All Magic: The Gathering color combination names explained

In the 30+ year lifespan of Magic: The Gathering, countless mechanics, creatures, and even crossovers have been added to the game. Despite all of the changes and additions throughout the decades, MTG has maintained the same five mana colors. Each mana color represents vastly different playstyles and can be combined to create 25 different color combinations. These color combinations have been given lore-inspired nicknames, which gives each deck its own identity. 

You aren’t required to know the name associated with your deck, but it can help when searching for decks online or watching the Magic Pro Tour since decks are commonly referred to by their combination name. Most websites will organize decks by combination name + archetype, such as “Esper Midrange” or “Boros Convoke.” 

All color combination names in MTG explained

The most basic decks in MTG use only a single mana color. These decks are simply referred to as mono-color decks. An example of this would be mono-red decks, which focus entirely on the aggressive, low-cost cards that Red specializes in. 

When combining multiple colors, names taken from the lore of Magic: The Gathering represent each combination. It’s essential to learn a few different concepts to understand the naming conventions used for the various color combinations.

What letters represent each mana color?

With the exception of Blue, each mana color in MTG can be referred to by the first letter of its name:

• G – Green
• R – Red
• W – White
• B – Black
• U – Blue (since Black and Blue share “B” and “L”, Blue goes by U)

What are allied and enemy colors in MTG?

Each of the five mana colors represents a different playstyle in Magic: The Gathering. Some mechanics or abilities are unique to a particular mana color which helps provide each color’s identity within the game. Some of the strategies for the colors work well together, while others clash and are more difficult to combine within a deck; These are known as “allied” and “enemy” colors. 

Allied colors

Allied colors have roughly the same strategy within MTG. One of the most popular allied color combinations is known as “Azorius Control,” which consists of Blue and White. White mana cards contain a large amount of hard removal spells such as “Exile” and “Destroy” cards. Blue mana cards are known for counterspells and “Draw” cards which ensure that players always have a spell up their sleeve. The combination of Blue and White allows for complete control over the battlefield.

Enemy colors

On the other hand, enemy colors have vastly different strategies and aren’t as easy to combine within a single deck. An example of this would be an “Izzet Spellslinger” deck that pairs the control spells from Blue with the aggressive nature of Red creatures. While the strategies of the colors contrast each other, the inclusion of Blue spells offers staying power to the Red creatures which otherwise wouldn’t have many defensive options.

Allied and enemy decks aren’t better or worse than each other. Rather, they are something to keep in mind when determining a deck’s overall strategy. Allied colors have similar strategies and are much easier to pull off when given the opportunity. However, they also share similar weaknesses that your opponents can exploit. Enemy colors aren’t as focused as allied colors, but as seen in the example above, enemy colors can cover each other’s weaknesses much better than allied colors can. 

How to determine allied and enemy colors

Figuring out what colors are considered allies or enemies of each other is simple. On the back of each MTG card, the five mana colors are arranged into a pentagon. For any given color, the two colors adjacent are known as allied colors, while the two colors opposite of it are enemy colors. An example of this would be Blue being adjacent to White and Black (Allied) but opposite to Green and Red (Enemy). 

List of all color combination names in Magic: The Gathering (MTG)

MTG’s two-color combination names

Across every format in Magic: The Gathering, most decks are pairs of two mana colors. The original Ravnica block sets were focused on guilds that each had a pair of mana colors as their identity. Since then, the names of these guilds have been used to refer to each of the 10 two-color combinations.

MTG’s two-color combinations (Ravnica guilds):

• Azorius – Blue/White (UW)
• Boros – Red/White (RW)
• Dimir – Blue/Black (UB)
• Golgari – Black/Green (BG)
• Gruul – Green/Red (GR)
• Izzet – Blue/Red (UR)
• Orzhov – Black/White (BW)
• Rakdos – Black/Red (BR)
• Selesnya – Green/White (GW)
• Simic – Blue/Green (UG)

MTG’s three-color combination names

While three-color combinations don’t have the iconic guilds of Ravnica to be named after, they do have two different naming sources of their own. Remember the allied and enemy colors we explained earlier? The three-color combinations in Magic: The Gathering are organized into two different types based on allied and enemy colors: 

• The allied colors are named after shards from the 2008 Shards of Alara block. 
• The enemy colors are named after the five clans from the 2014 Khans of Tarkir block.

Here are the names of the allied three-color combinations in MTG: 

• Bant – Blue/Green/White
• Esper – Black/Blue/White
• Grixis – Black/Blue/Red
• Jund – Black/Green/Red
• Naya – Green/Red/White

Here are the names of the enemy three-color combinations in MTG:

• Abzan – Black/Green/White
• Jeskai – Blue/Red/White
• Mardu – Black/Red/White
• Sultai – Black/Blue/Green
• Temur – Blue/Green/Red

MTG’s four-color combination names

There are only five different four-color combinations in Magic: The Gathering. Just like the two-color combinations, the nicknames for these come from the Ravnica block. But instead of the combinations being named after guilds, they’re named after the first word used in the names of the four-color creatures known as the Nephilim. These creatures are:

• Dune-Brood Nephilim
• Glint-Eye Nephilim
• Ink-Treader Nephilim
• Witch-Maw Nephilim
• Yore-Tiller Nephilim

Here are the names of the four-color combinations in MTG:

• Dune – Black/Green/Red/White (No Blue)
• Glint – Black/Blue/Green/Red (No White)
• Ink – Blue/Green/Red/White (No Black)
• Witch – Black/Blue/Green/White (No Red)
• Yore – Black/Blue/Red/White (No Green)

MTG’s Five-color combination name

Last but not least, the five-color combination name has a simpler approach than the other combinations. Many players simply say “all colors” or “rainbow” when referring to these decks. But you can also find some players that refer to the five-color combination as “WUBRG” (woo-berg) after the letters that represent each of the colors.