There are 26 ways to combine two or more of the five colours, and each one has a name. Pairs are named after the ten guilds of Ravnica, trios after the shards of Alara and the clans of Tarkir, and four-colour combinations after the 2016 Commander decks. All five colours together is WUBRG. Mana Grove, a free MTG deck builder for Commander, publishes this guide to the colour combinations and reads the colour identity of every commander in it from its own card database.
Every table below lists the colours in WUBRG order (white, blue, black, red, green) and names one commander in those colours. The last section covers colour identity, the rule that turns a combination into a Commander deck.
What does WUBRG mean?
WUBRG is the five colours in the order the rules list them: white, blue, black, red and green (Comprehensive Rules 105.1). The letters come from the mana symbols {W}, {U}, {B}, {R} and {G} (rule 107.4a), so blue is U and black is B. Say it "wooberg".
Put the colours around a circle in that order and you have the colour wheel. Neighbours on the wheel are allied colours: white and blue, blue and black, black and red, red and green, green and white. The other five pairs are enemy colours: white and black, blue and red, black and green, red and white, green and blue.
One detail trips people up. By convention, cards print a combination's mana symbols in wheel order rather than strict WUBRG order, which is why Boros Charm costs {R}{W}. Same colours, same name, whichever order you write them in.
What are the two-colour combinations called?
Every pair takes its name from one of the ten guilds of Ravnica, and each guild has mastered two of the five colours. Five guilds are allied pairs and five are enemy pairs.
| Guild | Colours | Pair | Example commander |
|---|---|---|---|
| Azorius | White, blue (WU) | Allied | Elminster |
| Dimir | Blue, black (UB) | Allied | The Scarab God |
| Rakdos | Black, red (BR) | Allied | Kardur, Doomscourge |
| Gruul | Red, green (RG) | Allied | Omnath, Locus of Rage |
| Selesnya | White, green (WG) | Allied | Trostani, Selesnya's Voice |
| Orzhov | White, black (WB) | Enemy | Teysa Karlov |
| Izzet | Blue, red (UR) | Enemy | Niv-Mizzet, Parun |
| Golgari | Black, green (BG) | Enemy | The Gitrog Monster |
| Boros | White, red (WR) | Enemy | Aurelia, the Warleader |
| Simic | Blue, green (UG) | Enemy | Tatyova, Benthic Druid |
What are the three-colour combinations called?
Three colours come in two shapes, and each shape has its own family of names.
A shard is three colours side by side on the wheel: one colour and both of its allies. The five take their names from the shards of Alara, five worlds that each ran on only three colours of mana, and the word comes from Shards of Alara, the first set built around these combinations.
| Shard | Colours | Example commander |
|---|---|---|
| Bant | White, blue, green (WUG) | Chulane, Teller of Tales |
| Esper | White, blue, black (WUB) | Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir |
| Grixis | Blue, black, red (UBR) | Sauron, Lord of the Rings |
| Jund | Black, red, green (BRG) | Disa the Restless |
| Naya | White, red, green (WRG) | Rin and Seri, Inseparable |
A wedge is one colour and both of its enemies. The five take their names from the clans of Tarkir: Khans of Tarkir, the set that made the word popular, was built around five wedge clans, and the same clans came back in Tarkir: Dragonstorm.
| Wedge | Colours | Example commander |
|---|---|---|
| Abzan | White, black, green (WBG) | Teneb, the Harvester |
| Jeskai | White, blue, red (WUR) | Dr. Madison Li |
| Sultai | Blue, black, green (UBG) | Muldrotha, the Gravetide |
| Mardu | White, black, red (WBR) | Isshin, Two Heavens as One |
| Temur | Blue, red, green (URG) | Maelstrom Wanderer |
What are the four-colour combinations called?
The four-colour names come from the 2016 Commander decks, which gave each four-colour combination a commander and a name. Before those decks, their designer wrote, the only four-colour cards were the five Nephilim from Guildpact.
| Name | Colours | Missing | Its 2016 commander |
|---|---|---|---|
| Artifice | White, blue, black, red (WUBR) | Green | Breya, Etherium Shaper |
| Chaos | Blue, black, red, green (UBRG) | White | Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder |
| Aggression | White, black, red, green (WBRG) | Blue | Saskia the Unyielding |
| Altruism | White, blue, red, green (WURG) | Black | Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis |
| Growth | White, blue, black, green (WUBG) | Red | Atraxa, Praetors' Voice |
The Nephilim cover the same five combinations, one each: Yore-Tiller Nephilim has no green, Glint-Eye Nephilim no white, Dune-Brood Nephilim no blue, Ink-Treader Nephilim no black and Witch-Maw Nephilim no red. At the table, the clearest way to say any four-colour combination is by its missing colour: Atraxa is four colours without red.
What is a five-colour deck called?
WUBRG, or simply five-colour. The First Sliver costs {W}{U}{B}{R}{G}, one mana of each colour, so a deck it leads can play a card of any colour.
How does colour identity work in Commander?
In Commander, the combination that matters is your commander's colour identity: the colours of every mana symbol in its mana cost and rules text, plus any colour indicator or colour-defining ability (Comprehensive Rules 903.4). Every card in the deck must fit inside it (903.5c). That makes Bosh, Iron Golem, a colourless {8} artifact creature, a commander with a red colour identity, because its ability costs {3}{R}. Hybrid symbols count as both of their colours, so Wort, the Raidmother, at {4}{R/G}{R/G}, is red and green and leads a Gruul deck. Reminder text never counts (903.4c), the back face of a double-faced card always does (903.4d), and a commander with no colour in its identity leads only colourless cards, and no land with a basic land type such as Plains (903.5c, 903.5d). Command Tower taps for any colour in that identity.
Frequently asked questions
How many colour combinations are there in MTG?
Thirty-one, counting the five single colours: those five, plus ten pairs, ten trios, five four-colour combinations and one five-colour combination. Count colourless as well and a commander can have 32 different colour identities.
What is the difference between a shard and a wedge?
Both are three colours. A shard is a colour with its two allies, three neighbours on the colour wheel, such as Esper's white, blue and black. A wedge is a colour with its two enemies, such as Mardu, which is white with black and red.
What are allied and enemy colours?
Allied colours sit next to each other on the colour wheel: white and blue, blue and black, black and red, red and green, green and white. Every other pair is an enemy pair: white and black, blue and red, black and green, red and white, green and blue. The first five guilds in the table above are the allied pairs.
What colour combination is Atraxa?
Atraxa, Praetors' Voice costs {G}{W}{U}{B}: white, blue, black and green, four colours without red. That combination is Growth, the name it got in 2016 with the Commander deck Atraxa led, and it is also the colours of Witch-Maw Nephilim.
Build a deck in your colours
Pick the combination, then the commander. Every commander linked above has its own page, and the Commander hub lists the most popular ones. In the deck builder, the Validation tab checks colour identity as you add cards: the deck builder basics show where it lives, and what Commander is covers the rest of the format. Create a free Mana Grove account to build with the full deck builder and format legality checks, and see plans and pricing for more time with Grover, Scry and Tutor.
Sources
- Comprehensive Rules, effective September 25, 2026: https://magic.wizards.com/en/rules. Read on October 26, 2026. Rules 105.1 (the five colours, in WUBRG order), 105.5 (the ten colour pairs), 107.4a (the mana symbols), 903.4 (colour identity, with its Bosh, Iron Golem example), 903.4c, 903.4d, 903.5c (with its Wort, the Raidmother example) and 903.5d.
- magic.wizards.com, read on October 26, 2026: the Ravnica and Alara plane pages (the ten guilds and their colours, the five shards); "A Few Words From R&D" (January 24, 2005: WUBRG); "A Few More Words from R&D" (November 2016: shards, wedges, allies, enemies and the order costs print colours in); the Khans of Tarkir Release Notes (September 18, 2014: the five wedge clans); the Tarkir: Dragonstorm Prerelease Guide (March 28, 2025); "Designing Commander (2016 Edition)" (October 24, 2016: the four-colour names and the Nephilim); and the Commander (2016 Edition) decklists (October 28, 2016: the five commanders).
- Mana Grove card database: the mana costs of Boros Charm, the five Nephilim and the five 2016 commanders, and the colour identity shown on each commander page linked above, read on October 26, 2026.
This article is updated when the names or the colour identity rules change. The date at the top is the last revision.
