  We analyze magnetic and axial two-nucleon contact terms in a combined
large-$N_c$ and pionless effective field theory expansion. These terms play
important roles in correctly describing, e.g., the low-energy cross section of
radiative neutron capture and the deuteron magnetic moment. We show that the
large-$N_c$ expansion hints towards a hierarchy between the two leading-order
magnetic terms that matches that found in phenomenological fits. We also
comment on the issue of naturalness in different Lagrangian bases.
