Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - #694: Trivia – Top 50 Words

Episode Date: November 27, 2019

What are the 50 words that show up in the most Magic card titles? In this podcast, I go through that list and talk a bit about how we name cards.

I'm pulling my driveway. We all know what that means. It's time for another drive to work. Okay, so I thought I'd do something a little bit different. So, for a head-to-head that I did a while back, with the help of April King, who some of you might know as Cube April, I got a list of the top 50 words that had been used in card names. Now, for the head-to-head, I took out all the little articles and things and the creature types and just did words that were not little mini words and not creatures. But for today, what I'm going to do is I'm going to talk about the top 50 words in names. But, to make it a little different, I'm going to turn

this into a trivia podcast. So what's going to happen is for each one, I'm going to give you a trivia question off the top of my head and then see if you can figure out what it is we're talking about. So this is me sharing information with you, but also, so the idea is I will give you the clue and then you see if you can figure it out. Okay, number one, the most used words in magic card titles. There is 2,161 uses. So a lot of cards have this word. And my clue is that it is a two-letter word. So what is it? What two-letter word appears in 2161? Notice that number two, that the next

most is 1116. So this is by far the most used word in Magic Card Names. Two words. And it is... Of. Yes, very exciting. I think we have a lot of ofs because we just love doing... One of the things I think we realize about fantasy names in some ways is Blink of Blink sounds so much more like... It's not just my winter coat. It is my coat of winter. It just sounds, it's kind of like how a lamb chop doesn't sound too exciting, but a leg of lamb sounds a lot more exciting. So anyway, the number one word is of. Okay, number two with 1,116 is a word that we don't often use as the first word in a name. Although, Throne of Eldraine did five times.

So this is the number two word, 1,116 uses. What is the word? So once again, it is a word that we don't tend to use as the first word in a name. But Throne of Eldraine, despite that rule, had five cards that did. And the answer is the. So the reason we don't often use the as the first word in a name is that technically when we're referring to a card, so let's say we had like the fallen. If you're going to say, if I want to talk about the card, I would have to say, I happen to get a copy of the, the fallen. And so the double the is just awkward. So we don't use the all that often. We did a cycle of legendary artifacts

in Throne of Eldraine. And four of the five, all but Embercleave, had the in the name. And then we did a card for both the combination of Rowan and Will, and that was called the Royal Scion. So anyway, the is not something we tend to start wording. Now, we do use the a lot. Obviously, it's in over a thousand words. And usually, it is in like, you know,

read the bones, or it's a lot, both ofs and the show up a lot in legendary creatures too. Legendary name, comma, of the, or, you know, legendary of the blah, blah, blah. Actually, we do a lot of of the, that's why those are together. Okay. Now we get to number three, the first one that is not an article. Okay. Number three, there's 167 uses.

Okay. So this, it's a creature type. It first showed up in Alpha, and I believe there were two cards that were of the creature type in Alpha when printed, although there was a third card that also had this word in its name, and years later, it would become the creature type, but it wasn't originally the creature type. What is the word? 167 uses in magic? And the answer is... Goblin. So Mons' Goblin

Raiders and Goblin Balloon Brigade were, I think, the only two wind-printed goblins in Alpha. There's a third card, Goblin King. Goblin King originally was not a goblin. I think it was a king or a lord or something. But anyway, in the early days, there was only one creature type per card. And even then, I think artifact creatures didn't even have creature types. So the idea was that you had to be one thing. And so since the Goblin King, I guess, was a king, they decided to make it a king.

Even though if you look at the card, it clearly is a goblin. I mean, I guess you could be king of the goblins without being a goblin, but he was a goblin. Okay, number four, with 113 uses. This is also a creature type. We've done a lot of surveys over the years. And this is the one I'm not sure it's won every single one we've done

but it's won a lot of them and it's by far it's the one that most often is coming first 113 uses so what creature type is according to our surveys the most popular creature type when we poll people

about what creature types they like and there's 113 copies of this in Magic of the name in Magic The most popular creature type. We poll people about what creature types they like. And there's 113 copies of this in Magic, of the name in Magic. And the answer is dragon. So dragon, the reason there's 113 dragons is kind of like goblin. We like putting the word goblin in the name of goblins just because it's goblin and fill in goblin, whatever, snowman, goblin, rockslad, goblin, you know, it's fun to have the word goblin.

Dragon, I think dragon's even more so in the sense that a good chunk of dragons have the word dragon in their name. And like I said, it is a very popular creature type. It's Red's iconic, but because it's so popular, it's the one iconic that we've cycled the most number of times,

meaning we've made a full cycle of dragons. We did that numerous times. We did that in Mirage. We did that in Invasion. We did that in Planar Chaos, I think. We did it, anyway, we've done a lot of, we did it in Dragons of Tarkir. We did it in Fate Reforged. So anyway, we've done a lot of, uh, we did it in Dragon of Tarkir. We did it in Fate Reforged.

Um, so anyway, we've, we've made a lot of dragons. Okay, number five. Okay, number five is also a creature type. 97 uses. I think, by the way, that, uh, if it's, if there's 97 uses, that means there's 97 of this creature. I believe this creature, one for one, every time we've used it, it has appeared in the name, I believe. More trivia.

This creature originally appeared in a homemade set when Mike Elliott, before he came to work for Wizards, made his own set at home. When he got the job at Wizards, Wizards bought the right to his set, and then he ended up putting it in the very first set he worked on.

What is... So 97 uses. What is this word? The answer is sliver. Yes, Mike made the slivers. So in the original set he had made, there was a creature that fell from the heavens, I think, and it split into mini slivers.

They were all slivers of this original being. When we moved it over, Michael and I were doing the Weatherlight Saga at the time. It was Tempest. Obviously it was a set. And so he and I changed them into these shape-shifting hive mind creatures. And so the idea was

the whole flavor of them is they can change their shape. And because by flavor of them is they can change their shape and because by changing their shape they can change their functionality for example they could learn to grow wings and in the hive mind when let's say one of them goes off and learns how to grow wings so it can fly

when it gets into the hive mind it shares its knowledge of how to shape wings with the rest of the hive mind and now all of them can fly because now they can shape wings that's the rest of the hive mind and now all of them can fly because now they can shape wings. That's the flavor of the slivers. Okay, number six is 96 uses.

It is another two-letter word. So obviously not as many as the 261 of of, but this is a two-letter word and it is used, I would guess, mostly in spells, in instants and sorceries. What is it? Two, T-O. I think, the reason I believe it's used mostly there is instants and sorceries tend to be verbs and expressions that imply action. And two is, you know, it's a preposition, but it's used in those kind of things.

Okay, number seven with 87 uses. Okay, so this one is also a creature type, but it has two meanings. And some of the time, it's the second meaning that it talks about, not the creature type. So it is a creature type, and the creature type, and sometimes in names, the name is referring to the creature type, but there's a completely different usage. I mean, the different usage is somewhat related, but it's a different usage. It's an adjective and not a noun. So when it's a creature type, it's a noun. When it's this other thing, it's an adjective.

And there's 87 uses of it. What is the word? The answer is giant. So giants first showed up in Alpha, hill giant. And also it used as the adjective as giant spider. So Alpha started strong. One of the things that we had talked about early on was if you are a creature that is a giant version of something, meaning you're a giant spider, are you a giant?

Like, should you have the creature type giant? And the answer we came to was no, that a giant is a certain kind of creature. That giant doesn't imply large. It implies that you're a certain kind of creature. And so only giants are giants. A creature that is large is not a giant. Being a giant spider doesn't make you a giant.

I mean, it makes you a spider. Okay, number 84. I'm sorry, number 8 with 84 uses. This is a creature type that I, along with Brady Divermuth, our former creative director, try to get out of magic. We tried to expunge from magic, but we failed. And it came back just because there were lots of people that liked this.

And the reason I try to get rid of it is I don't believe it belongs as a creature. And the answer is wall. So that goes back to alpha as well. Wall of stone, wall of wood. There are a bunch of walls. The reason we try to get rid of it is from a purely creative standpoint, it's not a creature.

Like a wall, it's not a creature. But, I don't know, people love their walls. And so they got, I mean, we kind of removed them. There were enough people within R&D that loved walls that walls eventually came back. I mean, we did at some point separate. Walls originally carried the, we did, defender wasn't originally a keyword. Walls just inherently had defender.

And then we decided to break out all the, we didn't want any creature types that had rules baggage. So Legend at the time did and Wall did. So Legend became Legendary. It was no longer a creature type. And Wall lost it. And then Wall...we made Defender as an ability. All Walls ended up getting Defender. But we separated that. Okay, number 9 with 80 uses. Another creature type. This one has appeared in all five colors and numerous times in all five colors. I think it most often shows up in red, followed by blue, followed by green, followed by, I think, black, and then white has the least, I believe. And this is something that

we have used to be a pretty broad category. But we've also made, there are times and places, but this is also something that we've done tribal stuff with. Okay, the answer is elemental. So elementals go back to alpha. Alpha had air elemental, earth elemental, water elemental, and fire elemental. And earth and fire and red and air and water and blue because those are, those elements go in those colors. Since then

we've been a lot looser. Elementals have been made up of all sorts of things. I mean, early on we did stuff like wood and fungus. And then eventually we just started getting esoteric with it. Like, it's a time elemental. It's made up of time. But anyway, and then we've also made

individual creatures, like in lore when the Flamekin were elemental. So we've definitely experimented and done a bunch of different things with them. Okay, number 10 with 7, or there's two tied for 10, but the first one with 10 was 74, also

creature type. This creature type usually shows up in the top 5 creature types. I think, I don't remember it ever winning, but I think I've seen it as high as two. But usually it's near the top. It showed up in Alpha.

It was one of the creature types. In fact, it was a very it showed up in Alpha and was one of the most popular cards in Alpha when Alpha first came out. And it's gone on to be something we do, not every set, but most sets. The answer is Angel! So Angel is White's iconic. Every color has a creature that is mostly done in rare that's bigger and splashy that we tend to do at, well, not every set, a lot of sets. Sarah Angel obviously was an alpha. It was an uncommon

in alpha. And it was quite popular. It was one of the most popular cards in alpha when it originally came out. We primarily do angels as female. But I think Amonkhet had some male angels. Okay, next. So, also tied in 10th place with 74. This is also a creature type. It did not... It's a creature type. It did not...

It's a creature type that I believe did show up in Alpha, but we did just smatterings of it until Champions of Kamigawa block, where I think we did more in Champions of Kamigawa block than we had done up to that point. And Champions of Kamigawa block than we had done up to that point. And Champions of Kamigawa Block

actually mechanically cared about it. It is spirit. So spirit is our fantasy word. We use it for a bunch of things. We use it for ghosts. And we use it for undead creatures

of an ephemeral state. We have other undead things like vampires and zombies and things. But this is more of a ephemeral state. We have other undead things like vampires and zombies and things. But this is more of an ephemeral, more ghosty type things. Spirits have shown up in all five colors. But you most often see them in white and blue. Obviously, spirits became one of the monsters in Innishrod. So we did spirit tribal with them in... The reason Kamigawa, there's so many of them, is there was a war between the spirits and

the kami, which were the spirits, and the humans. And so there were a lot of spirits in the set. There was even a mechanic that cared about spirits. So it was very... And then we, once again, we went to Innistrad, we've cared about spirits. So spirits have definitely had some tribal love. Okay, number 73. A creature type.

So this is a creature type that showed up in Alpha. It is connected to another creature type, yet somehow it's its own creature type. And it is often misdrawn as a, it is often misdrawn as yet another creature type. So a creature type from alpha,

it is connected to a second creature type in what it is, and is often misdrawn as a third creature type. What is it? The answer is worm. So W-U-R-M. So A, a worm is a flightless dragon, so it's connected to dragons. Technically, a worm means a dragon without wings. But we often draw, or we, many times worms, W-U-R-M,

are drawn like giant worms, W-O-R-M-S. Now, W-O-R-M is a creature type, but there's a lot of W-U-R-M's that are drawn like W-O-R-M's, although never small, they're always giant. Okay, number 13 with 71 uses. Okay, I'll give a funny story, which I think I've told. 71 uses. Okay. I'll give a funny story, which I think I've told. So the trivia question here is, we asked an artist to draw this creature being shot by a lightning bolt.

And when we got the sketch in, instead of drawing this creature, they drew a duck. What is this creature type? And once again, it's shown up 71 times. The answer is drake. So a drake is

not, I mean, it has dragon-like qualities to it, but it is a, it is something that flies. It's smaller. We tend to use it in blue. Like a windrake was an alpha, so drakes go all the way back to alpha. The reason they drew a duck, by the way, is a drake is also a male

duck. So the artist in question didn't know the fantasy creature drake, so they just drew a drake in the animal kingdom, which was a male duck. Okay, number 14 with 66 uses. This is the first one that's not an article and not a creature type.

This was the top seed in my head-to-head. So this word shows up usually in black or red. I think most often in black, but sometimes in red. And it is something that every human has. See if we can figure that one out. So the answer is blood. So the reason it is used in black a lot is black has a lot of violence in it.

It is used in red, well, because red has a lot of violence in it. But also, a lot of times, when you want expressions that talk about, like, like bloodlust or blood fury and stuff. It's sort of like you getting out of control, which red often gets out of control, will often use the blood.

Okay, number 15 with 65 uses. Okay, so this is another one, a word that is not a creature type, not an article. It is something that humans have, but more metaphysically. And it is used a lot to... Usually spells that have this word in it relate to creatures in some way, or are creatures.

So the answer is soul. So we've used soul in a lot of different ways. Black a lot of times we use soul when it's harming things. And I think white we use soul when it's talking about creatures some of the time. But anyway, we use soul a lot much. Okay, number 16, or tied for 16, the first one up, with 63 uses. This is a creature type that is almost always shown on horseback. What is the creature type? The answer is knight. So knight goes all the way back to alpha as well. White and black knight were in alpha.

We have a lot of means of combat in the game. And so we have numerous words that mean you're good at combat. A knight specifically means A, you're trained. And B, you have usually some sort of armor. And most often you're pictured on horseback. And you have weapons of some kind, like a lance or a spear, something a little more grandiose than just a soldier. Okay, number 17, oh, sorry, the one tied with 16, at 63. This is a word that is a synonym for fighting because magic is a game about conflict. And this shows up.

This is the synonym for conflict that shows up the most number of times on card names. And I don't know what the earliest card to use this word is, but it showed up, I think, pretty early on. Anyway, the word is... War.

So, I think war shows up in a bunch of different places. White and red definitely use it because it has the soldiers. It also sometimes gets used metaphorically, but I think white and red is where it shows up the most. Okay, number 18 with 60 uses. This is a word that I often get asked. People often complain that this isn't a creature type. This is something that people want to be a creature type, but it is not a creature type. The word first showed up in antiquities, expansion antiquities, and it has shown up, it has been a reoccurring word that has shown up many times during magic.

It is not, it is something that's story related, meaning it usually when it shows up is because something is in the set, usually. So what is the word? The answer is Phyrexian. So the Phyrexians first showed up in Antiquities. They were part of the Brothers War, which is the first magic story. They are, I think, magic's oldest villain. They have shown up numerous times. They show up in the Brothers War. They show up in the Weatherlight Saga. They show up in the Scars of Mirrodin

story. And maybe one day, maybe one day we'll see them again. When they first got introduced in Antiquities we did make a creature type out of them. And by the time it really became an issue to talk about, there's been enough of them that we just felt it wasn't, it didn't

make sense to do that. If I had to do all over again, would I make Phyrexian a creature type? I might, I might. But I think we've passed the window where we can do that. Okay, number 19 with 59 uses is something that happens to everybody. And it is something that happens a lot in the game of Magic. It shows up 59 times. It shows up mostly in black.

Mostly in black. Mostly in black. In fact, it is a tool of black. The answer is death. It's a game about conflict, and a lot of creatures will die. Dies itself is a term, so death shows up a lot.

Usually tied in black, sometimes on black creatures, sometimes on black creatures, sometimes on black spells, but black is a color that harnesses death, so it makes sense it shows up there. Number 20, with 57 uses. This is a creature type, not used a lot, but it's technically a creature type. It is used on creatures that are protective. So what is it? And the answer is... Guardian. I know Arabian Nights had a Guardian.

I'm not sure if that's the first Guardian. But anyway, I'm actually surprised there's 57 Guardians. For example, I'm not sure every Guardian with a name in it is a creature type guardian. Maybe it is. We tend to make them creature types if they're in the name. Okay, number 21 with 56 uses. This is something that shows proficiency, sometimes at magic, sometimes at fighting, but shows that you are very good at something.

And there's 56 uses of this. The answer is master! I don't know the first word. We've used master a lot, and sometimes it's master of the blank, and sometimes it's blank master.

Okay, number 22. With 55 uses. There's two of them tied at 22. So the first one is a substance found in the world. And it is something that can be quite dangerous. It is usually destructive. But it can be harnessed to do good things. And in fact, humans have harnessed this and used it to do something pretty important, I would say.

But anyway, it is something that is very dangerous. It's natural, very dangerous, but it's been harnessed by man to be able to do good. And the answer is fire. Fire shows up primarily in red. It is the element of fire is a red thing. Direct damage, of which most fire things are related. Usually things are made of fire or they are spells of fire.

All that tends to be red. Okay, number... So tied at number 22 with 55 is a synonym for magic user. So master, which already showed up, obviously shows proficiency, but this word specifically means it's a synonym for a magic user. And it is the most common synonym for magic user to show up in names. And the word is mage. It just sounds fancy, sounds fantasy. So we like to use mage a lot.

Okay, number 24. Number 24 with 54 uses is an artifact creature type that shows up more than any other in name. What is it? It showed up in alpha. And it originally has a Jewish origin. So the answer is Gollum. So Gollums actually come from Jewish mythology, like in the poor Jewish towns, they would make a protector and they would carve it out of like clay or something. But anyway, Richard was

making artifact creatures. He liked the idea of the artifact creatures being artificial, obviously. And so a golem seemed like a cool thing to do. Number 25, uh, with 53 uses. This is another, um, two letter word and it is, I think a preposition.osition. And it is something that... I think it shows up both on creatures and on spells. Anyway, not much more I can say. It has an opposite that is three letters long. And the opposite is not showing up yet, but I'm sure the opposite shows up some.

And the answer is in. In. Okay, number 26 at 52 uses. So there's two types, 26 and 52 uses. This is a word that is a creature type that is a synonym for magic user. But unlike mage, this is a synonym, but also is a creature type.

And the answer is... Oh, and this tends to show somebody who is less formally trained. And the answer is shaman. So the difference between a wizard and a shaman is a wizard tends to be schooled. They go and they tend to learn their craft. Whereas shaman...

Not that a shaman can't be taught. They can be. But, they can be, but it tends to be more something passed down rather than a formalized training. Okay. Also tied for number 26 at 52 is the first work that is,

it is a mechanic. Now, not every card that uses this word has the mechanic, although a lot of cards with the mechanic does use the word. But I believe this is the first time on this list that a mechanic's come up. So this word predated the mechanic existing, and it's even postdated. There are cards that do not have the mechanic

that have this word on them. What is the word? The answer is storm. So we use storm in a bunch of different ways. Usually storm in names is referring to like the weather storm, but it's also used metaphorically a lot. A lot of times when you're making a spell or something if I you know it's a firestorm is it you know a collection of fire so it is used metaphorically a lot okay number 28 is a creature type 50 uses it has both been an iconic creature type and a characteristic creature type meaning it has appeared both as a splashy, rare thing, and as a common, a regular common thing that shows up in number. It is something that belongs,

well, shows up almost exclusively in one color. And that is vampire. So vampire, like I said, vampire mostly shows up on vampires. and that is vampire so vampire like I said vampire mostly shows up on vampires we've made a lot of vampires and usually when it shows up in spells it would be vampiric

which I'm sure that word shows up a bunch but okay number 29 or tied for 29 there's two of them that have 49 uses this is a word I believe that magic made up, but it is based on a real word.

It does magic's slight tweak on a real word, and it refers to a certain kind of animal, a real-world animal. I believe it first showed up, I think, in the Odyssey block. That's where I think it first showed up, this word. But we've since used it many places. Okay, the word is aven. It is a word for our bird people based on the word, I assume, avian, A-V-I-A-N.

But I believe aven is our, I think, magic word. And it's what we call our bird people. It is our word for bird people. Okay, also tied at 29 with 49 uses. word for bird people. Okay, also tied at 29 with 49 uses. This is a word that is a synonym

for well, it's used often to mean somebody who's good at fighting. But usually it means that they not only are good at fighting but they win a lot of fights specifically. It's a word that sort of says, this fighting, but they win a lot of fights specifically.

It's a word that sort of says, this is somebody who's won a lot of fights. And it has shown up in a lot of different colors just because fighting and being good at fighting show up in a lot of different colors. So the word is champion. Like I said, magic has a lot of fighting in it, so being good at fighting means something. Okay. Number 31, or tied for 31, Like I said, magic has a lot of fighting in it, so being good at fighting means something.

Okay, number 31, or tied for 31, with 48 uses. This is a word that shows up on a very iconic alpha spell, something that has been reprinted in the core set. And one time it got reprinted in the core set, it was shocking that it got reprinted. Dun-dun-dun. And the answer is, a little pun there, And one time it got reprinted in the core set. It was shocking that it got reprinted. Dun, dun, dun. And the answer is a little pun there. Lightning, as in lightning bolt.

Usually lightning shows up in red, normally on direct damage. Like fire, I think lightning is more associated with red than any other color. Okay, also tied at 31 with 48 uses is a word that shows up mostly in blue and black. Blue and black are the two colors that tend to mess with this. Black usually in a more destructive, hurtful way, and blue in a useful but not quite as damaging way. And that word is mind.

Blue likes to mess with the mind, make you forget things and change your memories where black tends to lobotomy you and warp your mind and stuff. I think that mind shows up slightly more in black than blue and blue will use words like brain

a little more than black does. Okay, number 33 with 47 uses. Okay, this is a word that originally, I mean, it has its own meaning, but in magic, it's come to mean a very specific mechanical execution. And now, I think we only use this word when we mean this mechanical execution. And now I think we only use this word when we mean this mechanical execution. It is something that we've cycled many times. The fact that there's 47 uses of this

makes me think we've cycled it nine times. That 45 of the 47 have been part of cycles. What is the word? The answer is charm. So charm originally just means a small magical spell, but it got used in Mirage on a cycle of cards where the idea was, let's take three effects that are so small,

it's hard to put them on a card, but by giving you the choice of the three effects, it's something we can do. We did the Mirage, we did the cycle in Mirage, we did the cycleone Visions. We've since done two-color cycles. We've done three-color cycles. They have shown up in most color combinations

of three-color or less. Okay, number 34 is a creature type. First showed up, I believe, in Alpha. I know it showed up in Alpha. It is a creature type that the reason I think it's as high as it is is I think we use it in its name most time you see it. It is something that's primarily red.

And I think we play them up as being not super bright, but strong. And the answer is Ogre. There's 46 cards with Ogre in their name in magic. Okay, number 35. This is a word that is used primarily in black. It is an adjective and a noun. And it is something that relates to the human condition but it's used primarily in black

it can be used on creatures it is a noun often used on creatures and it is an adjective often used on spells and it is very much playing to something that's a core iconic element of black and the answer is dead so stuff like the walking dead will be a creature where dead reckoning would be a spell. Okay, number 36

with 43 uses. So dead had 44 uses. This is another synonym for being a good fighter. This is probably the one we've done more tribal interaction with than any other synonym for fighter.

And the answer is warrior. So originally we tended to make soldiers white and blue and we tended to make warriors red and green and then black kind of split the difference. Um, because we've embraced more tribal stuff with warrior, you've seen more warriors show up in stuff like white and blue. And in fact, we have recently done a lot more warrior tribal than we've done soldier tribal.

Okay, next. 37. Tied to 37. With 42 uses. This is a word that we use to refer to the substance between worlds. We were talking about going through the blind eternities. It's this substance.

So this shows up in names a lot when referencing the substance between worlds. A lot of times when we talk about summoning and stuff, this word will show up. And this word used to have a ligature in it, but it no longer does. And the word is aether. So ligature is A and E.

There's a letter that's an A and E combined that we used to do with Aether. It was causing so much problems with like mechanically with databases and things that when we made the set Aether Revolt I championed to get it changed

and get the ligature removed. So I killed the ligature. Anyway, it shows up a lot. It shows up more in blue than any other color, although it shows up in red some. But anyway, it's mostly on... It shows up on enchantments and spells that reference usually summoning. Okay, also tied to 37 with 42 uses.

This is both a noun and an adjective. As a noun, it's a creature type, but used sparingly. As an adjective, it means magical. What is it? The answer is mystic. We don't use the mystic creature type all that often,

though it technically is a creature type. But we more often in words use it as a synonym for magical. Also tied at 37 with 42 uses. This is an adjective that talks about the state of things. It's usually referred to animals that are really referred to as this, although people can be. It is something that mostly shows up in green on green cards. In fact, I guess that the vast majority of the time it showed up in green cards.

It is a synonym for out of control or also a synonym for feral. And the answer is wild. We use it a lot in green because green is where we tend to put animals. And usually we talk about losing control in a feral sense that's referring to green. Okay, tied at 40. There's two different ones tied at 40. The first one is, with 41 uses, is I think another preposition, I think. Three-letter words.

Another preposition, I think. Three-letter words. And I think it's often used as blink. Blink, this word blink, I think. But anyway, it's a three-word. I think it's a preposition, I think. And the answer is four. I don't know what the clue for that one is.

Okay, number 41. Oh, sorry, tied for 40 with 41 uses is this is a creature type that has its origin in Greek mythology. We tend to use it for small white flyers. It is griffin. So griffin is, I think it's got the body of a lion and the head and the wings of an eagle, I think. Anyway, Greek mythology loves doing weird combinations of creatures. We tend to use a lot in white just because we need small white flyers. Sometimes we want creatures and it's something that just has been folded into fantasy. Okay, number 42 with 40 uses. This is a creature type that is unique to magic.

In fact, unique to Dominaria. There was one creature with this creature type that was very powerful. When we returned to Dominaria, people asked us to make more of this creature, which we did. Although we didn't make a lot of it. And the answer is Kabu. I'm not sure why Kabus aren't just beasts. We somehow decided to make our own animal and we liked it and anyway

it's become a thing so we still make Kabu. Okay, number 43 with 39 uses. This is another creature type. One that has an origin in Greek mythology and is something that has become an iconic

creature type. This one shouldn't be too hard. It is Sphinx. It is Blue's iconic creature type. It is something that we, Blue, we tried a lot of different things. We tried like djinns and elementals and we tried a bunch of different things for

Blue's elemental. Eventually we landed on Sphinx. The reason we like Sphinx is that they're very smart, and they crave knowledge, and they ask riddles and stuff. And so we like the idea that they crave knowledge, and that they flew, because Blue is also the creature of air. So we like the idea it's a kind of flew. So Sphinx was both kind of smart, cared about information, and flew. Okay, number 44.

Tied for 44 with 38 uses. This is a synonym of old. But it's a fancier term. I think it shows up in a bunch of different colors. It also shows up sometimes in artifacts. Because artifacts tend to be old sometimes. And the answer is ancient. Number tied for 44 with 38 is another preposition, I think,

a four-letter preposition. And it is usually part of an expression or sometimes it's used with legendary creatures to talk about their home place. And the answer is from. Okay, now tied at 37 is the next three. So number 46, this is a word that has since become associated with a mechanic

first showing up in Innistrad, but it's now shown up in other worlds. It is a mechanic exclusively seen on auras. And the answer is Curse. We had some Curses before, but once in Innistrad, we came up with these enchant players that were Curses

that did bad things to the players in Enchanted. And that has become something that was popular in Innistrad. We've done it a few other times. And it's just become deciduous now that we can do curses wherever we like to do curses. But they're enchant players. Next,

also tied at 46 with 37 uses, this is another creature type that is a magic user exclusively, or almost exclusively in green. Okay, the answer is druid. Druids tend to be magic users that are very, very tied to nature. That's why they're almost exclusively green. Okay, the last one tied, so the last one tied to 46 with 37 uses is a word that's not a creature type, but very much associated with a creature type.

I believe most things that have this word are of a particular creature type. Not one I've named yet, interestingly. So this word shows up in the creature type that it is. Although I'm surprised the creature type doesn't show up more. Anyway, this is a word, a synonym for protector. And the answer is guard. So guard usually is a soldier. Although it's interesting that guard shows up more than soldier in card names.

But anyway, it's a word that showed a lot there. Okay, so the final, there's three tied at 49, my final three. Okay, the first one, all of them have 36 uses. So my first one is, I think this is, what is this? Oh, it's a conjunction. It's a conjunction. Actually, now that I think of it, maybe from is also a conjunction. Anyway, this is a conjunction.

From is also a conjunction. Anyway, this is a conjunction. And it is used in this very sentence I just used. It is and. I realized that I said the word and as I was talking about it. It is the word and. The reason, by the way, that and is not higher than it is, is because of split cards. The naming convention up until recently for split cards had been two words that go together, so blink and blank.

So we've used up a lot of the blink and blank names in split cards, but the and is implied and not actually there. And so maybe we would make assault and battery as a card name, except we made assault and battery. So, okay, Number, tied for 49 and 36, the second one. This is a creature type unique to magic and unique to the world of

Mirrodin. It's an artifact creature type, not Mirrodin. And it is Myr. That is correct. Myr is a creature we made. I think the word was borrowed from Myrmidon, which is a Greek mythology thing, although we made our version of them. Those were living things, and these are artifacts.

But anyway, Myr are very popular. I would love to maybe have Myr show up somewhere else, just because Myr are cute. Okay, and the final one of the top 50, although it's the 51st, but it's tied for 49th. With 36 uses is yet another word

for a guard. And this is, this one is not always tied to, like, guard is most often a soldier. This one is, it's something that guards things, but it is often, often, I mean, not that it can't

be used with soldiers, but it is often used with more mystical creatures that are guarding something. And the answer is... Oh, a little trivia is for X-Men fans. This plays a big role in the X-Men in the series. And it is Sentinel. So anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed it.

So that is the top 50 names. If you guys liked this trivia podcast, if this was something you find fun, um, I would need to find another category that has this many things in it. But, uh, I hope you guys enjoyed it. Tried something a little different today. But anyway, I'm at work. So we all know what that means. It means it's the end of my drive to work.

So instead of talking magic, it's time for me to be making magic. I'll see you guys next time.