What are all of the color combination names?
Lore forum
Posted on Dec. 16, 2013, 2:32 p.m. by nobu_the_bard
I know all of the color pairs have names after the Ravnica Guilds: Azorius, Boros, Dimir, Golgari, Gruul, Izzet, Orzhov, Rakdos, Selesnya, and Siminc. I also know there are names for five three-color "shards": Bant (G/W/U) , Esper (W/U/B), Grixis (U/B/R), Jund (B/R/G), and Naya (R/G/W).
I seem to recall seeing names for other color combinations, but I don't know the names off the top of my head, and can't find a source to cite for them. They'd be something like R/W/B and other combinations not covered by the above. Are these names for real, do people use them? Are they canon? I'm not sure what to make of it.
Also, I don't think the four-color combinations have names, do they? The only place I know that uses them are the Nephilim.
There are th8ngs like "dega" (wrb) which just took the name of cards that featured those 3 colors such as cost w, abilities were r and b, but the shards were much heavier supported and much more recently, bug is easily just regfered to as bug, other ones idk
December 16, 2013 2:47 p.m.
smash10101 says... #4
There are names for the 3-color wedges. None are official or cannon, but they do have names.
- BWG is Junk, or sometimes Doran or Necra. Junk is very widely accepted.
- RWU is America/USA or Raka. Most people won't know what you're talking about if you say Raka.
- RWB is Dega or Borzhov. Again, most people don't know what Dega is.
- BUG is Ana. I have never actually heard someone say this one, people just say BUG.
- RUG is just RUG. Some people use Ceta, but again, most of these names are sure rarely used.
Really, until Wizards makes an Alara like block with wedge colors, we won't have names for most of these color combos. Also, you could refer to the 4-color combos by their Nephilim, but most people wouldn't know what you were talking about.
December 16, 2013 2:55 p.m.
The Doctor says... #5
Selesnya GW
Azorius UW
Rakdos RB
Golgari GB
Dimir UB
Gruul RG
Simic UG
Boros RW
Izzet UR
Orzhov BW
BANT GWU
Chavest RBW
Esper WUB
Grixis UBR
Irindu GUR
JUND BRG
Morglen/JUNK BWG
Naya RGW
Sorok RBW
Ulgris BUG
December 16, 2013 2:57 p.m.
By the by, smash10101 has the most correct answer for the wedge names, because they're all based of the -volver cycle. See: Degavolver , Rakavolver , Anavolver , Necravolver , Cetavolver
December 16, 2013 3:19 p.m.
nobu_the_bard says... #7
That is amusing, it gives me some terms to actually investigate, I appreciate it guys.
I infrequently use any of the names in regular conversation, because even with Ravnica having two sets dedicated to it now, many players don't seem to recognize most of them. I was curious what the story here was though, and where those other names were coming from.
December 16, 2013 3:22 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #8
Nobody outside of TappedOut uses the names Irindu, Morglen, Sorok, Ulgris, or Chavest. The canonical names for the wedges are, as others have said, derived from the -volver cycle.
December 16, 2013 3:46 p.m.
smash10101 says... #9
Yeah, the only big things we've had in wedge colors are the volvers, Planar Chaos Dragons, and Commander. The volvers are from 2001, which is before most current players started (I think). Planar Chaos was also quite a while ago now, and those dragons aren't very iconic. The Commander set was popular, and some people do call WBG Doran after Doran, the Siege Tower , but those names never really stuck.
December 16, 2013 3:46 p.m.
smash10101 says... #10
Epochalyptik: Where did those names come from? I've seen them in the hubs, but never anywhere else, except for maybe in the forums here.
December 16, 2013 3:48 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #11
They came from the community-designed set from a while back. That's why they're unique to TappedOut. Almost everyone else in the MTG community uses the three-letter initialization/acronym for wedge color combinations. I find it's better to stick to letters because they're universally understood.
December 16, 2013 4:01 p.m.
smash10101 says... #12
I think Junk and USA/'Murica is pretty universally understood. And Bug and Rug are pronounceable, so people can actually say them. I think people get Borzhov, though I feel bad about how that leaves out Rakdos.
December 16, 2013 4:04 p.m.
Epochalyptik: I'd change the hub titles to the -volver cycle name if you can unless that would break something in the TappedOut heart.
December 16, 2013 4:26 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #14
The wedge hubs already display the letters for the relevant colors, so they should be fine. Even though only a few people know the TappedOut wedge terms, I think fewer people (at least on this site) know the volver terms.
December 16, 2013 4:29 p.m.
smash10101 says... #15
Well, it's a question of what we want the community to use. People see the colors in the hubs and think, "Oh, so that's the name for BWR. I'll start using that now." I've seen people, though not many, post in the forums about their Irindu deck or whatever, and while they could have been involved in that set design (link please, I'm sad I wasn't a part of that, though it may have been before my time), it's likely it was just someone who used the hub. I'm ok with either now that I know where the T/O names come from, but I would like to try to get people to use whatever we pick. And by people, I mean everyone, not just T/O.
December 16, 2013 5:12 p.m.
I refer to BWR as Brozhov, and use terms like #SWAG and #YOLO whenever I play a deck in those colours (which has happened once, in a 3xGTC draft, where I picked up both a Godless Shrine and a Sacred Foundry ).
December 16, 2013 6:09 p.m.
Some1TookMyName says... #17
other than a lot of slang, an easy and quick site to visit is this .
December 17, 2013 5:51 a.m.
smash10101 says... #20
No problem. Glad I could help. I even learned something in doing it (T/O original names).
I saw a post about an Irindu deck today, I think we should either go with the plan of popularizing the wedge names or try to quash their use so as not to confuse new people.
December 17, 2013 8:46 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #21
I don't really think there's much sense in trying to get rid of the TappedOut wedge names. They're part of the community, and it's nice to be able to point to something the site did together. However, I do encourage people to use the letter abbreviations so it's always clear what is what.
December 17, 2013 8:53 a.m.
smash10101 says... #22
I just think it's confusing. People see them in the hubs and think others will know what they mean. And I'm not saying to get rid of them, I'm saying that we should try to popularize them (maybe post that set, I, at least, want to look at it) and encourage their use so more people will know them. I think that if you want people to use the letters, then you should get rid of them in the hubs, but I never said that we should encourage using the letters.
December 17, 2013 10:01 a.m.
Some1TookMyName says... #23
The link is broken, I dont think I can post links in the forums but in my decks description is a link. This site has been really useful for myself. Its a cool site and covers every combination up to 5. Heart of a Lion
December 17, 2013 6:31 p.m.
Femme_Fatale says... #24
Shame we don't have Canadian - WR considering we have American - UWR. Canadian also fits our history in WW's for being known as Shock Troops .
December 18, 2013 1:47 p.m.
smash10101 says... #25
The thing is America is know for being red white and blue (yes, I know we have stars and stripes, and that there are a billion other rwu flags), Canada is known for the maple leaf. Add that to the fact that WR has a very popular officially supported name, and no one is going to use Canada over Boros.
nobu_the_bard says... #2
Whoops... I reread that like 10 times and still spelled Simic wrong..
December 16, 2013 2:33 p.m.