When listening to Magic: The Gathering commentators analyze a tournament stream or reading high-level strategy articles, you will constantly hear weird terminology. Phrases like „Izzet Spellslinger,“ „Jund Midrange,“ or „Sultai Control“ dominate the tactical shorthand of the community.
If you are new to the game, this language barrier can feel incredibly alien. These names are not random card descriptors; they are official historical names derived from specific narrative planes and factions across the long history of Magic’s lore.
Optimized to serve as a clean reference blueprint on your phone while you edit your decks, here is the complete breakdown of all 26 official names for every multi-color pair in Magic: The Gathering.
The Abbreviations: Decoding WUBRG
Before looking at the factions, you must understand how Magic players write out color costs. The community relies on a five-letter acronym known as WUBRG (pronounced „Woo-berg“):
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W = White
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U = Blue (U is used because B is already assigned to Black)
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B = Black
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R = Red
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G = Green
1. Two-Color Factions: The Guilds of Ravnica
The names for all ten two-color combinations are derived from the city-plane of Ravnica, which is ruled by ten competing socio-political factions called guilds.
Allied Color Pairs (Colors adjacent on the color wheel)
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Azorius (WU): Law, order, and absolute control. Typically relies on counter-magic and oppressive taxes.
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Dimir (UB): Espionage, manipulation, and stealth. Focuses on mill strategies, discarding resources, and unblockable threats.
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Rakdos (BR): Aggression, sacrifice, and high-risk carnage. Specializes in hyper-fast aggro and burn.
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Gruul (RG): Raw, untamed wild force. Relies on massive creatures with trample to smash defensive walls.
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Selesnya (WG): Community, wide boards, and token generation. Floods the battlefield with small creatures that scale up over time.
Enemy Color Pairs (Colors opposite on the color wheel)
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Orzhov (WB): Debt, lifelink, and aristocrat setups. Bleeds the opponent’s life total down while sacrificing its own cheap thralls.
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Izzet (UR): Mad science, spell-slinging, and high velocity. Combines direct damage with instant and sorcery card draw.
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Golgari (BG): Death, decay, and graveyard recursion. Uses the graveyard as a secondary hand to continuously bring back threats.
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Boros (RW): Military precision and aggressive combat steps. Utilizes low-cost aggressive units alongside powerful equipment suites.
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Simic (UG): Biomancy, growth, and ramp. Combines drawing massive amounts of cards with putting extra lands directly into play.
2. Three-Color Factions: Shards vs. Wedges
Three-color combinations are split into two groups based on how they sit on the five-color wheel.
The Shards of Alara (One color + its two allies)
These names come from the plane of Alara, which fractured into five distinct sub-worlds, each missing two colors of mana entirely.
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Bant (GWU): Honor and exalted combat. Focuses on single attacking threats backed by massive defensive protection.
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Esper (WUB): Artifact mastery and total structural control. Relies on complex synergy loops and artifact engines.
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Grixis (UBR): Necromancy, cruelty, and ruthless control. Uses premium removal alongside powerful zombie or demon finishers.
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Jund (BRG): The classic attrition midrange engine. Relies on high baseline card quality to destroy resources and dominate combat.
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Naya (RGW): Giant beasts and primal stompy lists. Rewards you for controlling massive creatures with power 5 or greater.
The Wedges of Tarkir (One color + its two enemies)
These names come from the war-torn asian-inspired plane of Tarkir, where five ancient warrior clans fought for dominance.
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Abzan (WBG): Hardened endurance and outlasting opponents. Relies heavily on +1/+1 counters and resilient reanimation steps.
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Jeskai (URW): Cunning strategy and spell-based combat tactics. Leverages prowess mechanics to turn noncreature spells into offensive power.
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Sultai (BGU): Cold ruthlessness and graveyard exploitation. Uses delve mechanics to exile its own graveyard to cast powerful threats early.
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Mardu (BRW): High-speed raiding and relentless attacks. Focuses on hyper-aggressive combat triggers and token swarms.
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Temur (GUR): Primal savagery and elemental force. Uses fierce combat interactions to overwhelm traditional control setups.
3. Four-Color Factions: The Nephilim Strings
Four-color decks are exceptionally rare in traditional card design. Because there are very few dedicated faction names in the lore, the community defines them by either using the names of ancient Ravnica creatures called Nephilim or simply stating which color is missing from the list.
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Yore-Tiller / Sans-Green (WUBR): Ultimate spell and artifact control combos. Missing Green.
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Glint-Eye / Sans-White (UBRG): Extreme value, recursion, and chaotic ramp. Missing White.
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Dune-Brood / Sans-Blue (WBRG): Aggressive, land-focused creature beatdown. Missing Blue.
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Ink-Treader / Sans-Black (WURG): Altruistic token swarms and dynamic combat shifting. Missing Black.
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Witch-Maw / Sans-Red (WUBG): Inescapable value tracking, growth, and counter stacking. Missing Red.
PreconForge Verdict: Speak the Language of the Meta
Memorizing these classic terminology handles makes navigating the wider world of Magic strategy significantly faster. Instead of typing out long strings of mana parameters, mastering descriptions like Golgari or Jeskai lets you scan deck tables, optimize your card selections, and communicate with the community with absolute precision.
Are you planning to build an explosive Izzet spellslinger list for your next competitive queue, or are you leaning toward a grindy Jund midrange shell? Let’s keep the high-level lore and deckbuilding terminology discussion moving forward!
