Four-color · Color Identity
Witch-Maw / Growth (WUBG): The Four-Color Identity Without Red
White, blue, black and green is every color except red: ramp, draw, tutors, removal, protection and recursion in one identity. It is also the home of Atraxa, the most-built commander in Magic.
Witch-Maw is white, blue, black and green, the four-color identity. Everything except red: counters, proliferate, and the strongest four-color deck in the format.
Also called WUBG, Growth, No red, Non-Red.
Where the Name Comes From
Witch-Maw Nephilim, from Guildpact (2006); "Growth" from the Commander 2016 deck.
Witch-Maw Nephilim is one of the five four-color creatures Guildpact printed in 2006 and, like all of them, is not legendary, so it cannot lead a deck in the identity it gave a name to. For ten years those five cards were the only four-color cards in Magic.
Commander 2016 changed that and named this identity Growth, after a deck fronted by Atraxa, Praetors' Voice. Atraxa went on to become one of the most-built commanders in the history of the format, for a reason that is half mechanical and half practical: proliferate is an enormously flexible ability, and the card is a 4/4 with flying, vigilance, deathtouch and lifelink for four mana, which is a fine body in any deck regardless of theme.
All 32 color combinations and where each name came from →How Witch-Maw Plays
This is the strongest four-color identity, and it is not particularly close. Green ramps, blue draws, black tutors and recurs, white removes and protects: every resource the format rewards, with the only omission being red's rituals and burn. A WUBG deck has an answer to almost everything and a way to find it.
The signature archetype is +1/+1 counters and proliferate, which Atraxa exists to enable. Proliferate is deceptively wide: it adds to +1/+1 counters, planeswalker loyalty, poison counters, experience counters and the counters on charge-based artifacts, so a single card advances four different plans at once. Superfriends, a deck of planeswalkers, is this identity's other classic build for exactly that reason.
The costs are mana and speed. Four colors without red means the ramp is entirely green's, so the deck is fast in absolute terms and slow to actually deal damage, and the mana base is expensive. It also has no way to burn out a player from an empty board, which means a Witch-Maw deck that has stalled genuinely needs its board to do the work.
What It Does Well, and What It Doesn't
Strengths
- Every resource the format rewards except rituals: ramp, draw, tutors, removal, protection, recursion.
- The deepest counters and proliferate support in Magic, which scales across several card types at once.
- The best superfriends shell, since planeswalkers need protection and this identity has all of it.
- Complete permanent removal, including the exile effects and board wipes red-based identities lack.
Weaknesses
- No red means no rituals, no impulse draw and no artifact removal outside green's and white's.
- No reach at all: every point of damage has to come off the battlefield.
- A four-color mana base that is expensive and, without red's treasure, slower to assemble.
- Slow to close, so a deck built on incremental advantage can be outpaced by a faster table.
Best Witch-Maw Commanders
The command zones that define the identity rather than the ones winning this week: the pips beside each name are its color identity, which is what it lets you play in the other 99.
Commander Spotlight
Atraxa, Praetors' Voice ↗
Flying, vigilance, deathtouch and lifelink for four mana, and proliferate at the end of every turn. It is the Commander 2016 face commander for this identity and one of the most-built commanders in the format.
Thrasios, Triton Hero ↗
Partner. Paired with Tymna it makes this identity, and it is the most-played partner in competitive Commander: an infinite mana outlet on a two-mana body.
Tymna the Weaver ↗
Partner. Draws a card for each opponent you damaged this turn, at the cost of life. The other half of the format's most famous partner pair.
Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix ↗
Partner. Taps for mana equal to the cards drawn this turn, which turns a draw-heavy deck into a ritual.
Reyhan, Last of the Abzan ↗
Partner. Moves its +1/+1 counters on death, which fits the identity's counters theme better than anything else in the command zone.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the WUBG color combination called?
Witch-Maw, after Witch-Maw Nephilim from Guildpact (2006), or Growth, after the Commander 2016 deck fronted by Atraxa, Praetors' Voice. Most players say "no red", and quite a lot of players just say "Atraxa colors". All of them mean white-blue-black-green.
Why is Atraxa so popular?
Because it is a great card before it is a theme. A 4/4 flier with vigilance, deathtouch and lifelink for four mana is a strong body in any deck, and proliferate advances +1/+1 counters, planeswalker loyalty, poison, experience counters and charge counters all at once, so almost any strategy in these four colors finds a use for it. It also leads the strongest four-color identity, which does not hurt.
What is a superfriends deck?
A deck built around planeswalkers, using their loyalty abilities as repeatable card advantage and removal. It needs two things (protection so the planeswalkers survive being attacked, and a way to add loyalty), and this identity has the best version of both. Proliferate is the reason superfriends and Atraxa are so often the same deck.
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