Why are people using the clan names?
General forum
Posted on Aug. 13, 2014, 2:25 p.m. by jwe94
Not that it's that big of a deal but why are people thinking things like "now the wedges have names" when they're already named Dega 
( Dega Sanctuary
), Ceta 
( Ceta Sanctuary
), Necra ( Necra Sanctuary
), Raka ( Raka Sanctuary
), and Ana ( Ana Sanctuary
)
Is it just the original names never stuck or that most of the newer players have never heard of them
GoldGhost012 says... #3
The Clan names are the official wedge names, like Grixis, Naya, Jund, Esper, and Bant are the official shard names.
Speaking of clans, I really need to commit them to memory.
August 13, 2014 2:30 p.m.
TheNinjaJesus says... #4
Those names were names for cards, whereas names like Izzet, Rakdos, Golgari, Esper, Bant, etc, were names for things in the lore. Thus, when you said Dega, it's not like Dega had a unified aesthetic or a specific approach. This is compounded by the fact that since the R/U/W card didn't stick in the people's minds, people just ended up calling it "American"and B/U/G its literal acronym in BUG. When it has a name in lore it's a much more convenient and consistent psychological experience.
August 13, 2014 2:31 p.m.
TheNinjaJesus says... #5
Dammit, GoldGhost012... you beat me to it. We're even for that other time I ninja'ed you a comment. I wuv u.
August 13, 2014 2:32 p.m.
Well I'll yield to that as far as the shard names since those were planes the guilds are kind of used inaccurately in the sense that people use them to denote color when they should more so indicate play-style (but whatever we're talking wedges)
Anywho the clan names aren't exactly comparable to the shard names in my opinion because the shards were each different places whereas the clans are just factions in a singular plane but in the end who really cares as long as the cards are pretty
August 13, 2014 2:42 p.m.
TheNinjaJesus says... #8
You lose semantics, jwe94. Get your participation trophy on the way out.
August 13, 2014 2:46 p.m.
omnipotato says... #9
The shards had names in Invasion block too which no one used, because they weren't lore-based. Sunscape Familiar , Nightscape Familiar , Thornscape Familiar , Stormscape Familiar , Thunderscape Familiar
August 13, 2014 2:55 p.m.
omnipotato says... #11
That's my point, no one used those, and no one uses Ana, Dega, Ceta, etc. That's why everyone used the shard names, and that's why people are starting to use the clan names.
August 13, 2014 3:09 p.m.
Also, the original names belonged to what were effectively five different schools of magic study during Invasion block. They weren't significant to the story of the block. Their names showed up on all of 3 cycles, or 15 cards, all in one set.
For similar reasons, nobody uses the names of the five wedge colored dragons from Planar Chaos. They weren't significant to the story of Time Spiral block. They showed up on only 5 cards.
In contrast, the clans form the political background for the story of Khans of Tarkir block. Expect wedge-colored cards to show up in at least 4 or 5 cycles in the first set, and expect the clan names to show up in cycles again in the next two sets.
@jwe94
How is using the Shards to denote color more correct than using the Guilds for the same? All WUB decks are called Esper decks, but very few of them use Esper shard's theme of colored artifacts.
GoldGhost012 says... #2
They're not the "official" names created by Wizards. In fact, the only one of those that has really caught on is Dega. The rest are usually called RUG, Junk, American, and BUG.
August 13, 2014 2:29 p.m.