Birds of Paradise

Creature — Bird

Flying

: Gain one mana of any colour.

Discussion (51)

Clashboy15 on Dr. Robotnik's Mean Weenie Machine

3 hours ago

Cool Deck! +1

However, I do have some suggestions. Marleaf Pixie and Mana Geode don't seem like very good mana ramp cards. Arcane Signet, Firemind Vessel, Thran Dynamo, Worn Powerstone, Prismatic Lens, Gilded Lotus, Mind Stone, Coldsteel Heart, Fyndhorn Elves, Beastcaller Savant and Birds of Paradise are much better options. Also, defiant elves could be replaced, as it is just a 1/1 with trample. Another mana dork might be better, or if you do want a cheap creature with trample, Pelt Collector or Almighty Brushwagg are better.

slashdotdash on 5 color no theme deck

8 hours ago

Dear Kronhamilton

Golos, Tireless Pilgrim is my favorite commander, and I've been brewing around him ever since he was teased. Let me just say you've chosen an excellent commander.

(I’ve written quite a lot in an attempt to make a sort of guide for you, so if you want the short version, check out the Suggestions panel)

Intro

Golos can be tricky to build around since he can do literally anything pretty well. The easiest way to make an effective Golos deck is to lean into Golos's 7 Mana Rainbow Wheel Of Death. Before getting into that though, we need to cover some EDH deckbuilding basics.

I think the most useful advice I can give someone who is just beginning to explore the deck-building territory of EDH is to structure your deck and mind your Ratios. By this I mean it is useful to categorize the cards in your deck according to the role they fulfill.

We’ll begin by looking at some core categories that you’ll want to make your deck function effectively. Then I’ll present the Ratios (how many of each category of card) you will want to make a generic Golos deck function effectively. Next, I’ll include a detailed (but not totally complete, because I’d be here all day) catalogue of cards within some of those categories. I’ll also offer up some suggestions and input about some of your specific card choices. Lastly, since I’m about to unpack a lot of information, I will include a brief list of suggestions (see the bottom) for a generically good Golos ‘Shell’ that should be able to support most Golos strategies.

Categories

Categories

• Draw

• Ramp

• Removal

• Sweepers

• Threats

• Support

• Land

Draw Show

Draw cards are cards that draw you additional cards. There are two subcategories for Draw cards; Draw Spells and Draw Engines.

• Draw Spells are one-time use cards that immediately get you 2 to 3 cards.

• Draw Engines are cards that might not get you cards immediately but will gradually draw you cards as you play your deck and the game goes longer.

Either variety of Draw card may either be generically powerful or may instead be dependent on synergy (meaning you need to do something specific in order to draw cards). Some cards are hybrids that are generically powerful but get better with additional synergy.

Ramp Show

Ramp cards are cards that increase your capacity to produce mana while also accelerating the pace of your mana production. This is generally done by either the card acting as a permanent that creates mana or by finding a land card from your deck and putting it into play. By definition, a Ramp card should be cast within the first 3 turns of the game in order to allow you to cast more/larger spells sooner in the game. For a Golos deck, you should try to ramp once by turn 3 so that you can cast Golos on turn 4 (this won’t always happen, but your deck should be able to do it regularly – see Ratios for more).

There are 3 main subcategories of Ramp; Ramp Spells, Mana Rocks, and Mana Dorks.

• Ramp Spells are one-time use cards that find a land from your deck and put it into play (usually tapped).

• Mana Rocks are artifacts that produce mana.

• Mana Dorks are creatures that produce mana.

Resilience, Speed, and Synergy of Ramp Cards

Ramp Spells are the most Resilient type of Ramp card, as lands are not usually destroyed in EDH. Ramp Spells also trigger Landfall Synergies (Rampaging Baloths, Avenger of Zendikar, Tatyova, Benthic Druid, Omnath, Locus of the Roil, Field of the Dead) which can be incredibly powerful over the course of a longer game. Ramp Spells can also “Color Fix” by finding specific basic lands that you might need to cast a spell or complete the Rainbow to activate Golos’s Rainbow Wheel of Death. However, it should be noted that Ramp Spells are purely slower than Mana Rocks as they almost always bring lands into play tapped.

Mana Rocks are not especially resilient due to the presence of cards that destroy artifacts(Reclamation Sage, Bane of Progress, Acidic Slime, Hellkite Tyrant, Hostage Taker). They do synergize with Artifact themed decks though, making them extremely useful in Artifact-heavy decks (Metalwork Colossus, Shimmer Dragon, Padeem, Consul of Innovation, Sai, Master Thopterist, Inventors' Fair). Mana Rocks also possess a distinct advantage in being the fastest type of Ramp, since most Mana Rocks come into play untapped, allowing you to use them immediately.

Mana Dorks are extremely fragile, as they die to Sweepers (Board Wipes like Wrath of God), Combat, and Combat Triggers (Drakuseth, Maw of Flames, Balefire Dragon, Silumgar, the Drifting Death). That being said, Mana Dorks definitely have a place in Green-Creature-heavy decks that enjoy the effects of Creature synergy (Beast Whisperer, Soul of the Harvest, Pathbreaker Ibex). Without haste, Mana Dorks cannot activate their mana producing abilities the turn they enter the battlefield, making them slow like Ramp Spells. Think of them like fragile lands – very risky to invest in.

Removal Show

Removal spells are Instants that destroy a target (typically a creature). These are essential for survival, as you can defend yourself or dismantle an opponent’s plans at a crucial moment and most often during their turn.

The Importance of Instants

Non-instant spells that destroy creatures are never considered Removal because you cannot count on them to save you if your opponent has an explosive turn (for example, they resolve Ghalta, Primal Hunger with Lightning Greaves on the board and they immediately equip the boots and attack you. Only an Instant could respond to the equipping of the boots and destroy Ghalta before it acquired Haste and Shroud.)

Sweepers Show

Sweepers are spells that destroy or ‘bounce’ (return to hand) all creatures and/or other permanents.

These may also be referred to as ‘Boardwipes’.

Deciding to play Sweepers

The decision to include Sweepers may depend on the state of your playgroup (your Meta). For example, if someone in your playgroup is playing an Ezuri, Renegade Leader deck (or similar) then you will almost definitely need to include Sweepers just to keep the nonsense at bay, because otherwise that opponent will likely overwhelm you with a small mountain of creatures. While that is a fun and powerful strategy, it can be counteracted by the presence of a few Sweepers in your deck. A well-built creature deck with the appropriate amount of Draw will still be able to recover, so this isn’t necessarily going to force your opponent to have a miserable time. Think of Sweepers as a way to buy time against faster, more aggressive decks – something that you’ll need to be wary of since you are playing a 5 color deck with a 5 Converted Mana Cost Commander.

Threats Show

Threats are cards that present a challenge to your opponents, most often in the form of a large creature that is capable of killing them and/or smashing their plans to pieces. Threats may take a different form though, such as enchantments, artifacts, planeswalkers, or even lands.

Golos in particular loves threats because of the simple, spicy fact that he can hit them with his Rainbow Wheel Of Death. This makes building a threat-centric Golos deck both incredibly fun and terrifyingly effective.

Support Show

Support cards are somewhat obscure cards that don’t fulfill any of the usual roles, but instead enhance some aspect of your deck by improving your Engines (such as Draw Engines or other Value Engines like a Token Generator) or Threats.

Generally speaking, support cards are the cards that make your deck go from good to crazy and they often empower you to win the game if uninterrupted.

• An example of a support card is Leyline of Anticipation which allows you to cast your spells at any time, but doesn’t do anything by itself.

• In a Blink deck, Panharmonicon (Yarok, the Desecrated too) makes an appearance as the premium support card, doubling Enter-The-Battlefield effects (ETB’s).

• For a Reanimation deck, you might see Deadbridge Chant or Debtors' Knell make an appearance.

Almost any Golos deck particularly enjoys the inclusion of incredibly powerful support cards such as Zendikar Resurgent, Mirari's Wake, Nyxbloom Ancient, or other options that increase the amount of mana you can create to use with Golos’s Rainbow Wheel Of Death.

Land Show

Lands are an obvious inclusion for most Magic decks, but I will mention them anyway.

I am familiar with three main categories of lands; Basic Lands, Utility Lands, and Color Fixing Lands.

Basic Lands are always useful in small quantities for decks that play many Ramp Spells (I recommend this for most Golos decks).

Utility Lands may or may not generate colored mana (for our purposes, we will assume they only generate colorless mana) but they come equipped with a powerful ability.

Color Fixing Lands are lands that are nonbasic but allow us to ‘fix’ our colors by providing us with an option of mana to choose from. These are very helpful for most Golos decks.

Cascading Cataracts

I will mention right now that Cascading Cataracts is the ultimate Color Fixing Land because it can be immediately fetched by Golos and it allows you to consistently Spin The Wheel regardless of your color availability (note that you need 7 mana plus the Cascading Cataracts, which often implies you need 8 lands). If you are plan on playing a deck with few color requirements (mostly one or two primary colors) then this card can singlehandedly enable The Wheel.

Ratios

The art of Ratios is all about determining what combination of cards from each category makes your deck run the most smoothly.

Please note that these Ratios will not total to 99 cards. This is because you will invariably have extra flexibility to choose how your deck behaves even after establishing functional Ratios. Also keep in mind that although these Ratios do recommend you adhere to the minimum number of cards in each category, you still can choose which cards will fill those slots. The point is not to restrict your options, but instead to create a ‘Shell’ that is reliable enough to power your Threats cards, Support cards, and other cards. Whatever you do, make sure you have at least the minimum number of Draw and Ramp cards. THE MOST IMPORTANT CARDS IN THE DECK ARE DRAW AND RAMP!!!

While I ultimately suggest Ratios resembling the Basic Golos Shell, I will lay out the Ratios for several different Shells;

• Template: a sort of baseline beginner’s guide which is commonly promoted as a place to start.

• Basic Golos: a modified version of the Template that suites most Golos decks.

• Control: a version tailored for a slower game with many Sweepers.

• Aggro: a version designed to act quickly and deploy Threats before the opponents are prepared.

• Big Mana: a version invested heavily into Ramp with the goal of deploying many end-game Threats.

• Mega Mana: an even more extreme version of Big Mana with extremely expensive Threats.

Template Show

• Ramp – 10-12

• Draw – 10-12

• Removal – 6-8

• Sweepers – 1-3

• Threats – 8-13

• Support – 5-10

• Land – 35-37

Basic Golos Show

• Ramp – 12

• Draw – 13

• Removal – 7

• Sweepers – 2

• Threats – 12

• Support – 7

• Land – 36

Total: 89

Control Show

• Ramp – 8

• Draw – 15

• Removal – 7

• Sweepers – 6

• Threats – 10

• Support – 10

• Land – 36

Total: 92

Aggro Show

• Ramp – 15

• Draw – 8

• Removal – 6

• Sweepers – 0

• Threats – 20

• Support – 8

• Land – 35

Total: 92

Big Mana Show

• Ramp – 14

• Draw – 14

• Removal – 7

• Sweepers – 2

• Threats – 16

• Support – 8

• Land – 36

Total: 97

Mega Mana Show

• Ramp – 20

• Draw – 13

• Removal – 7

• Sweepers – 2

• Threats – 12

• Support – 8

• Land – 36

Total: 98

Catalogue

Draw Show

Generic Draw Spells

• Read the Bones

• Drawn from Dreams

• Urban Evolution

• Harmonize

• Ambition's Cost

• Ancient Craving

• Syphon Mind

• Concentrate

• Ugin's Insight

• Rush of Knowledge

Synergy Draw Spells

(Many Creatures)

• Shamanic Revelation

• Tishana, Voice of Thunder

• Regal Force

• Voice of Many

(Big Creatures)

• Rishkar's Expertise

• Return of the Wildspeaker

• Soul's Majesty

• Keruga, the Macrosage

(Blink – using effects like Ephemerate to ‘Blink’ or ‘Flicker’ cards for enter-the-battlefield [ETB] effects)

• Mulldrifter (if you cast an Ephemerate after Mulldrifter ETB’s but before it sacrifices itself, you can stop it from dying and draw four cards)

• Cloudblazer

• Cavalier of Gales

• Wall of Blossoms

• Wall of Omens

• Elvish Visionary

• Watcher for Tomorrow

• Generous Patron (I promise you, the two cards is worth giving away two counters)

(Tribal – Many creatures of one type, such as elementals or goblins)

• Risen Reef

• Distant Melody

Generic Draw Engines

• Underworld Connections

• Phyrexian Arena

• Bringer of the Blue Dawn

• Vilis, Broker of Blood

• Mind Unbound

• The Magic Mirror

• Thought Reflection

• Damia, Sage of Stone

• The Ur-Dragon

Synergy Draw Engines

(Many Creatures)

• Beast Whisperer

• Primordial Sage

• Soul of the Harvest

• Guardian Project

• Chulane, Teller of Tales

(Big Creatures)

• Elemental Bond

• Temur Ascendancy

• Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner

• Garruk, Primal Hunter

• Colossal Majesty

• Drumhunter

(Combat Matters)

• Reconnaissance Mission

• Bident of Thassa

• Ohran Viper

• Ohran Frostfang

• Keeper of Fables

• Oakhame Adversary

• Cold-Eyed Selkie

• Coastal Piracy

Ramp Show

Ramp Spells

• Rampant Growth

• Farseek

• Into the North

• Nature's Lore

• Search for Tomorrow

• Sakura-Tribe Elder

• Growth Spasm

• Beanstalk Giant

• Far Wanderings

• Harrow

• Cultivate

• Kodama's Reach

• Explosive Vegetation

• Skyshroud Claim

• Migration Path

• Circuitous Route

• Wood Elves

• Springbloom Druid

• Yavimaya Dryad

• Farhaven Elf

Mana Rocks

• Sol Ring

• Fellwar Stone

• Arcane Signet

• Simic Signet (also see signets for: Azorius, Rakdos, Gruul, Golgari, Dimir, Boros, Izzet, Selesnya, Orzhov)

• Everflowing Chalice

• Mind Stone

• Chromatic Lantern

Mana Dorks

• Birds of Paradise

• Arbor Elf

• Llanowar Elves

• Llanowar Tribe

• Faeburrow Elder

• Elvish Mystic

• Paradise Druid

• Sylvan Caryatid

• Ilysian Caryatid

• Leafkin Druid

• Leyline Prowler

Removal Show

• Swords to Plowshares

• Dire Tactics

• Heartless Act

• Rapid Hybridization

• Pongify

• Terminate

• Despark

• Putrefy

• Mortify

• Price of Fame

• Path to Exile

• Utter End

Sweepers Show

• Wrath of God

• Day of Judgment

• Fumigate

• Supreme Verdict

• Flood of Tears

• Sublime Exhalation

• Coastal Breach

• Time Wipe

• Duneblast

• In Garruk's Wake

• Plague Wind

• Cataclysmic Gearhulk

• Mythos of Snapdax

• Massacre Girl

Threats Show

• Quartzwood Crasher

• Avenger of Zendikar

• Rampaging Baloths

• Artisan of Kozilek

• Kogla, the Titan Ape

• Tendershoot Dryad

• Many, many, many more…

Support Show

• Zendikar Resurgent

• Nyxbloom Ancient

• Mirari's Wake

• Sunbird's Invocation

• Maelstrom Nexus

• Support cards often depend on the deck…

Land Show

Utility Lands

• Field of the Dead

• Reliquary Tower (only if you expect to draw a billion cards)

• Westvale Abbey  ^Flip

• Kessig Wolf Run

• Slayers' Stronghold

• Vault of the Archangel

• Alchemist's Refuge

• Temple of the False God

• Halimar Depths

Color Fixing Lands

• Command Tower

• Evolving Wilds

• Terramorphic Expanse

• Ash Barrens

• Exotic Orchard

• Krosan Verge

• Sandsteppe Citadel

• Savage Lands

• Seaside Citadel

• Opulent Palace

• Nomad Outpost

• Crumbling Necropolis

• Arcane Sanctum

• Jungle Shrine

• Mystic Monastery

• Frontier Bivouac

• Indatha Triome

• Ketria Triome

• Raugrin Triome

• Zagoth Triome

• Savai Triome

• Cinder Glade

• Canopy Vista

• Prairie Stream

• Sunken Hollow

• Smoldering Marsh

• Fabled Passage

Suggestions

Please remember that any suggestions I make are because I am trying to help. Ultimately, the choices you make with your deck are up to you, and I can only provide constructive criticism based on my own experience and opinions.

Good luck :)

Ratio Fixing

The most effective change to your deck would probably be adjusting the Ratios, especially with regard to your Draw cards. Applying the most basic Template Shell, you want to have at least these three quantities nailed down for a smoother and reasonably powerful deck;

• Lands – 36 --> You have 40 Lands (Cut 4 Lands)

• Ramp – 10 --> You have 5 true Ramp cards (Add 5 to 8 Ramp cards)

• Draw – 10 --> You have 3 true Draw cards (Add 7 to 10 Draw cards)

Ramp & Draw Additions Show

Ramp

• 1 Rampant Growth

• 2 Farseek

• 3 Sakura-Tribe Elder

• 4 Sol Ring

• 5 Cultivate

• 6 Kodama's Reach

• 7 Springbloom Druid

• 8 Search for Tomorrow

Draw

• 1 Read the Bones

• 2 Harmonize

• 3 Drawn from Dreams

• 4 Syphon Mind

• 5 Ugin's Insight

• 6 Ambition's Cost

• 7 Ancient Craving

• 8 Underworld Connections

• 9 Elemental Bond

• 10 Urban Evolution

What I counted in your deck Show

Under the Ramp category I counted:

• Humble Naturalist

• Fertilid

• Dimir Locket

• Ketria Crystal

• Raugrin Crystal

These cards are NOT Ramp cards:

• Farfinder

• Dryad of the Ilysian Grove (fantastic Support card)

• Migratory Greathorn

• Parcelbeast

• Adventurous Impulse

Under the Draw category I counted:

• Reconnaissance Mission

• Chevill, Bane of Monsters (this is not a good Draw card)

• Dreamtail Heron (well, maybe)

These cards are NOT Draw cards:

• Farfinder

• Adventurous Impulse

• Cathartic Reunion

• Channeled Force

• and others

I see a few cards that Recover cards from the graveyard and that is fine but it is not Draw.

Cycling cards are not Draw cards if we define Draw cards as being able to find you 2 or 3 cards and thus help refill your hand.

Mutate

Depending on how strong your Mutate subtheme is, some of your Mutate inclusions may act as engines. However, I must state that Mutate is a VERY risky and even fragile strategy since your Mutate ‘Pile’ of creatures will all be destroyed at once if your opponent uses a Removal spell or a Sweeper. For that reason, I recommend leaning out of the Mutate theme (unless the Mutate card is just straight-up insane, as in the example of Nethroi, Apex of Death).

With that said, playing a Mutate theme is your decision and I totally respect that and if you want to stick to a Mutate theme then by all means do so. I just want to be sure you know that Mutate is a risky strategy that you cannot depend on to fulfill your Ramp and Draw slots (so you’ll just need to supplement it with other cards).

Cut or Include?

At a glance your deck seems like something you have created using just your collection – and that’s great! However, if you want to incrementally upgrade your deck, then I recommend replacing most of the cards in your deck with more powerful options over time.

Here is a list of cards you should probably keep playing: - Barrier Breach (Removal, because exiling 3 enchantments is helpful in some situations)

• Reconnaissance Mission (Draw, especially if you plan on attacking constantly)

• Ruinous Ultimatum (Sweeper)

• Mythos of Illuna (Other, sometimes Removal)

• Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger (Threat)

• Klothys, God of Destiny (Support)

• Dryad of the Ilysian Grove (Support)

• Drakuseth, Maw of Flames (Threat)

• Extinction Event (Sweeper)

• Titanoth Rex (Threat)

In my opinion, there are other, better options for all of the other nonland cards in the deck, however it is up to you to decide on how you would like to proceed so I won’t intrude.

I strongly recommend cutting the Planeswalkers though – Calix, Destiny's Hand doesn’t seem to synergize much with the deck and I feel that Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast is not very potent.

Lands

Just as a recommendation, I would suggest the following spread of Basic Lands;

• 8 Basic Forests

• 3 of each other Basic Land

The remainder of your lands could be either more basics (which is really, really, risky if you don’t have tons of Ramp – think like 15 Ramp cards and about 12 Basic Forests) or Color Fixing Lands (see the Catalogue for more options). It is rough to have your lands enter the battlefield tapped, but unless you want to either lean into Green or spend a lot of money on lands, you will just have to live with it (I play around 5-10 tapped lands in a normal Golos deck and it isn’t really that bad).

Shell

In this section, I will list out an example of the Basic Golos Shell complete with the necessary Ratios and some examples of good/fun cards in each category. I’ll try to keep it relatively Budget sensitive and most of these cards will be relatively random – this won’t be based on any particular theme so don’t expect it to be optimal.

As a reminder:

Basic Golos Show

• Ramp – 12

• Draw – 13

• Removal – 7

• Sweepers – 2

• Threats – 12

• Support – 7

• Land – 36

Total: 89

The Shell

Ramp – 12

• Farseek

• Rampant Growth

• Springbloom Druid

• Wood Elves

• Sakura-Tribe Elder

• Cultivate

• Farseek

• Sol Ring

• Search for Tomorrow

• Paradise Druid

• Into the North

• Migration Path

Draw – 13

• Harmonize

• Read the Bones

• Syphon Mind

• Ancient Craving

• Ambition's Cost

• Drawn from Dreams

• Ugin's Insight

• Rush of Knowledge

• Urban Evolution

• Elemental Bond

• Underworld Connections

• Kumena's Awakening

• Concentrate

Removal – 7

• Dire Tactics

• Heartless Act

• Despark

• Beast Within

• Terminate

• Price of Fame

• Reality Shift

Sweepers – 2

• Ruinous Ultimatum

• Plague Wind

Threats – 12

• Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger

• Quartzwood Crasher

• Kogla, the Titan Ape

• Artisan of Kozilek

• Drakuseth, Maw of Flames

• Sephara, Sky's Blade

• Vilis, Broker of Blood

• Tyrant's Familiar

• Teneb, the Harvester

• Scute Mob

• Blood Tyrant

• Rampaging Baloths

Support – 7

• Klothys, God of Destiny

• Dryad of the Ilysian Grove

• Inspired Ultimatum

• Genesis Ultimatum

• Emergent Ultimatum

• Eerie Ultimatum

• Brainstorm

Land – 36

• Command Tower

• Ash Barrens

• Exotic Orchard

• Krosan Verge

• Terramorphic Expanse

• Evolving Wilds

• Sandsteppe Citadel

• Savage Lands

• Jungle Shrine

• Frontier Bivouac

• Opulent Palace

• Temple of the False God

• 4 Forest

• 2Snow-Covered Forest

• 1 Plains

• 2 Snow-Covered Plains

• 1 Mountain

• 2 Snow-Covered Mountain

• 1 Swamp

• 2 Snow-Covered Swamp

• Cinder Glade

• Scattered Groves

• Prairie Stream

• Smoldering Marsh

• Sunken Hollow

• Nomad Outpost

• Mystic Monastery

• Crumbling Necropolis

• Cascading Cataracts

Good Luck :)

-Slashdotdash

Minousmancer on Zillagoth Nights

1 day ago

SmarmyMarmy maybe they'll have a good Mana Dork soon. It would be amazing if they brought back Birds of Paradise... ...edited.

DemMeowsephs on Tyrannosaurus Flex (Gishath)

4 days ago

Amazing deck, and an amazing poem. I love it!

DemMeowsephs on Tyrannosaurus Flex (Gishath)

4 days ago

Amazing deck, and an amazing poem. I love it!

DemMeowsephs on Tyrannosaurus Flex (Gishath)

4 days ago

Amazing deck, and an amazing poem. I love it!

DemMeowsephs on Tyrannosaurus Flex (Gishath)

4 days ago

Amazing deck, and an amazing poem. I love it!

Femme_Fatale on Synonyms/Nicknames System for Deckbuilding and ...

5 days ago

Introducing the synonyms/nicknames system to alleviate all those "wtf was that one land of that one cycle named?" problems that plague you.

This system is simple. It is designed to redirect terms that you typed out that match a synonym/nickname of a card, to that card name. This lets you never have to remember the name "Seachrome Coast" and can instead just type out "WU Fastland" (as an example). Note that this only works in text edit entries on deck lists and inventory, not the live edit or the card search forms.

There is a lot of other things that are utilised here as well.

• Godzilla Names
• Non-American Spellings
• Common Nicknames
• Common Misspellings
• Redirections of Misspelled Submissions
• Each side of a split card as a synonym (unless they already exist as a card).

Not needing to know the name of each card in a land/artifact cycle is a big boon, but you still need to know the nickname of that cycle and the syntax. For lands/mana rocks/the swords of X and Y at the present moment it is always "XY Nickname" or "YX Nickname". Examples:

• WU Fastland
• GR BFZ
• GW ABUR Dual Land
• BW Fetch

For 2 colour lands, it is always the two colour letters, followed by the nickname, and then followed by the option to have the world land either connected to the nickname or not. (these are all viable options for example: "WU Fast", "UW Fastland", "UW Fast Land".) For 3 colour lands, it is only the primary order of colour letters you see on cards, or the Alara/Khans name. (WUB Lair, Mardu Triome as examples.) Swords and other artifact cycles follow the same setup (though swords can also be "Sword of GB" or "Sword of G and B"), and mono colour land cycles use the same setup just with only one letter. Note that none of these are plural, so don't put that s in. Colourless cards that are a part of a cycle use C/Colorless/Colourless.

Some of these cycles don't have well defined names yet (like BBD) and some of these cycles have had too many names that people constantly fight over so there was no point in bothering to put them all in and instead I just used the TLA (specifically BFZ).

Goals:

The primary purpose of this is to make the ability to tag cards and edit decks/inventory far more robust than what it has been. Tappedout doesn't presently have a spellchecker, and to be fair most sites don't. It's not an easy feature to implement. So with this synonyms/nicknames feature, we can alleviate some of those aggravations of misspellings or different ways to spell a word by making them valid targets and redirecting them to the right card name. Another benefit of this is the ability to give cards shorthands or nicknames when the community largely doesn't remember the actual name of a card, just their shorthand. We have all been hit with "wtf is that land's name again?" when we know for a fact that it's just "the blue and white shadows over innistrad reveal land". This saves the step of having to open up a search engine to figure out the card name, and in general speeds up and makes the process of building decks and inventory, a lot more enjoyable.

Cycles that currently have nicknames: Show

• ABUR Duals as ABUR/Duals/ABUR Duals
• MDR Artifact Lands as Artifact Lands
• AKH Bike Lands as Bikes/Bicycles/Bicyclings/Cycle Lands/Cycling Lands
• BFZ Lands as BFZ/BFZ Lands
• RAV Guildhalls as Guildhalls
• Fastlands
• Fetches
• SHM/EVE Lands as Filters
• Hideaways
• VIS Karoos as Karoos/Bouncelands
• RAV Karoos as Karoos/Bouncelands
• Lairs
• Memorials
• MH1 Lands as Horizons/Canopy Lands
• Painlands
• SOI Lands as SOI Lands/Reveal Lands
• Shocks
• Swords of X and Y as XY Swords/Swords of XY/Swords of X and Y
• Talismans
• Temples as Temples/Scrylands
• IKO Triomes as Triomes/Tricycles/Cycles/Cyclings
• Vivids

A lot of the cycle synonyms are meant to intuitive and robust so that you won't even have to think about knowing what the exact written synonym actually is and still be able to get it right on the first try, though it will take time to reach a point in which this is 100% true. As an example of scope, each recognized nickname for a cycle creates 6 entries for each given card in that cycle. So the AKH lands have 30 entries for each card in that cycle, resulting in a total of 150 entries. The Triomes have the same amount, but if I were to add each individual string combination of the colour letters (WUB, BUW, WBU etc) then that count would increase by 45 for each entry, resulting 75 entries for each one, totalling at 375 entries for the whole cycle.

Nicknames will usually be things like "Snappy", "Bolt", "Path", "Bob", "FoW", etc. They are to be commonly used by the larger community as a whole, not what your FNM/play group exclusively uses (though this isn't a hard set in stone as I'm not omniscient).

Here's a list of nicknames that I have. Show

• Aether Vial: Vial
• Aetherflux Reservoir: Dome Dome
• Assassin's Trophy: Ass Trophy
• Birds of Paradise: Birds, BoP
• Bloodbraid Elf: BBE
• Brimstone Trebuchet: Bucket
• Cavalcade of Calamity: Cavalcade
• Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh  ^Flip: Baby Chandra
• Chandra Nalaar: Zippotricks McEdgelord
• Charming Prince: Prince Charming
• Collected Company: CoCo
• Dark Confidant: Bob
• Dark Ritual: Rit
• Demonic Tutor: DT
• Dig Through Time: DTT
• Eternal Witness: E-Wit, E-Witness
• Explosive Vegetation: Explosive Veggies
• Field of Ruin: FoR
• Force of Will: FoW
• Ghost Quarter: GC
• Gilded Goose: Goose
• Giver of Runes: Mommy, Stepmom
• Goblin Charbelcher: Belcher, Charbelcher
• Gray Merchant of Asphodel: Gary
• Griselbrand: Grizzy B
• Hypnotic Specter: Hippie
• Inquisition of Kozilek: IoK
• Jace, Cunning Castaway: Sexy Jace
• Jace, the Mindsculptor: Jace, JtMS
• Jace, Wielder of Mysteries: Lab Jace,
• Jace, Vryn's Prodigy  ^Flip: Literal Actual Baby Jace
• Jace Beleren: Party Jace
• Karn Liberated: Karn
• Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker: Kiki, Kiki Jiki, Mirror Breaker
• Kitchen Finks: Finks
• Kytheon, Hero of Akros  ^Flip: Baby Gideon, Baby Gids
• Laboratory Maniac: Lab Man, Lab Maniac
• Life from the Loam: Loam
• Lightning Bolt: Bolt
• Lightning Helix: Helix
• Lightning Strike: Strike
• Liliana, Heretical Healer  ^Flip: Baby Lili
• Liliana, the Last Hope: Last Hope
• Liliana of the Veil: Lili, LotV
• Lion's Eye Diamond: LED
• Llanowar Elves: Dork, Elf
• Mother of Runes: Mom
• Nissa, Vastwood Seer  ^Flip: Baby Nissa
• Oblivion Ring: O-Ring
• Oko, Thief of Crowns: Oko
• Path to Exile: Path, PtE
• Pia and Kiran Nalaar: Chandra's Parents, Mom and Dad, Ma and Pa, Pia and Kiran, Parents
• Pia Nalaar: Chandra's Mom, Pia
• Primeval Titan: Prime Time
• Prodigal Sorcerer: Tim
• Sakura-Tribe Elder: STE, Steve
• Savage Punch: Bear Punch
• Scalding Tarn: Tarn
• Scavenging Ooze: Scooze
• Sensei's Divining Top: Top
• Settle the Wreckage: Settle
• Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon: Skittles
• Smuggler's Copter: Copter, Thopter Copter
• Snapcaster Mage: Snapcaster, Snappy
• Solemn Simulacrum: Sad Robot
• Sorin, Solemn Visitor: Sad Sorin
• Splinter Twin: Twin
• Swords to Plowshares: Swords
• Tarmogoyf: Goyf, Goyfy, Tarmo
• Tectonic Edge: Tec Edge, TecEdge
• Teferi, Hero of Dominaria: 5feri, T5feri
• Teferi, Time Raveler: 3feri, T3feri
• The Gitrog Monster: Gitrog, HypnoToad, Hypno Toad
• Thing in the Ice  ^Flip: Titi
• Torrential Gearhulk: Fatcaster
• True-Name Nemesis: TNM, TNN, True-Name
• Ugin, the Spirit Dragon: Eugene, Ugin
• Wrenn and Six: W6, Wand6, Wn6

Here's a list of non-american spellings I have in: Show

• Armour
• Ax/Axe
• Catalogue
• Colour
• Defense
• Favour
• Flavour
• Grey
• Harbour
• Honour
• Humour
• Licence
• Offence
• Paralyse
• Rumour
• Splendour
• Traveller

Here's a list of things that is in the works to do. Show

• All triple coloured land cycles (triomes, lairs, trilands) to have an entry for each of their letter combinations. (Example, bant lands would have WUG, GUW, WGU, GWU, UGW, UWG.)
• All dual coloured land cycles will have the ravnican guild names to replace the two colours as an option.
• All land cycles will have the TLA as an option to replace the nickname.
• All land cycles to have "Nickname XY" format.
• More non-american spellings.
• More common misspellings.
• Cards that have or do not have the word "and", to have a synonym of the opposite.
• Synonym that is a version of the card name but without punctuation.
• Nicknames of all the cards with commas that ignores everything past the comma, provided that it is unique.
• Fringe/old land cycles.
• A lot of mana rock cycles.

Limitations:

A card can have any number of synonyms/nicknames. But only one synonym/nickname can be tied to a card. So if a new card/land cycle gets printed that has covers a misspelling (like an UNcard might) or has that nickname as it's actual card name, those synonyms will get removed (as an example, Snapcaster Mage cannot have Snap as a nickname). We are also looking to limit the amount of times a synonym has to get removed so nicknames of cards during their presence in the standard formats are not likely to be put in, as they become forgotten or even re-used when they rotate out. These are also done manually so sometimes a change might just take a while to do if it encompasses a large number of cards or a large number of synonyms.. We also won't be going through alternate language as possible synonyms because WotC doesn't nearly double check duplicate card names for foreign languages as well as they do for English cards.

This is not something on the card submission form, so it is not available to edit for any user.

If you know of something missing like common misspellings or common non-American spellings that will be needed, or cycle syntaxes that you tried to use but didn't work, post them here and I'll review them for possible inclusion in the future.

EDIT: Before you ask for a nickname etc to be added:

1. Check if it exists first by trying it out.
2. Check if the larger community recognizes it, this is done by going around discords, lgs' and other forums about that nickname.
3. Check if it has any nsfw, discriminatory or derogatory terminology, we straight up will not allow these.

This isn't a system for your pet nickname that your local playgroup uses. This is a system that can utilize nicknames that naturally grew organically out of continued use from the larger mtg community as a whole. This isn't a "which nicknames do you think this system could use" but rather "which nicknames that are used across the world that we have missed".