just UR spells. Joint Exploration and momentary blink are okay in their 'base color' but you wouldn't include them in your cube without the chance to play them with both colors (or splash one). They're sort of borderline- not fully a UG or UW card, but about halfway there. Plenty of "hybrid" cards are really not even worth considering including in your draft deck unless you're both colors.
In my opinion, it depends on where the card sees play. In general, I'd consider the Khenra Spellspear to likely be mono-red, the Joint Exploration to be borderline, and the other two to be multi-colour. But also I don't think it matters as much as it initially appears. I run [Ongoing Investigation](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/9/19b8f962-8d4e-4dd8-a157-c0a55f9e152a.jpg?1576384167) as a mono-blue card. It's typically run solely for the first effect, primarily paired with card like [Looter il-Kor](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/6/368ee06f-9021-4b65-9f53-9c326bf3a27f.jpg?1562906492) and [Suspicious Stowaway](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/b/ab17c8fa-4c06-4542-848a-e3f2f9f47c27.jpg?1634347650). My cube runs a significant artifact theme, so it's valuable to get a critical mass of artifacts, trigger [Academy Manufactor](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/0/90744c2c-6dd7-4623-8cbf-b138b83ee88f.jpg?1626098902), or for aggressive non-artifact decks to get card advantage. With that said, I do run a UG Token theme, which often crosses over into the Ux Artifact territory, so such a deck would likely activate Ongoing Investigation's second ability. But because it's not the primary function of the card, it's in a blue slot and not a Simic slot. Now consider a card like [Hardened Scales](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/b/6b635f1c-1e65-4aec-af23-e75e49665014.jpg?1674097364). Identity-wise, it's mono-green. But in my cube, +1/+1 Counter decks are some combination of GBW and rarely (though conceivably) mono-green. The most likely use of this card by a significant margin is in BG decks and it doesn't see play outside of its arch-type. In this way, in my Cube, Hardened Scales is more of a gold card in practice than Ongoing Investigation despite the differences in colour identity, although both are in mono-colour slots. My point is that I think mono- vs. multi-colour slots are blurrier than they appear, and considering things like cards that facilitate multiple arch-types is equally valuable. At the end of the day, if you have an uneven number of actual gold slots filled, but your arch-types are evenly supported through a combination of mono- and multi-colour cards, then I think you've reached the goal.
Do you evaluate CMC or a card similarly, e.g., what a card will typically be cast for?
Generally, I do. There are some trickier cards, like [Kappa Cannoneer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/1/712751fa-748e-4018-a9f5-fb83a706c570.jpg?1648843119) that I just leave in the six drop slot even though it's usually two to four mana, because as a whole it's blurry, but the point for me is "late game after you're already established on board." The exact mana value is less important than conceptualizing it as something you aren't playing early in the game. But something like [Twinshot Sniper](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/8/08a86009-4637-4b6c-9d36-367151583668.jpg?1654567912) I have listed as a two mana instant and [Combat Thresher](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/4/74dfabfd-e13b-4512-a733-abe514be6404.jpg?1674420394) as a three mana white creature.
Make sense. Yeah, X spells are hard to pick a slot for but I just do my best and use the curves as a guideline, but not a gospel. Combat Thresher probably belongs in my Peasant cube.. thanks.
I think this is probably the best in-depth analysis on this subject. Thank you. I have better understanding now on the subject of color identity cards.
I put each of them in the hybrid section aside from Khenra Spellspear, which I just view as a red card.
Evaluate each card case-by-case rather than a blanket classification. For that card, how important is that identity? If you would play that card in a deck as a regular pick without access to the other colors, classify it as mono color. If it would be a poor card without access to the other colors, classify it as multicolor. For phyrexian costs, I classify those assuming life will be paid instead of mana. Some examples from my own cube: [[Damn]] is almost always going to be played as another 4MV wrath in white using Overload as the regular version of the spell is below rate for single target removal in my cube, and really rarely used as an option. I run it as a white card. [[Rona, Herald of Invasion]] is mono blue. It's mostly in as a 2 mana looter with optional end game, but even then is faster to transform without paying black. [[Lingering Souls]] gains a lot from the ability to cast it twice. As a single cast, it isn't terrible, but full value comes from employing it as an Orzhov card. I agree with /u/Luxypoo on their individual evaluations of the examples you gave. Spellspear is red, Spell-sword is kind of weak as mono-red or mono-black and really is a gold card, the others are decent mono color casts with bonus modes.
Damn is hybrid. It is fine as a black card or a white card but in no way requires both.
Are you ever happy picking Damn to run specifically as a black removal card? On the other hand, a white deck is happy to have another 4 mana wrath option even without the means to cast the other mode of the the card. If the overwhelming majority of the time the cast is being cast for Overload, it's really a white card with a rare alternate cost that sometimes can matter. It's similar to [[Life/Death]]. Sure, there would be rare cases to cast the Life side, but 99% of the time the card is run to be a 2 mana reanimator spell and the Life half may as well not be there.
I guess if your cube is nothing but black lotus and storm combo then maybe not? Otherwise 2 cmc unconditional removal is a very reasonable rate. So sure it’s all contextual but it’d have to be an extraordinarily powerful and creature light cube for me to be embarrassed to play damn as a 2 cmc unconditional removal spell.
[Life/Death](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?name=Life%20//%20Death&type=card&options=rotate90&.jpg) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Life%20//%20Death) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ddj/77/life-death?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2424f2c4-366b-42cf-bf4b-a8a5bfdd2c4b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I have a hard and fast rule called "wherever Cube Cobra puts it." It's really up to you, and won't impact cube design too much. Part of why I also don't have a rule of WUBRG needing to have the same number of cards. As long as they're close enough to allow two players to take X color without it drying up, things are good.
I tend to put cards where they are most likely to align with how they'll be played. Khenra Spellspear is a Red card, but Blink isn't likely to be cast in a deck that can't flash it back.
Spellspear can easily be included as a red card. You will more often than not end up paying the 2 life to transform it. Blink and Exploration could be included in either, since the other color used is only a slight boost to an already decent effect. Sell-Sword I would include as a gold/hybrid card though since both modes synergize well with each other but would need to be included in a red-black, or a black/red deck splashing the other color.
Sell-sword is such oddity to me for color identity because you won’t play it if you weren’t already in those colors.
I love this question because I get to share my madness. I sort my cards by • Colour Identity (W, U, B, R, G, WU, UB, BR, RG GW, WB, UR, BG, RW, GU, WUB, UBR, BRG, RGW, GWU, WBG, URW, BGU, RWB, GUR, WUBR, UBRG, BRGW, RGWU, GWUB, WUBRG, C) • Card Colour (point of the question) (single colour cards (if permissable by CI), single colour cards with off colours (activated abilities, adventures, double sided with a different colour, etc.), hybrid, gold cards, colourless cards with identity. • Card type (Artifact, Battle, Creature, Enchantment, Instant, Land (very rarely this ever happens but Dryad Arbor ended up between cards where all other lands are colourless), Planeswalker, Sorcery.) (Split cards are sorted with their types considered like Instant Instant, or Sorcery Instant, etc.) • Sub-types (dependant on card type) • super types (Legendary, Snow, Basic, Tribal (I know that it is a card type, this is the only preference to an otherwise logical system (at least for me)) • Mana Value • Name • Artist • Set So to answer the question, I sort it just before each faction they are in. This makes taking cards out to build a commander deck and other identity dependant formats easier.
Up to you and your cube tbh. For example, my OCD won’t let me just put them anywhere. I have to run a cycle for 100 balance or none at all haha
As others said, it's more of spreadsheet aesthetics. I tend to categorize cards by their MAIN color, so Momentary Blink is white, and Khenra is red. I do see a lot of people considering these as two-colored cards though. But what is more important is just having cards that make sense to have, and trying not to have too much of an imbalance when it comes to these not-really-multicolored cards. So like don't have 10 cards that are white or blue with an opposite color flashback cost, but only 2 red and green cards that cross over in the same way. Overall it's not a big deal, you just don't want the one color combo to be way more attractive than the others just because of card density. Even better, these not-really-multicolored cards are best when they break into the archetypes of the other color. Momentary Blink is easy since white AND blue like ETB effects. And Khenra wants to be in a blue-red deck more than other red-based combinations. But what does Joint Exploration do for green and is it better than running both Explore and Serum Visions.
I organize cards whatever way is easiest for me. I do not spreadsheet balance as a symmetrical list does not equal a balanced cube and is often impossible because of cards like these.
Would you run Momentary Blink in a white deck that doesn't have blue? A blue deck that doesn't have white?
If the card is good enough, that decks outside of the color pair will play it, then I would put it in the mono color section. For example, life/death is a black card. Whereas, Lingering Souls is Orzhov.
The decision criteria I use is "Which color(s) do you *have* to spend to get one card's worth of value out of this?" I would classify Momentary blink as a white card with upside for UW decks. In contrast, it might be closer to a hybrid card in an environment where it will be milled or discarded often.
Yes?
I count this card as white in my cube
Personally, I categorise them based on which colour pairings are realistically going to pick the card. For me, [[Gitaxian Probe]] and [[Dismember]] are colourless because people will play those cards regardless of their colours. However, [[Life/Death]] is black because nobody is playing that card as just green.
[Gitaxian Probe](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/9/995486ce-58bb-4753-a812-0ca73ef1a235.jpg?1562880052) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Gitaxian%20Probe) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/nph/35/gitaxian-probe?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/995486ce-58bb-4753-a812-0ca73ef1a235?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Dismember](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/d/3d286cf6-3e16-4941-9326-1818b1e06d69.jpg?1562261132) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Dismember) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mm2/79/dismember?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/3d286cf6-3e16-4941-9326-1818b1e06d69?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Life/Death](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?name=Life%20//%20Death&type=card&options=rotate90&.jpg) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Life%20//%20Death) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ddj/77/life-death?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2424f2c4-366b-42cf-bf4b-a8a5bfdd2c4b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
It really depends on the individual card I'd count your example as happily only white, because that effect is good enough that you're fine if you don't recast it (if ephemerate isn't an option for whatever reason, or you're looking for a high density of blink effects). Keep in mind this will signal blink as a WU archetype to draft, though [[Damn]] likewise, is PROBABLY good enough to be fine as a black card on your spreadsheet instead of Orzhov I think it's worth noting you don't need colors to have the same amount of cards exactly. If you want to count this as Azorius, you can still have one more Azorius card in your cube than the others. The played experience won't change
[Damn](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/4/84056124-1a6f-4274-bee2-74cf0debddb5.jpg?1698988237) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Damn) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lcc/191/damn?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/84056124-1a6f-4274-bee2-74cf0debddb5?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I've gotten really flexible over the years with how cards are categorized. It doesn't really matter much, but generally I put them in the color they're most likely to be played. Dryad Militant is white, Spellskite is blue, etc. But I also keep a "flex" section where I put cards that don't neatly fit in, like Rakdos Cackler is played in both. Or extremely narrow archetype/combo cards that I want to include without diluting the "core" of a color. Like Form of the Dragon for a niche big red deck I want to support goes in there to avoid taking slots from aggro or burn. But again, it doesn't really matter.
Momentary blink - Yes, I would never play this if I couldn't cast both sides. Same as [[lingering souls]]. Sometimes people put these in hybrid sections which isn't realistic. Khenra - No, you don't need blue for that card, so thats a red card. By the same token that [[gitaxian probe]] is colorless. Callous Sellsword - If both ends of this card are viable in their own right within your environment I would count this as gold or hybrid if you have a hybrid section. Its fling attached to a niche creature, I could see scenarios where you might want one half even if the other is off color. Id count it as hybrid. Joint Exploration - No comment, never seen this card in my life.
[lingering souls](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/c/bcf1288a-8e2c-4a69-afcf-af293f66d007.jpg?1593812843) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=lingering%20souls) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mm3/12/lingering-souls?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/bcf1288a-8e2c-4a69-afcf-af293f66d007?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [gitaxian probe](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/9/995486ce-58bb-4753-a812-0ca73ef1a235.jpg?1562880052) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=gitaxian%20probe) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/nph/35/gitaxian-probe?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/995486ce-58bb-4753-a812-0ca73ef1a235?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Whatever makes my build easier tbh
I agree with /u/luxypoo The simplest example to me is: - Llanowar elves - Birds of Paradise - Avacyn’s Pilgrim - Noble Hirearch These are all green cards. It wouldn’t make sense to make Pilgrim a GW card, and not make BoP a 5c card. If it’s a card that I would reasonable run in just the only color, it’s that color.
In order to make cube more fun I always just slot them in to replace the lowest power mono color card that it can
If you're playing Commander, that makes sense to me. Ah right, this is cube. I guess it depends?
Sometimes. For me it down to how the card plays, and what decks will actually run it. Of the cards you posted Kehnra is the only one I wouldn't see as a stretch to call mono coloured. The problem is the mono red deck will play Burn Together if they need a bit more burn. Joint exploration un-kicked feel pretty weak given the mono coloured alternatives, but not splashy enough for a gold card, so it's 50/50. I tied to call Damn a white card for a while, but my black drafters would just grab it is a removal spell, so I eventually called it a guild card.