Concerns over Unnecessary Colors

Hey mark. Y’all in R&D infamously “avoid doing two-colour creatures which could be done in a single color”, like a creature with flying and vigilance, for example. I am not rehashing that argument, because I fully understand why the answer to that question is GB (although since vigilance is allowed in blue now that means that the UB option that was wrong at the time now is also a correct answer). That said, I do have some qualms with the premise of that question. We see multicolored cards that don’t need all their colors CONSTANTLY. Just in Thunder Junction, we got:- Wylie duke, which can be in white or green, and doesn’t need to be both- Vraska joins up, which can be done in mono green and doesn’t need black- Selvala, which can be done in mono green and doesn’t need white- Seraphic steed, which can be done in mono white and doesn’t need green- Rakdos joins up, which could be done in mono black and doesn’t need red- Miriam, which could be done in mono green and doesn’t need white- Marchesa, who can be done in blue or black, and doesn’t need to be both, and DEFINITELY doesn’t need red- Lilah, who could be done in red or blue and doesn’t need to be both- Jasper flint, who can be done in Black or red and doesn’t need to be both- Jem, who could be done in mono blue and doesn’t need white- Form a posse, which could be done in red or white and doesn’t need to be both- Breeches, who can be done in mono red and doesn’t need blue- At knifepoint, which could be done in mono red and doesn’t need black- Obeka, which could be dimir or izzet and doesn’t need to be grixis- Vihaan, who could be done in boros and doesn’t need black- Kirri, which could be in mono green, and doesn’t need red or white- Yuma, which could be done in mono green (and maybe mono red?) but definitely doesn’t need white- Olivia, which could be boros or rakdos and doesn’t need to be mardu- Pest control, which could be mono white and doesn’t need blackI don’t really know what I’m asking, but I just wanted to bring up that unnecessary colors appear on multicolored spells VERY frequently; and I wanted to know if you have any thoughts about this.

That’s why I say “we try” and not “we always do”. When a multicolor card doesn’t have abilities of two colors, we’ll tag it in the Council of Colors pass, and the lead designer will see if hey can find an elegant solution. It’s not a mandatory thing though, as it’s hard to do without making cards extra wordy and clunky. Again, that’s why I say “we try” to do it as it’s something we do when we can, but often don’t do.

At Knifepoint Black Blue Boros (R/W) Colors Council of colors Creatures Dimir (U/B) Flying Form a Posse Game Design Green Grixis Grixis (U/B/R) Head Designer Izzet (U/R) Mardu (R/W/B) Pest Pest Control Rakdos (B/R) Rakdos Joins Up Red Seraphic Steed Spells Vigilance Vraska Joins Up White