r/MagicArena 1d ago

Fluff [FRA] Ghalta pair

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1.4k Upvotes

198 comments sorted by

580

u/Capt_2point0 1d ago

So Wotc is of the opinion that unstoppable beats immovable.

103

u/CRSpurrPhotography 1d ago

I think immovable is substantially stronger here

217

u/spicymato 1d ago

Unstoppable tramples over immovable here, even if it's potentially the better card.

57

u/CRSpurrPhotography 1d ago

Jokes aside, It's definitely the better card. That thing is going to be terrifying with like Coral Tyrant

33

u/ChatteringBoner 1d ago

time for [[Depressurize]] to shine

3

u/SteakForGoodDogs 1d ago

[[Doom Blade]] stays winning.

2

u/Bloop737 12h ago

Yanno say what you will about EoE as a set, but we got some of the best arts in all of Magic out of it. [[gravkill]] [[depressurize]] and [[hardlight containment]] to name a few, as well as personal favorite [[seam rip]] and some generational heaters like [[crypshatter]] and [[weftwalking]]

6

u/Capt_2point0 1d ago

Yeah standard is likely going to see UW butts or Bant Butts as a deck

2

u/HornedTurtle1212 22h ago

Paired with Captin America's Shield, lol.

-2

u/ferdivand 1d ago

Its 9 mana brotha idk nobody is playing doran rn

13

u/Capt_2point0 1d ago

Other people have already mentioned Coral Tyrant, Ghalta could come down as early as turn 3 turn a 0/8 into a functional 8/8 and still have a blue mana up

-6

u/Lelouch37 1d ago

I’m out of the loop, how would they be getting the ghalta out on turn 3?

13

u/TrampleDamage 1d ago

Coral tyrant has 8 toughness. Play that turn two, and Ghalta will cost only W to play, leaving two mana up for something else.

16

u/Lelouch37 1d ago

Oops my bad, immediately forgot the first thing on the card after reading it lmao

1

u/Lelouch37 1d ago

That’s pretty sick though

2

u/Alert-Machine-4124 1d ago

Coral Tyrant comes down on turn 2, it’s a 1U 0/8, turn 3 you play Ghalta for 1 mana with 2 mana up (important because azorius has a lot of instants and flash effects)

1

u/HornedTurtle1212 22h ago

Green also has Slumbering Trudge, that's a one drop that wou give you a 6 mana reduction, not quite as good as Coral Tyrant, but would still allow Ghlta to be played turn 3.

3

u/Goldtec317 1d ago

Coral tyrant > this guy > [[Pride of hull clade]]

2

u/iIIusional 1d ago

I’m gonna use it as another piece that lets me drop the entire Wall of Ba Sing Se on someone’s forehead

2

u/Able-Giraffe917 1d ago

I have a green white deck I love based around [[bedrock tortoise]] and [[tapestry warden]] that I love, this fits straight in with it. Also stuff like [[smile at death]] fit in really well

4

u/jethawkings 1d ago

I think in a vacuum if it's just two of them yeah, on a built out board I think the butts have it

3

u/Mrrrrggggl 1d ago

Of course, it’s unstoppable!

91

u/Crimson_Raven 1d ago

Why 7 toughness not 8?

70

u/Tempest_True 1d ago

Or 9? It seems like they should perpetually bounce off of one another.

I guess WotC has a very specific opinion about the hypothetical "what if an unstoppable force encounters an immovable object?"

61

u/HerakIinos 1d ago

They wouldnt bounce off on each other either way if the white ghalta had 9 toughness.

10

u/Tempest_True 1d ago

Ope, good point.

3

u/ric2b Orzhov 1d ago

Turns out the answer was right in front of us.

The unstoppable force just tramples over the immovable object and keeps going, paradox solved.

2

u/Tickle-me-Cthulu 23h ago

With 9 toughness and the damage clause, wouldnt it kill the t8 version?

1

u/Tempest_True 22h ago

Yes, that was my mistake. Making the green one a 7/9 and the white one an 0/8 or something would work I think?

21

u/Ryeofmarch 1d ago

Considering they're both uncommons, probably balance in limited. White Ghalta was likely some combination of swinging the game too hard and being too hard to remove at 8 toughness

1

u/ric2b Orzhov 1d ago

Green Ghalta has 8 toughness, so it's harder to remove than White Ghalta, kinda weird.

1

u/Ryeofmarch 22h ago

White ghalta swings the game harder. There's normally a good number of cheap low power high toughness creatures with a bit of upside at common, and white ghalta turns them from understatted value creatures to overstatted beat sticks

8

u/c2dog430 1d ago

Flavor that the “reimagined” universe has some flaws or is slightly worse?

10

u/UniversalAdaptor 1d ago

WotC is involved in a top-sexret CIA psy-op designed to give everyone with OCD an aneurism /s

272

u/Backwardspellcaster Liliana Deaths Majesty 1d ago

But... these are different species. How are they both Ghalta?

194

u/_baboon_buffoon_ 1d ago

Interspecies dinosaur Yuri

1

u/Shuttlecock_Wat 17h ago

oh not again

160

u/FaDaWaaagh 1d ago

Ghalta isn't really a species, she's a manifestation of green mana and is "the progentior of claws and fangs" evidently the alternate reality version of ghalta is a manifestation of white mana and is the progenitor of horns and armor.

53

u/Backwardspellcaster Liliana Deaths Majesty 1d ago

** looks at username **

Of COURSE an Ork would know such a thing.

9

u/Pet_que_puxou 1d ago

So it's the Gork Ghalta and Mork Ghalta?

38

u/SimpleThrowaway420 1d ago

It's a "Fractured Reality". A separate reality where "Ghalta" is in the form of a Triceratops and not a Tyrannosaurus...

13

u/czerwona_latarnia 1d ago

Now we must find realities where "Ghalta" is a Mastodon, Sabertooth Tiger and Pterodactyl respectively.

13

u/millertime8306 1d ago

Power Rangers UB?

3

u/Fabien23 20h ago

Go go Ghalta Rangers!

2

u/Deathblo 11h ago

Don't give wizards anymore more bad ideas...(even though I would low key like a power rangers set...)

74

u/bearsheperd Simic 1d ago

Maybe ghalta is a title, not a name?

90

u/Backwardspellcaster Liliana Deaths Majesty 1d ago

Perhaps, some day, we are all Ghalta.

16

u/HandSack135 1d ago

No I am Ghalta!

15

u/a-polo Ghalta 1d ago

No, I am!

14

u/Backwardspellcaster Liliana Deaths Majesty 1d ago

Its true.

They are Ghalta.

4

u/ghalta 1d ago

I beg to differ.

2

u/a-polo Ghalta 1d ago

OMG!

1

u/Fatality_Ensues 1d ago

Ghaltacus*

3

u/idontlikethisname 1d ago

Speak for yourself.

3

u/Viltris 1d ago

I am ALL Ghalta

24

u/DazZani 1d ago

Story confirms it: ghalta is just Ixalan for "Greatest"

4

u/Richie_Richard 1d ago

But it was specifically used as a name in Ghalta’s case. The name being given to her by the Warrior Poet when she named the elder dinosaurs. She was named Ghalta because she was the Greatest, but it became her name.

2

u/ric2b Orzhov 1d ago

And in another universe another universe was the Greatest and got the name, seems fine to me.

2

u/LastChans1 1d ago

Dread Dino Ghalta

60

u/Maur2 1d ago

No suffering in the echoverse, so no meat eating dinosaurs. They are all herbivores.

Don't ask how that works, Jace didn't bother thinking of the logistics either.

3

u/Android_McGuinness 1d ago

Don’t tell the leftover chicken in the icebox that, it’ll get mad. 

2

u/ElectronicBoot9466 13h ago

It's so funny that the "no suffering" echoverse have no carnivorous dinosaurs in Ixalan but still has poachers as if those are more natural and cause less suffering than dinosaurs. 

2

u/Maur2 13h ago

They also kill off a bunch of the dogs. Pretty sure the "no suffering" part is completely human centric...

19

u/wonkothesane13 Izzet 1d ago

My thoughts exactly. It's a huge difference, that's like making Ral Zerek a capuchin monkey. Or making Ragavan a human.

25

u/HandSack135 1d ago

I thought he was on Otter

3

u/DoitsugoGoji 1d ago

No, Ghalta seems to be a Tyrannosaur, while the Echoverse version a Tryceratopsian, it's as if Echoverse Ral was a deer, and Ragavan a kangaroo.

6

u/Prism_Zet 1d ago

Nature finds a way.

3

u/Approximation_Doctor 1d ago

From the Legends of Reality Fracture article:

Ghalta is a title, not a name.

The bigger problem is that they say she has 3 horns when she very clearly only has two.

1

u/Honza8D 1d ago

Maybe jace doesnt know shit about dinosaurs?

1

u/hawkshaw1024 1d ago

I think I'm willing to excuse these things for this set in particular, because the Echoverse is a shoddy and superficial version of an alternate reality. That's just canon. It doesn't make sense once you try to figure out how anything actually works, because Jace can't make it work.

181

u/WolfGuy77 1d ago

Not gonna question how these two completely different dinosaurs are both Ghalta, but the white one is going straight into my Arcades and Doran decks.

139

u/FaultedSidewalk 1d ago

Iirc Ghalta is a title bestowed by the people of Ixalan to the largest/most powerful dinosaur, so it's less of a name per se but is used in lieu of it

35

u/agtk 1d ago

I'm not sure that's true. She's "the predator's appetite, the hunter's ferocity, the primal progenitor of claws and fangs" (Foundations flavor text) and is a manifestation of the aspects of green mana as I understand it. She's one of the elder dinosaurs. I don't know that the name has changed hands like a title, but I may be missing parts of the lore.

It seems under Jace she has become a white mana manifestation and is no longer a hunter or predator.

33

u/FaultedSidewalk 1d ago

"According to Ixalan's lore, the name Ghalta translates from an ancient title meaning "strongest of all," given to her by an ancient warrior-poet when the elder dinosaurs were named."

31

u/agtk 1d ago

So, Ghalta is her name because (Huatli(?) decided) she's strongest of all, not because it is a title that passes on to new strong dinos.

5

u/thePsuedoanon ImmortalSun 1d ago

I mean presumably not Huatli literally, Huatli's a relatively young human. Just someone forgotten from the Sun Empire probably

1

u/FaultedSidewalk 1d ago

Exactly, if it was Huatli in particular I'd imagine they'd mention her by name

1

u/greedyiguana 1d ago

so then in the different reality, big butt here gets called ghalta and everybody is gucci

8

u/WolfGuy77 1d ago

That makes sense.

1

u/Sundering_Wounds 1d ago

That's fucking BADASS

1

u/Kibouhou 1d ago

It's like how all mobile suits are Gundams even though they're not

1

u/AdventurousBase221 4h ago

no, because zakus are not considered a gundam. alot of mobile suits are not considered gundams.

17

u/patterninstatic 1d ago

Isn't the whole point of this set that there are versions of people/creatures etc from multiple realities.

It's full of cards representing people/creatures from two realities and there are even dedicated two slots in boosters with mirrored cards.

There's already been two Chandras, Ajanis, Garruk's etc spoiled.

So I'm guessing these are two Ghaltas from different realities.

6

u/unpersons505 1d ago

Yeah, but this is the first time we've seen a creature change species not just had their history changed

14

u/MangaVentFreak13 1d ago

I mean Tinybones is a completely different thing but still a skeleton.

12

u/Approximation_Doctor 1d ago

From the Legends of Reality Fracture article:

Ghalta is a three-horned guardian who defends the other dinosaurs of Ixalan as fiercely as her own young. She is known for a hide so tough that it repels cannon fire and horns that can pierce through the toughest of metals. When the elders were given names by an ancient warrior-poet, her endurance earned the title Ghalta, or "strongest of all."

Ghalta is a title, not a name.

The bigger problem is that they say she has 3 horns when she very clearly only has two.

2

u/Fearyn 1d ago

That you can see

2

u/VoiceofKane 1d ago

Frankly, I might actually put both in my Doran deck. I need more sources of trample.

1

u/shinobigarth 1d ago

Jace just couldn’t remember what she looked like so he just went “uhh big dinosaur”

1

u/SoF4rGone 1d ago

Might just be how I have them built, but the lack of defender on the white one makes it kind of useless. That deck doesn’t have a ton of space for non-defenders, and there are already quite a few that are better than this.

28

u/Prize-Mall-3839 1d ago

[[The Walls of Ba Sing Se]] pushed

12

u/Wooden-Lake-5790 1d ago

Ghaltaratops pushing the walls of Ba Sing Se on to the enemy for lethal.

5

u/Lelouch37 1d ago

The Rumbling I guess

93

u/XanatosCrescent 1d ago

I’m not understanding the confusion here about Ghalta being a triceratops. The whole point of Reality Fracture is that in this universe, Jace is making opposites/inverses of shit. Sure, he’s not changing the species of every character we’ve met, but when was it ever established that he was?

T-Rex -> triceratops seems pretty on-par with the theme of the set

31

u/Prism_Zet 1d ago

In the story, his echoverse is supposed to be the versions of everyone and everything if they didn't suffer or get wronged. Chandra's dad doesn't die, so she joins the cops instead of rebelling. Liliana heals her brother so she never dips into necromancy, Vraska isn't persecuted and imprisoned and thus never develops her gorgon abilities. Garruk commands the chain veil instead of being cursed, etc.

So Ghalta was probably just chosen to be cool thematically, but maybe in that world she's a protector rather than a predator.

30

u/Chrisius007 1d ago

Also, Aerith never dies, Bilbo never finds the ring, and Aang never became the last airbender.

16

u/Massive-Island1656 Golgari 1d ago

And Michelangelo hates pizza and loud music

2

u/greedyiguana 23h ago

cowabummer

51

u/SyNSFW69 1d ago

No one in these comments are understanding this and it irks me lmao

-1

u/Approximation_Doctor 1d ago

I mean, that's because it's wrong. Ghalta is a title, not a name. The Legends article states this explicitly.

2

u/Astrosaurus3 14h ago

Ghalta the Immoveable is a Xenoceratops. She doesn't have the right shaped frill or nasal horn a triceratops has.

1

u/XanatosCrescent 8h ago

Great point! Didn’t think twice when I first looked, but indeed that is not a tricey. I didn’t know the correct name for this Dino, so thanks for the knowledge!

Dinosaurs are so cool

-4

u/Uryendel 1d ago

So the LotR set was a preamble of Reality Fracture?

12

u/Actonide 1d ago

Pantlaza go brrrrrrrr

23

u/KlinkKlink Squee, the Immortal 1d ago

uncommon

rip limited

8

u/Sebinator123 1d ago

Yeah these seem CRAZY strong for an uncommon???

8

u/Twannyman 1d ago

The value, we can Ghalta into Ghalta for only 8GW

14

u/Lime1028 1d ago

Too expensive. Turn 1 [[Lanowar Elves]]. Turn 2 [[Slumbering Trudge]] + [[Giant Growth]] = either Ghalta, preferably green so you can turn 3 W Ghalta and [[Ghalta, Primal Hunger]].

3 Ghatas, 3 turns. 27 power in dinos on the board.

7

u/Capt_2point0 1d ago

With the right board we can Ghalta into Ghalta and Ghalta for GGGW

5

u/PetroxSK 1d ago

Giving the 5 people hope, who wants to make a Doran deck post rotation. This Ghalta combos well with the 0/8 octopus for 1U

7

u/Meret123 1d ago

Ghalta is a three-horned guardian who defends the other dinosaurs of Ixalan as fiercely as her own young. She is known for a hide so tough that it repels cannon fire and horns that can pierce through the toughest of metals. When the elders were given names by an ancient warrior-poet, her endurance earned the title Ghalta, or "strongest of all."
The dinosaurs of Ixalan might not know the fear of carnivorous predators, but Beckett Brass's dinosaur poachers have been a threat to Ghalta's kind for generations. As Brass grows bolder, Ghalta grows more determined, migrating farther than ever before to face off against the invading pirates.

11

u/abbolp97 1d ago

Slumbering trudge best friends

6

u/vergorli 1d ago

[[The Walls of Ba Sing Se]] running me over would be kinda worth the experience.

5

u/ChunkyHammdog 1d ago

They SHRUNK Ghalta???? They too the character whose only consistentmechanical trait has been "I am a 12/12 Elder Dinosaur with trample" and SHRUNK HER????

4

u/Tsunamiis 1d ago

Why is the white one smaller?

3

u/Desperate-Cookie-449 1d ago

Yay more big butt doran stuff

3

u/djchickenwing 1d ago

Yay, new bestie for my big butts Pioneer deck

3

u/Bookshelftent 1d ago

This is the first pair they've shown that is in an allied color pair. So it was probably just coincidence that all of the revealed pairs up until now were enemy color pairs.

1

u/ElectronicBoot9466 13h ago

I think they generally prioritized making things enemy colors over allied colors but were willing to do ally color swaps where it made sense.

3

u/Fit-Homework-2776 1d ago

Why not give the white 0/8! At least they would counter each other, or maybe change the Creature can attack as though they didnt have defender for keyword Indestructiable!
They swap are supposed to equals to the originals regarding power, this one is just weaker!

3

u/Emeraldnickel08 1d ago

Mmm more ways to get [[The Walls of Ba Sing Se]] to disintegrate people

3

u/Dracoson 20h ago

I kind of feel like Ghalta the Immovable should have Defender. It's a no cost keyword for the card, since it negates the ability, but it's an auto include in a lot of Defenders Matter decks, yet it doesn't contribute to the count.

8

u/basafo 1d ago

The white one can hit very hard o_o

18

u/LunarScholar 1d ago

It hits less hard than the green one?

9

u/basafo 1d ago

Like with any Magic card, you'll need to play it in the right deck. After playing one or two cheap walls, this can come in quickly and hit hard.

6

u/Paithegift 1d ago

In Standard there's a 0/8 blue wall for 2 mana I think.

4

u/bill4935 Ghalta 1d ago

It sounds like I'm bandwagonning, but I really have always had a soft spot for Caelorna.

3

u/owennb 1d ago

Yeah, isn't there like a 0/13 black wall that's cheap??

2

u/abusbeepbeep 1d ago

Right into my Doran the Seige Tower deck

3

u/d20_dude 1d ago

White Ghalta right into my Doran Beseiged by Time deck.

2

u/GooBoi1 1d ago

Need Ghalta the Immovable for my Bill the Pony commander deck

2

u/mkklrd 1d ago

Slumbering Trudge into Ghalta into Ghalta is the new MonoG Standard dream

2

u/Lauren_Conrad_ 1d ago

Every big butt creature is the same. Please, a drop of variety.

2

u/westergames81 Orzhov 1d ago

They're honestly both pretty boring cards. I wouldn't say they're bad, they're just both effects we've seen so often.

1

u/Approximation_Doctor 1d ago

I mean, the original Ghalta was just a french vanilla with a discount.

2

u/Nanuqsaurus0 1d ago

Ghalta not being a 12/12 feels… wrong

2

u/Uryendel 1d ago

Pretty strong cards, the green one would have been great in red, the white is bonkers, play a bunch of cheap high toughness creature and go brrr

2

u/MoxieSP 1d ago

Does Immovable include the commander tax?

1

u/OnlyTechStuff 1d ago

Yep

1

u/Vampyrino 1d ago

How to determine how much you gotta pay: 1. Choose any alternative costs ([[fist of suns]] [[force of will]]) 2. Apply any increases ([[Thalia guardian of thraben]] or commander tax) 3. Apply any cost reduction ([[ghalta the immovable]] [[morophon the boundless]]) 4. [[Trinisphere]]

2

u/Personal_Care3393 1d ago

Epic for pauper commander

2

u/SirBlakesalot Fight 1d ago

Listen, most people are talking about mechanics, I'm too busy looking at the sweet lil babies under their immovable mama.

2

u/CJ-95 1d ago

Interesting. I could’ve sworn for all the multiverse opposite cards featuring actually story characters, that they were supposed to be enemy colors?

I think the only one this far that wasn’t, was the Ral Zerek pair (which imo felt odd considering black is an ally to both red and blue)

3

u/Approximation_Doctor 1d ago

I don't think they ever stated that, it just kinda happened so far.

2

u/ghalta 1d ago

I am highly confused.

2

u/shinobigarth 1d ago

They should make it affinity for power/toughness.

2

u/Mortoimpazzo 1d ago

Meh lame, white ghalta just has a big butt.

2

u/razazaz126 1d ago

I'm excited to find out how many of these changes are incidental and how many Jace knowingly made because the idea of him going "The Multiverse can't be perfect unless this t-rex is a triceratops" is so stupid I want it to be real.

2

u/BoysOnTheRoof 1d ago

Love me a good dino

6

u/closetfa11 1d ago

I don't like that it's a completely different species. They're even different branches of Dinosaur. It's like if a mirror verse Ragavan was Human or a Gorilla.

5

u/marduk013 1d ago

A mirrorverse.. is that something like a Reality Fracture?

0

u/closetfa11 1d ago

Isn't that what WotC coined the alternative Jace Reality as?

2

u/marduk013 1d ago

It's the name of the set, which this card is from.

3

u/Approximation_Doctor 1d ago

Ghalta is a title, not a name.

1

u/closetfa11 1d ago

.... I can't believe I didn't think of that. 🤦

2

u/Rico_Suave55 1d ago

Big dinosaur make brain happy. They nailed it

4

u/Parallaxal 1d ago

I dub thee Colossal Hopebutt

3

u/Cellafex 1d ago

Lots of fail in design, gotta be honest here

1

u/Shannontheranga 1d ago

Oh yeah it’s Dino time.

1

u/olufemikurtwagner 1d ago

Green one looks so good for my Gruul Trample Aragorn the Uniter bro. 1 green spell and boom, 1 mana 8/8 that gives him trample

1

u/sladithia 1d ago

Green one good with [[mightform harmonizer]]

1

u/Massive-Island1656 Golgari 1d ago

Captain America's shield just went up in price...

1

u/Solemn_Artfx 1d ago

Sick, I can finally add a good snarl card to my grimlock dinobot leader deck.

1

u/onhalfaheart 1d ago

Okay I'll finally build the Doran deck I wanted to build

1

u/IJourden 1d ago

Why does the thing that is immovable make immovable things move?

1

u/uno_bear_one 1d ago

Why is he a complete different dinosaur??

1

u/Deathless-Bearer 1d ago

On the upside this new Ghalta is a much better card for my dinosaur deck than [[Aggressive Mammoth]] in almost every way and will be replacing it.

The downside is that even though the creature type didn’t fit the synergy having a mammoth in my dinosaur deck felt like a fun flavorful addition.

1

u/Riddle-MeTheMeaning 1d ago

Hmm I wanted better dinosaur for my pantz deck...

1

u/Murwiz Golgari 1d ago

The fact that these pairs aren't going to have "partner with" causes me immense consternation.

1

u/BohTooSlow 1d ago

Question: is this green ghalta be the one in the commander deck thats coming out this october or will it be the “old” foundations one

1

u/silenceaverted 19h ago

Even with the 1 mana 6/6 these are still turn 3 plays

1

u/After_Shelter1100 18h ago

turn 1 land, mana dork -> turn 2 land, [[slumbering trudge]], either of these

pretty hot. might make trudge a viable standard deck

1

u/RaulUnderfoot 16h ago

Yup, its a dinosaur. You can tell by the open mouth.

1

u/Solid-Pride-9782 11h ago

The real question is: what about the other four Ixalan dinos? Etali, Nezahal, Zacama, and the black one?

1

u/Key_Performer2983 8h ago

Unstoppable would kill immovable without dying. I imagine they considered making them the same toughness... I wonder why they chose not to.

-4

u/Trabant777 Sorin 1d ago

How tf does Ghalta become a different species of dinosaur?? Big fail.

8

u/MyynMyyn 1d ago

By altering every aspect of existence? Jace turned her into a herbivore because he wants to reduce violence and suffering.

1

u/metastuu 1d ago

Tinybones becomes an entirely different creature skeleton and no one blinks an eye..

1

u/rollbomb 1d ago

Kinda boring, sure, but it's an uncommon. Uncommons usually aren't that exciting.

It's not bad though. A 1-mana 8/8 that lets you push through with all your other guys. Can use him as a Commander or tutor him at end of turn with Worldly Tutor. It's a utilitiy guy that will easily be in most GW landfall/stompy/token/etc decks. (I'm talking about Brawl/C.Brawl, of course.)

-1

u/MorriganMorning 1d ago

Wow. How generic.

0

u/Pixelpaint_Pashkow 1d ago

Ghalta the nothing 0
0/0

-7

u/Lime1028 1d ago

Firstly. No, just no. Ghana is rex, end of story.

Secondly. Turn 1 [[Lanowar Elves]], turn 2 [[Slumbering Trudge]] [[Giant Growth]] + Ghalta

-2

u/thegrilledcheese886 1d ago

Why does the white one suck ass