Magic: The Gathering has five colors, and they can be combined in a total of 25 ways, making for a plethora of ways to mix and match colors as you craft a deck.
There are 10 two-color, 10 three-color, and five four-color combos that exist. And while some are more prevalent than others depending on what format you’re playing, each has its own special name.
The five colors of MTG are Red, Blue, Green, Black and White. Combining all five colors in one deck is typically referred to simply as “five-colored,” and it is abbreviated as “WUBRG.”
Two-color combinations each have a name that is tied to lore based on the MTG plane Ravnica, which has multiple sets named after it. All 10 two-color combos are named after one of the plane’s guilds.
Here are the two-color combos in MTG:
- Azorius: White/Blue
- Boros: Red/White
- Dimir: Blue/Black
- Golgari: Black/Green
- Gruul: Red/Green
- Izzet: Blue/Red
- Orzhov: White/Black
- Rakdos: Black/Red
- Selesnya: White/Green
- Simic: Blue/Green
Though there are 10 three-color combos, half of them are named after the Alara block, cards that were released in the late 2000s. The other half have names that are related to the Tarkir block that came out in the 2010s.
The five Alara combos are named after the five shards of Alara. Each of those color combos is an “arc,” meaning that all three colors are next to one another on MTG’s color wheel.
The five “wedges,” are named after the five clans of Tarkir. Wedges in MTG refer to three-color combos that have two colors next to one another on the color wheel joined with one that is on the opposite side.
Here are the 10 three-color combos in MTG:
- Abzan: White/Black/Green
- Bant: White/Blue/Green
- Esper: White/Blue/Black
- Grixis: Blue/Black/Red
- Jeskai: White/Blue/Red
- Jund: Black/Red/Green
- Mardu: White/Black/Red
- Naya: White/Red/Green
- Sultai: Blue/Black/Green
- Temur: Blue/Red/Green
Four-color combinations are named after the four-color Nephilim creatures of Guildpact. Each different one had all but one of the colors in MTG in it.
- Glint: No White
- Dune: No Blue
- Ink: No Black
- Witch: No Red
- Yore: No Green