Ravnica

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Ravnica is a plane in the universe of Magic: The Gathering. It's essentially a giant city (in fact, its tagline is "City of Guilds"), continuously expanding outward and upward (rather like the hives of Warhammer 40,000). It is vaguely Eastern-European in flavor, with Russian, Polish, Hungarian, Serbian and Croatian influences on its design, names, and phonetics of its made-up words. When someone says a deck is a [part of guild name] deck, that might only mean the deck's colors is the same colors as that guild, for example any black-green deck can be called a golgari deck.

Guilds

Ravnica is run by ten guilds, each of which embodies two of Magic's colors:

The Azorius Senate

White and Blue. Boros may be THE LAW, but the Azorius Senate is the legislature and court system.

The Orzhov Syndicate

White and Black. They act like a church, but they're really all about the money and function as a debt-collecting, guilt-inducing mafia. So they pretty much are a church.

House Dimir

Blue and Black. Necromancers, ghosts, and such. The spies and subversive, troubleshooting guild (one of their stated functions is to undermine the Guildpact to tease out errors, which some military people might liken to aggressor squadrons), so secretive that its very existence was considered a myth until a big storyline reveal.

The Izzet League

Blue and Red. Mad scientists, wizards, and inventors, ruled by a dragon. They're a little fuzzy on the idea of "safety", while also being tasked with maintaining and improving the city's infrastructural. This leads to Dwarf Fortress style FUN.

The Cult of Rakdos

Black and Red. They're a Chaotic Evil pleasure cult/carnival/assassins guild that other guilds keep around for cleaning up loose ends.

The Golgari Swarm

Black and Green. Bugs, critters, moss, and zombies, zombies everywhere. Functions as the waste management guild. Was given one of the most broken keyword mechanics in any cardgame.

The Gruul Clans

Red and Green. Not so much a unified faction as a bunch of clans of Chaotic Neutral anarchists. They were formally in charge of Parks and Recreation. Really.

The Boros Legion

Red and White. THEY ARE THE LAW!

The Selesnya Conclave

Green and White. A nature cult that brainwashes people who join it.

The Simic Combine

Green and Blue. Genetic engineers who now dabble in holistic methods. Like Selesnya and (formerly) the Gruul, the Combine maintains what remains of nature on Ravnica, but instead of letting nature take its course, they adapt it to fit with industry and civilization.

Guilds of Ravnica
Azorius Senate	Orzhov Syndicate	House Dimir	Izzet League	Cult of Rakdos
Golgari Swarm	Gruul Clans	Boros Legion	Selesnya Conclave	Simic Combine

Tabletop

Ravnica was first featured in the card game with the Ravnica block in 2005 and 2006, which was in turn composed of the "City of Guilds", "Guildpact", and "Dissension" sets. The block was accompanied by the "Ravnica Cycle" trilogy of books, one for each set.

More recently, Wizards of the Coast has released the "Return to Ravnica" block, with the "Return to Ravnica" set released in October 2012, "Gatecrash" in February 2013, and "Dragon's Maze" in May 2013.

Settings of Magic: The Gathering
Pre-revisionist:	First Magic Sets - First Urza Block - Arabian Nights Legends - Homelands - Ice Age - Mirage
Weatherlight Saga:	Portal Starter Sets - Second Urza Block Tempest Block - Masques Block - Invasion Block
Post-Weatherlight:	Otaria Block - Mirrodin - Kamigawa - Ravnica - Time Spiral
After the Mending:	Lorwyn - Alara - Zendikar - New Phyrexia Innistrad - Return to Ravnica - Theros - Tarkir - Eldraine - Ikoria
Two-Block Paradigm:	Kaladesh - Amonkhet - Ixalan
Post Two-Block Paradigm:	Eldraine - Ikoria - Kaldheim - Strixhaven
Never in a standard set:	Fiora (Where the Conspiracy sets take place) - Kylem (Battlebond)