What happened to naming the other three color decks?
General forum
Posted on Jan. 24, 2014, 1:38 p.m. by SharuumNyan
I'm wondering why the Shards are used to name decks (Esper, Jund, etc.), but names for the other five 3-color combos never caught on.
I've seen the Raka, Ana, Necra, Ceta, Dega names for them. Why aren't these used today?
I don't think calling R/W/U American is appropriate, since France, Australia, the UK, etc. can all claim those colors too. And calling G/W/B Dark Selesnya seems a little weird too.
Should Wizards have a contest to create new names?
Smith_and_Tonic says... #3
There was never a set devoted to those other 5 shards. Shards of Alara was pretty popular and that's where the naming convention came from.
January 24, 2014 1:43 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #4
The Apocalypse "wedge" names didn't catch on for 2 main reasons: decks of those color combinations weren't especially popular while the cards were in Standard, and there was no effort on the part of WotC to play up the wedges or their importance to the set and it's story. No one felt compelled to call decks by those names, so no one did. Nowadays the grand majority of players haven't been in the game long enough to have heard any of those names.
For the shard names, the 5 shards of the plane of Alara were majorly important to the thematic and mechanical structure of the entire block. Not only that, but the decks that were possible to build in those color combinations suddenly became very good, and variations of them started showing up in pretty much every sanctioned format. It was easy for everyone to understand what was meant when using the shard names for the color combinations, and the names were so easy to remember that their usage persists to the present day.
January 24, 2014 1:46 p.m.
SharuumNyan says... #5
I just feel like the naming is incomplete. I want some closure, damnit! lol
January 24, 2014 1:48 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #6
I agree with you. It's all there for the taking, too. We have the color names for single-color decks, the guild names for 2-colors, shards and wedges for 3-colors, Nephilim names for 4-colors (which no one uses because they're super clunky and difficult to remember), and "WUBRG"/"Chromatic" for 5-colors.
I do happen to use the Apocalypse names when thinking about decks like that, but because almost no one would understand me if I said them in a conversation I don't use them when talking to other people.
January 24, 2014 1:54 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #7
The only "official" designations are the colors themselves. You could argue that the Alara and Ravnica terms extend to the appropriate color combinations, but those terms succeeded because the community readily adopted them.
Other color terms, such as Junk for GWB and America for RWU, succeed for the same reason. Those are the terms the community has adopted. They serve the purpose well enough, at least until another set comes out that names those combinations.
January 24, 2014 1:59 p.m.
Of course, I'm the kind of Vorthos who sees someone using the guild names for a deck that is just in those two colours, but otherwise is thematically distinct from the actual mechanics and flavour of the guild and it makes me upset.
January 24, 2014 2:05 p.m.
Saying the names of any two-colour combination is two syllables.
The guild names are an average of 2.4 syllables long. Statistically it is just as informative, more apt to be accurate, and more efficient to just say 'green/white' as to say 'Selesnya'
January 24, 2014 2:07 p.m.
forestlore44 says... #11
GWB - commonly called 'Junk' , not sure why, might be a pun on Jund.
RUG- called Rug for obvious reasons
BUG- Bug
UWR- USA
WBR- Borzhov (Boros + Orzhov)
January 24, 2014 2:21 p.m.
I have (thankfully) never heard anybody use the word 'Borzhov' until now. I'd like to never hear it again.
January 24, 2014 2:23 p.m.
TheAmazingSalsa says... #14
more like BOREZHOV AMIRITE PPL?
heheh I'll get out of here now..
January 24, 2014 2:56 p.m.
I can my WRB deck Nazi Control then I get into trouble.
Secretly I refer to all 3-colour combinations as the Legendary Dragon from either Invasion or Planar Chaos that matches up with them but no one else sadly ever does :(
I've been playing for over 15 years and I still don't understand "Junk" or "Sligh".
Depending on where I'm playing a 5-colour deck is either Rainbow, Prism or Pride.
January 24, 2014 3:05 p.m.
notamardybum says... #16
No you're bit. Anyways I see a lot of people calling rbw Dega.
January 24, 2014 3:07 p.m.
The short and thick of it is the curve. It wants to use all of it's mana each turn. This means that's aiming to have a 1 drop turn 1, 2 drop turn 2, 3 drop turn 3, turn 4, what it can. So in an effort to do this, it runs a bunch of 1 drops, a few less 2, and a few less 3... Usually curves out around 4. There are variations of course, but his is the base of the deck and you see it in many aggro decks today. (Considering it originated in the mid 90's).
January 24, 2014 3:16 p.m.
BlastercoolWeird says... #18
I don't use the Apocalypse Wedge names because, as previously mentioned, Wizards never expanded on these five wedges thematically or mechanically, so I have trouble telling the names apart from one another, for me they're just meaningless words that need more explanation than saying BUG or RUG or America.
A Wedges of Alara would give each wedge a distinct thematic feel which would help the names they choose stick.
January 24, 2014 3:42 p.m.
SwiftDeath says... #19
American has also been called other names from other styles of the build, currently American Control, like the popular reanimator version known as French Rites. Orzhov + Boros has an official name already known as Oros from Oros, the Avenger ,
January 24, 2014 6:26 p.m.
smash10101 says... #20
@SwiftDeath: Almost no one uses the primordial dragons as names for wedges or shards.
And to everyone who complains about their country also having a RWU flag, this is America. If you don't like it then GTFO. (But really, because 'MURICA. We think too highly of ourselves.)
January 24, 2014 6:51 p.m.
Dalektable says... #21
I'm adding on another rule to the TappedOut drinking game. Whenever someone asks about a three-color combination name take a shot and slowly deteriorate your mind.
January 24, 2014 7:42 p.m.
So people are calling B/W/G "Junk" now? Back in my day, we called it "The Rock."
January 24, 2014 10:11 p.m.
acceleratum says... #24
this cycle brought guilds for the dual colors, maybe they will devote some cycle to the other 3 color combinations but until then we use guilds/shards and the mana symbols for wathever else..
February 21, 2014 11:53 a.m.
WBG=Junk
WUR=American
RUG=Rug
BUG=Bug
WBR=White BRead/Dega
February 21, 2014 3:06 p.m.
Other than just choosing to order the colours so they spell words, none of those except 'American' (which you'd think you'd at least have the decency to order RWU in your example) actually indicates through lore or logic, what colours they are.
February 21, 2014 3:32 p.m.
@Devonin, WBR is dega because of Degavolver , Dega Disciple , and Dega Sanctuary . I did WUR because of WUBRG. As to Junk, I honestly have no clue why it's called junk, that's just what everyone calls it(Junk Reanimator, Junk Tokens).
raithe000 says... #2
We'll probably just use whatever names they come up with when we get to Bizzaralara (Maro's pet name for the wedge set), so I'd prefer it if they didn't add another set of names to memorize before we get there.
January 24, 2014 1:43 p.m.