Example of the wrong way of using variables with lists to display accent colors

SassMeister-input-HTML.html

<div class="news">
  <div class="module-header">news</div>
</div>

<div class="sport">
  <div class="module-header">sport</div>
</div>

<div class="business">
  <div class="module-header">business</div>
</div>

SassMeister-input.scss

// ----
// Sass (v3.3.0.rc.1)
// Compass (v0.13.alpha.10)
// ----

// Pass this look up function two arrays of equal dimensions and a search value
// If nothing is found in the first pass of the properties the values
// will then be indexed
//
// $property: an array of property values
// $value: an array of values
// $search: the property (or value) to get a matching value
//
// returns: a matching value from the index
//
// eg: 
//
// $myProperties: a, b, c;
// $myValues:     1, 2, 3;
// searchLookup($myProperties, $myValues, b) = 2
// searchLookup($myProperties, $myValues, 3) = c
//
@function searchLookup($property, $value, $search) {
    $n1: index($property, $search);
    $n2: index($value, $search);
    @if($n1) {
        @return nth($value, $n1);
    } @else {
        @return nth($property, $n2);
    }
}

// VERTICAL BRANDING

$vertical-news-accent-color:        blue  !default;
$vertical-sport-accent-color:       green !default;
$vertical-business-accent-color:    grey  !default; // Grey

// Create a hacky little lookup

$verticals: news,
            sport,
            business;
            
$vertical-accent: $vertical-news-accent-color,
                  $vertical-sport-accent-color,
                  $vertical-business-accent-color;
  
@each $vertical in $verticals {
    .#{$vertical} .module-header {
        background: searchLookup($verticals, $vertical-accent, $vertical);
    }
}

SassMeister-output.css

.news .module-header {
  background: blue;
}

.sport .module-header {
  background: green;
}

.business .module-header {
  background: grey;
}

SassMeister-rendered.html

<div class="news">
  <div class="module-header">news</div>
</div>

<div class="sport">
  <div class="module-header">sport</div>
</div>

<div class="business">
  <div class="module-header">business</div>
</div>