User:Inktog/Naming conventions

This is a proposed expansion of MTG Wiki's guidelines on naming articles.

Article naming

Wikipedia guidelines

When naming an article, default to the conventions of Wikipedia:Article titles. Choose a title that is recognizable, natural, precise, concise, and consistent. Favor the median Magic player over the heavily enfranchised. Titles should be singular nouns, except for articles about groups or sets of things (as in Nine Titans; see WP:PLURAL for details). Use sentence case: only the first letter should be capitalized (Oil counter, not Oil Counter), except for proper nouns (Kaya Cassir). Don't start a title with a definite or indefinite article ("A", "An", or "The") unless that word would be capitalized in running text (as in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan; see WP:THE for details).

Specific guidance exists for certain types of articles. See WP:NCBIO for real people, WP:NCBOOKS for books, and WP:NCGAMES for video games.

Subpages

Subpages (subsidiary articles) are an accepted tool for controlling article size. This is a departure from Wikipedia's guidelines. Subpages are titled "Parent article name/Subpage name", as in March of the Machine/Card comparisons, a subpage of March of the Machine. The first letter following the slash (/) is capitalized.

If a user might search directly for the subject of a subpage, then a redirect should be made to that page. For example, Aetherdrift Commander redirects to Aetherdrift/Commander decks.

Products

When naming articles about sets and other Magic products, use the full, official product name (including subtitles) as the article title.

• ❌Strixhaven
• ✅Strixhaven: School of Mages
• ❌Foundations
• ✅Magic: The Gathering Foundations

Tie-in products for premier or tentpole releases—such as bonus sheets and tie-in Commander decks—should be subpages of the main product article.

• ✅March of the Machine/Commander decks
• ❌March of the Machine Commander

For Universes Beyond product names, exclude the words "Magic: The Gathering" and ignore stylized trademarks.

• ❌Magic: The Gathering® | Marvel's Spider-Man
• ❌Magic: The Gathering® — FINAL FANTASY
• ✅Marvel's Spider-Man
• ❌FINAL FANTASY
• ✅Final Fantasy

Secret Lair drops and superdrops are prepended with "Secret Lair Drop Series:", as in Secret Lair Drop Series: Dungeons & Dragons 50th Anniversary Superdrop.

Plane-product name collisions

For the many cases in which a set shares its name with a plane, the article named Shared Name should describe the set. The article for the plane should be named Shared Name (plane); e.g., Innistrad for the set and Innistrad (plane) for the plane. The set article should link to the plane article using Template:About. In most cases, an {{about}} note is not required in the plane article; if readers are looking for Innstrad the set, they are unlikely to search for or stumble upon an article called Innistrad (plane).

Fictional characters

The main article for a fictional character should use the name by which that character is best known. Titles, honorifics, epithets, and "of location" descriptors should not be included in the article's name, unless they would help to disambiguate between characters that otherwise share a name. Redirects should be created from other names by which readers are likely to search for articles.

Decks

Historically, decks have been titled "FORMAT DECK_NAME deck", as in Modern Zoo deck. This convention is under discussion at MTG Wiki:WikiProject Tournament deck articles.