Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - #814: Trivia – Shortest Names

Episode Date: March 5, 2021

This is another of my trivia podcasts where I give clues and you try to guess the card before I reveal it. This podcast's topic—the shortest names in Magic.

I'm not pulling on my driveway. We all know what that means. It's time for another drive to work. Coronavirus edition. Okay, so today is another one of my trivia columns where I have a subject matter and I'm going to ask trivia questions about them and see if you can figure out what it is I'm talking about. And today's topic is the shortest names in magic. So everything I'm going to talk about today has three or less letters in its name.

That's all my trivia questions for today. Okay, first up, what is, what magic card has the least number of letters in its name? I'll give you some clues. It's a shapeshifter. So one, one shapeshifter that costs two mana. It has two activated abilities. One of the activated abilities is in italics. And the character makes fun of various characters through Magic's history,

including, I think, Phage and Gerard and Tomgarth. So what card am I talking about? I'm talking about the card with no name! So in Unhinge, there's a card that literally doesn't have a name. That's just a lot of underscores. And so it costs one and a blue, one, one. So one and colon, this card name becomes the name of your choice. Play this ability anytime, anywhere.

And then one colon, this card's flavor text becomes the flavor text of your choice. And then it says, this ability doesn't work because it's flavor text, not rules text, but neither does this reminder text, so you figure it out. And anyway, it was in Unhinged, and the idea was that it could become any name, so things that care about names, you can make it. The rule, by the way, is

when it says the name of your choice, you can only make it a name of an existing magic card. You couldn't make up a name that's not a magic card name, but you could choose any magic card name, and it could become that name. Okay, but that is zero letters. I mean, technically, it is the least number of letters. But what is, my next question, what is the smallest magic name that has just one letter?

What is that name? Can you guys think of that? So I will give you a clue. It is legendary. And it is... It didn't have reminder text, but I have reminder text that I always wanted to put on it, which I'll talk about in a second.

I didn't have reminder text, but I have reminder text that I always wanted to put on it, which I'll talk about in a second. It is a two-color legendary creature. And the colors are blue and black. It is a human spy. It has two activated abilities and a quirky static ability. So what is the card? Also from an unset, this time, last one was from Unhinged.

This is from Unstable. It is X! Blue-black, 2-2, legendary creature, human spy. As long as X is in X's owner's opponent's hand, X's owner may cast and activate X's abilities. That opponent can't cast X and plays with his or her

hand revealed. Blue-black tap put X in target opponent's hand. Three blue-black, you may play a card in the same hand as X without paying its mana cost. So X, the idea of X is if it was a spy and it could sneak into other people's hands and while it's in their hands, it can let you play their cards, is the idea. The flavor text that I'd wanted for this card that didn't fit was X spots the mark,

because he's a spy. And it just didn't fit. We really tried to make it fit, but it just didn't fit. Okay, next up. Okay, so that was, so no name is the only card with zero letters. X is the only one with one letter. There is one magic card that has a name of two letters. Can you name it? It is a black card. What else can I say about it? It is a... It's an enchantment.

Into the clues here. It is definitely a card that makes you... It has a verbal component. So it's also a silver-bordered card. Interestingly, it's not from Unhinged, and it's not from Unstable. It is from Unglued. And its effects can grow exponentially.

It's an exponential growing card. Can you guys name the card? It costs one mana. It's a one black mana enchantment from Unglued it's called Ao so it's an enchantment whenever any player deals damage to a player

that player may say Ao once for each permanent name Ao if that player doesn't Ao deals one damage to them so if there's one Ao out you have to say Ao once

but if there's two Aos out you have to say Ao four times because each Ao makes you say it twice and if you have four say ao once. But if there's two ao's out, you have to say ao four times because each ao makes you say it twice. And if you have four ao's out, every time you deal damage, they have to say ao 16 times, which I always consider very funny. Oh, the flavor text is,

have you ever noticed how some flavor text has no relevance whatsoever to the card it's on? Anyway, making it fun. Okay, so, okay. Now, I mean, I'm not saying there aren't any silver border cards left, but this next one is not a silver border card. It turns out it's much easier when you're messing around with silver border cards to make really short

names. So we had no name, which was zero, X, which was one, I, which was two. Okay, now we're getting to three word names, and there are 15, I believe 15, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. There are 15 three-letter names in Magic. Okay, so the first one I'm going to do goes back all the way to Alpha. This is a three-letter... It's the first three-letter name.

I think the only three-letter name in Alpha. Yes. It is the first three-letter name. So this was in Alpha. So what... Another clue is this is an aura. It was...

I think in... When it first showed up in in Alpha what rarity was it in Alpha? It was a rare. It was a rare. It was a rare aura. I forgot about that. We later reprinted it in Uncommon because it being rare is super weird.

It actually was a very weird rare to have. It's a green card. It's an aura. And it grants weird rare to have. It's a green card. It's an aura. And it grants an ability to... It's an enchant creature. It's... Okay, can you name it? I've given you enough clues. It is

Web. So Web costs one green mana. Enchant creature. Enchant creature gets plus zero, plus two, and has reach. So the actual, the alpha text, by the way, was Enchant Creature was the card type. Target Creature gains plus zero, plus two,

and can now block flying creatures, though it does not gain the power to fly. That's how reach was written out in alpha. Okay. The next card I'm going to talk about is much more recent. This card is from Throne of Eldraine. It is also an aura. And in its art, has very colorful stained glass windows,

which should be a clue at what color it is if you know your... Oh, I'm sorry. This was not an Eldraine. Not an Eldraine. I misled you. This was in Dominaria. This is in Dominaria. Sorry, I'm sorry. This was not an Eldrin. Not an Eldrin. I misled you. This was in Dominaria. This is in Dominaria. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I apologize for my... This is from Dominaria. It has very colorful stained glass windows, which should tell you what color it is. It's an Aura.

And it is a very flavorful card. It's a white Aura, if you haven't figured it out yet. The card got reprinted in Core Set 2021. So it appeared in Dominaria in Core Set 2021. And the card is... Dub.

Two and a white enchantment aura, enchant creature. Enchanted creature gets plus two, plus two, has first strike, and is a knight in addition to its other types. Originally, by the way, we made it Dominaria. There's going to be a major knight theme in... Dominaria was soup. There's soup and salad

were the two codenames. And salad was going to be a small set. Also, it was going to be a two-set block. We ended up changing over. Dominaria was, I think, the first set, or...

Sorry, the third set because the two Ravnica sets were the first two sets. In our new, you know, three-in-1 model. And anyway, when Salad went away, the Knight Tribal stuff mostly went away. There's a little bit of Knight Tribal in Dominaria.

But anyway, this card came from a time in which we were going to do a little bit more Knight Tribal. I'm not sure whether this was originally in Dominaria or we moved it from Salad. But anyway. Okay. Next up is another early, um, another early three-letter word. I think, if I remember correctly, um, this is, uh, well, it's not what, I'm sorry.

There, there, it's a relatively early one, but not, not the only one. So this, this card, uh, first showed up in Ravnica. So I, I guess there's some before it. Um, so this is maybe a middle. So this three-letter card showed up in Ravnica, original Ravnica. It has four words of rules text and six words of reminder,

not reminder, of flavor text. So its rules text is four words. It's flavor text is six words. Um, okay. Another clue. It has a converted mana cost or actually I should now say

a mana value of six mana. Whew, feels good to say that. I've been not feeling to say that for a while. It has a mana value of 6. The word 6 appears in both... I'm sorry. The word 6 appears in its rules text and it has 6 words of

flavor text. The word 6 does not appear in its flavor text. Although another... the word 5 appears in its flavor text. What is this card? It is Hex. Hex. Hex.

Four black black sorcery destroy six target creatures when killing five just isn't enough. I wrote that flavor text for what it's worth. I wasn't even on the... I didn't actually... I wrote two pieces of flavor text for the set. I wasn't even on the team.

I just wrote them while making cards and stuff and ended up staying. And when the set. I wasn't even on the team. I just wrote them while making cards and stuff and ended up staying. And when the set got reviewed, the two highest ranked flavor text for the two that I wrote. I'm probably never going to have a hit rate like that ever again. Okay, next up.

Next up, we're going back to Invasion. This is an artifact creature from Invasion that showed is an artifact creature from Invasion that showed up on the list I think in Zendikar Rising. At least it's on the list. I'm not sure whether it's Zendikar Rising or

Call Time. But it showed up on the list. And it is a very popular creature type. In fact, it is the most popular creature type. And it's an artifact that's a creature type that's super popular, the most popular. What is it?

And here's a little piece of trivia question. The reason this name is so short is because the only way to fit the rules text on the card is if the name was really, really short. So we had to give it a short name. So what is the card? Tech. T-E-K. So Tech costs 5 generic

mana. Artifact creature, Dragon. It's a 2-2. Tech gets plus 0, plus 2, as long as you control planes. Has flying as long as you control an island. Gets plus 2, plus 0 as long as you control a swamp. Has first strike as long as you control a mountain. And has trample as long as you control a swamp, has first strike as long as you control a mountain, and is trampled as long as you control a forest. So if you have

all five basic lands in play, it's a four-four flying first striking trampling dragon. Invasion was a set, by the way, that had the berry mechanic that you cared about how many you want all the different basic lands.

This is not technically a domain card exactly, but it plays very similarly to a domain. So this is definitely a domain-ish card. Okay, next. We're going to do another three-letter. Invasion had another three-letter word I'm going to talk about next.

So this card is a cantrip. Pictures the weatherlight in its art. And the flavor text was, All this time I thought Squee was useless, chuckled Sisay. Who knew he'd be such a good shot? What is this card?

This is one of the last cards, if not the last card alphabetically, in Invasion. It is red. It costs three mana. And like I said, it's a cantrip. It's an instant. It deals one damage to target creature or player. The card is

Zap. So Zap, two in a red, instant. Zap deals one damage to target creature or player. Draw a card. And then the flavor text I already read. Okay, next up. The next card is another uncard. So this card showed up in Unglued.

The story behind it is when I was making the set, I asked if there was any slush art, meaning art we had made for some other set. The art didn't end up getting used, but we liked the art. This card was built around that art. The card has the name as if this is a legendary creature, but it is not. The creature type is its name, and it's a proper name.

It's a man's name. And the flavor text is, Now it lay me down to sleep. What are you staring at? And Tony Dilarizzi, Dito, sorry, Dito Terlizzi, Dito Lizzi, if I'm saying that correctly, is the artist.

It's from Unglued. And what is it? So this card comes into play with one plus or minus a counter on it for each game you've lost to your opponent since you last won a magic game against him or her. So the creature gets bigger. It starts as a 2-2

and gets bigger based on how many games you've lost to that player. So the more games you've lost, the bigger it starts as. What is the card? So not a lot of magic cards refer to previous games you've played with an opponent. This card does.

The card is Gus! So Gus is two and a green, 2-2. And then it has the ability, I said before, that he has plus one, plus one counter for each game you've lost to your opponent before that. The idea of this card was it gets better against somebody you normally lose to, was the idea. Okay, next up. Okay. So up. Okay. So this card

comes from Corsa 2020. It's an instant that can't be countered. And it has a mana value of 2. Any guesses? Okay. It's a red card. And it deals damage but only to white and blue things.

It deals five damage to creatures or planeswalkers that are white or blue. Its flavor text is, I'm afraid your dinner got a little overcooked. Marlin Farwath Innkeeper. What is this card? Fry is the card. Fry, one R, instant. This spell can be countered. Fry deals five damage to a target creature plans to work with its white or blue.

With the Flavor Tracks I said already. Okay. Next. Oh, I was incorrect. When I said earlier that Web was not the only alpha card to have a three-letter name. So maybe you were guessing this before

when I was doing Web. So this is a common card. It has been reprinted numerous times. Let's see, how many times has it been reprinted? It has been reprinted, according to this thing right here, one, two, three, four, five, 22 times. The card has shown up in 22 different products. So what exactly is this card?

It's an instant. And its Oracle reminder text is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 words long. Its alpha text is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. So it is two and a half times longer in its alpha version than in its oracle version. This ability, by the way, this card has also been printed in two other colors at the same mana cost. I mean, color swapped, but at the same mana cost, doing the exact same effect. What is this card? It is Fog.

So Fog is green instant. Prevent all combat damage when you're dealt this turn. Illustrated by, yes, Premier Force and Alpha. So the Alpha version, by the way, is creatures attack and block. It's normal, but none deal any damage. All attacking creatures are still tapped. Play any time before attack damage is dealt.

Okay. Next up. Okay. Next up. Okay. Next up is... Where's this one? Um... Okay. So this card is from Modern Horizons. So this is a

much newer card. Um... Okay, so this card has an ability that was first seen in original Ravnica block that other than the

ability that comes from original Ravnica block, it just has three words. It's an instant. A mana value of five. The flavor text is not all monsters fight with teeth and claws. Okay, so it is mob. Mob, four and a black instant as convoke.

So your creatures can help cast a spell. Each creature you tap while casting a spell pays for one or one mana of that creature's color. Destroy target creature. So that is mob. Okay, next. Is, let's see. Okay, so this is a future shifted card.

This is a card from the future. That showed up in future site in a future frame. That should be all the clues. You should be able to get it from that. But I will tell you more. So the interesting thing about it is it has a mana value of one. It's an instant.

And I'll read the flavor text. There's no shortcut to work done true and well. The creators learned this to their sorrow the first time they made the word. Githri, the prisoner. I don't know if you know who Githri the Prisoner is yet, because it's a future shifted card. And the artist was Brian Despain.

Okay. It's an instant. It's blue. Costs a single blue mana. What is the card? It is Nyx! So, it is counter target spell if no mana was spent to play it. So, it counters for one mana, basically free spell.

They're spells that cost nothing. Okay, next. Okay, so this is another relatively early card. This is from Ice Age. So this is another one of the earlier cards that had a three-letter name. Okay, so it has a mana value of three. All three mana is of the same color. So it costs 3 mana, all colored, all the same color.

It's a sorcery. It was originally illustrated by Cornelius Broody. It did get reprinted in 5th edition and Masters edition. And in Time Spiral, we made a riff on this card. This is one of the cards we made a riff on in Time Spiral. Okay, the card is Pox. So Pox is black, black, black.

Each player loses a third of his or her life, then discards a third of the cards in his or her hand, then sacrifices a third of the creatures he or she controls, then sacrifices a third of the land he or she controls, round up each time. That was the Ice Age text, by the way. Okay, next up. Okay, so this card first showed up in Urza's Saga.

It is, it's a goblin. A 4-4 goblin. That should be enough. Urza's Saga, 4-4 goblin. Do you have it? Mana value 2, costs 1 and a red. And it has 2 lines of text.

And the 2 lines of text are identical, except for 2 words are changed between the 2 sentences. So the 2 sentences are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. Each are 2 sentences. Each 11 words long.

9 of the words in the first sentence are the exact same words in the exact same order as the second sentence. What is this card? So the card is dun-dun-dun-dun-dun

Aak! O-K-K. One in a red, goblin, 4-4 goblin. Aak can't attack unless a creature with greater power

also attacks. Aak can't block unless a creature with greater power also blocks. Anyway, not, not, not the strongest of cards. I will admit that. Okay, next up is another pretty famous card. Okay, so this card first showed up

where did it first show up? It first showed up in Invasion? Invasion, wow. Invasion had a bunch of three-letter card names. I had to do the naming of that. Maybe it was me, because I like three-letter names. So this has shown up, how many times has this shown up? So let's see.

It has shown up 11, 12, 12 times. Shown up in 12 different sets, and it's coming up in the Mystic Archive. It's in the Mystic Archive. Okay, so what is this card? It is... An instant.

Mana value of 1. It's blue. The card is... Opt. Okay, so Opt is an instant. 1 mana. Look at the top card of your library. You may put that card on the bottom of your library.

Draw a card. We need alternatives, Hannah, yelled Gerard. Now! Okay. Okay, next. What's our next one? Okay, our next card is... Okay, this next card is...

Okay, this is from Darksteel. It is an instant with a mana value of 3, illustrated by Brian Snowdy, and has the following flavor text. The druids would be better off if they spent more time in the lab and less time watching trees grow. Pontifex, Elder Researcher. So it is a blue instant,

and it's a counterspell. What is this card? The card is... Vex. Two and a blue, counter-target spell. That spell's controller may draw a card.

Okay, what we got next here? How about... Okay, we're going to do another uncard. Okay, so we got next here? How about... Okay, we're going to do another Uncard. Okay, so this is from... It originally appeared in Unhinged, showed up again in Unsanctioned. It has a sticky note for flavor text.

How's that for a clue? And it has the reminder text. Reminder text is any italicized text in parentheses that explain rules you already know. What is the card? It is D'Ah. D'Ah is an instant, costs one black mana, destroy target creature with reminder text,

with that reminder text. And then there's a little sticky note on it that says, will players understand the creature is being crushed by two parentheses? And then someone else says, not a chance. So what happened was, in the art, the creature is being crushed by parentheses, but we didn't think people would realize that, so we

wanted to make a joke about it to realize that's what's going on. So DAW has a, its reminder text is explaining what the, the joke of the art, which was a little, a little hard to see. So I thought that was kind of funny. Okay. Is that it?

Did I get through all the cards? Let's see. I did that one. I did that one. I did that one. I did that one. I did that one. I did that one.

I did that one. I did. I think I did all the cards. Okay. So since we have a little bit of time left, I'm not quite there. I'm going to go up to our four... There's a bunch of four-letter cards. So I'm going to...

Okay, I will do a little trivia on the alphabetically first... The card that's first alphabetically. Four-letter card that's first alphabetically. And then I'll do last alphabetically. Now, there's two different cards you can claim as first alphabetically. Four little cards is first alphabetically. And then I'll do last alphabetically. Now, there's two different cards you can claim as first alphabetically depending on how you want to alphabetize it. So I will do trivia on both of them. One of them is a Weatherlight card that's an enchantment

that lets you remove cards from the top of your library to prevent damage. And the flavor text is, helping people is mostly the top of your library to prevent damage. And the flavor text is, helping people is mostly a matter of teaching them to help themselves. Sissy from her journal. So this is in Weatherlight. Mana value 1. Costs 1 white mana. It's enchantment. What is it? It's not a very

memorable enchantment. That's why I told you most of the card. It is Alms. A-L-M-S. So Alms costs 1 white mana enchantment. One, remove the top card in your graveyard from the... Oh, sorry. Top card in your graveyard, not top card in your library. No wonder you couldn't get it.

I gave you the wrong clue. Remove the top card in your graveyard from the game. Prevent one damage to any creature. Okay. So, now, let's do the other alphabetical first card. Like I said, it kind of depends on how you choose to alphabetize it. Okay. Okay. This next card is...

It's a silver border card in which the character of the card is missing from the card it's on and shows up in Urza's hot tub. He's in Urza's hot tub. What is the card? So the card is... Oh, I'll give one more clue. The flavor text, or not the flavor text.

This card has a carton of milk on it. Not in the art. In the rules text. It is a carton of milk in the rules text. So the card is AWOL. So AWOL is an instant... So it costs two and a white. It says exile target attacking creature, then remove it from

the game, then put it into the absolutely removed from the freaking game forever zone. And in the art, you see that the creature has ripped itself up. You can sort of see the back of the card. And then in the milk, it says, have you seen me, to show you what he looks like. Because he shows up, he's in Urza's hot tub. This is one of our...

This card showed up on Hinge, then later showed up on Unsanctioned. And I like doing a lot of jokes where cards from one card would show up in other cards. So I thought it was funny. The reason, by the way, I don't know whether AWOL or ALMS technically is alphabetical first, is AWOL is an acronym rather than a spelled word. And I think acronyms alphabetically come first, I believe. But it's AW versus AL, so anyway, I thought I'd give both clues. first, I believe. But it's A-W versus A-L. So anyway, I thought I'd give both clues.

Okay. So the last thing we'll do is we'll do my last clue of today will be the alphabetically last four-letter word in magic. Okay. So this is from Mirage. It is illustrated by Ron Spencer. It has no flavor text. It has a mana value of three. Excuse me.

I'm going to hide to myself. It is an instant with three mana. It has a name. I believe the word is actually an English word, but I don't believe anybody knows. I don't even know what it means. I could look it up, anybody knows. I don't even know what it means. I could look it up, I guess. I'm not even sure what it means. But it is a four-letter word,

alphabetically the last four-letter word. A white. Three mana. Two and a white. Instant. From Mirage. I'm even going to tell you what it does. I'm going to read the flavor text. The Oracle text is, Target creature defending player controls

gets plus three plus zero until end of turn. That creature can block up to two additional creatures this turn. Okay. Very unforgettable card. But can you remember,

can you remember, it was a rare? It was a rare Mirage. Can anybody remember what this card is called? It is called Yare. Y-A-R-E. Yare. I don't even know what Yare means.

But should I find out? Okay, we're going to find out what Yare means. I don't want you... I like my things to be educational. So we're going to look up Yare. Okay, so Yare is... Let's see. Yare, of a ship,

responding promptly to the helm, easily manageable. That does not seem like that's... Okay. Archaic, set for action, ready, characterized by speed and agility. Aha! That makes much more sense.

So because you're so fast, that is why you're able to deal with that. So anyway, that is it. I can see my desk. So I hope you guys enjoyed today's trivia. All the small words. Anyway, it was fun. I hope you guys liked it because they're fun to do.

But anyway, I can see my desk. 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.