I have waited for this day for nearly 12 years...

MIRRODIN HAS BEEN AVENGED!

Krenko’s Guide to Creature Types: Myr

Art by Franz Vohwinkel

What is a Myr (flavorfully)?

Myr means Ant, and while Myr are not related to ants, it’s a fitting term for them. The Myr are an omnipresent type of artifact creature spread throughout Mirrodin/New Phyrexia. Originally created by Memnarch to help maintain the planet, after his death the Myr’s programming was forced to adapt, and many Myr created after were designed with minds capable of learning. Thus, the Myr became their own race.

Myr are rather small, generally about half the size of a person, but a small number of Myr created to guard and protect other Myr are much larger.

Unfortunately, Mirrodin was taken over by the Phyrexians, and now many Myr have been Phyrexianized. It is unknown what amount, if any, of Myr remain free.

What is a Myr (mechanically)?

All Myr are Artifact Creatures, with the vast majority being colorless. This is less a factor of Myr color identity, though, and more that colored artifacts were not common when Myr first appeared. The most recent Myr have had colors, and it’s likely that more will going forward.

Myr are usually small, generally in the 1-2 power and toughness range, with the larger Myr being specific outliers. There are also a number of cards that make 1/1 Myr (or Phyrexian Myr) Artifact Creature tokens. One card makes 2/1 Blue Phyrexian Myr Artifact Creature Tokens, but he’s specifically building his own, so those aren’t standard representations of Myr.

Can I make a Myr deck?

Myr are a decently supported tribe with a reasonable number of representatives, but suffer the problem that all Artifact Creature tribes do: Balance generally requires Artifact Creatures to be weaker than non-Artifact Creatures. Further, while there are specific Myr rewards, they’re generally not any better than the simple “Artifact Creature” rewards.

In 60 card, while you can go adorably infinite with two Myr Galvanizers and other mana-myr, it’s hardly efficient and few of your creatures have power on-par with colored creatures. This efficiency will increase as more colored Myr are printed, but right now they’re just generally weak.

This isn’t to say you can’t make the deck, just that your focus needs to be on cards that care about Artifacts rather than cards that care about Myr. Tempered Steel goes a long way.

That or you just ramp into Myr Battlesphere and smash face. That works, too.

In Commander, you have a similar problem, and while there are a few commanders that work well with what Myr are doing, none of them are overly happy being the Myr commander. Brudiclad, Telcor Engineer is the obvious choice, but he only makes one Myr a turn starting at 6 mana, and his ability really wants you to turn those tokens into something more formidable. 

If Myr deck is actually your goal, I’d suggest a Commander who is both White and Blue that rewards playing Artifacts. Breya is an obvious powerhouse here, but you can also combine Silas Renn with Ravos or Rebbec to revive your Myr and/or protect them. There’s a number of other options, but they all come with the same core issue.

Are there enough playable cards and synergies to make a Myr deck in Commander? Absolutely. Are the Myr themselves strong enough that playing a Myr deck will be stronger than playing an Artifact Creatures deck? No. 

Is Myr a good creature type?

I love Myr. They’re consistent, clear, and unique to Magic: the Gathering as an IP. They’re cute, they’re cool, they do a lot of useful and interesting things, and I hope they’re okay.

Mechanically, Myr only being Artifact Creatures does have them fight in design space between Myr Matters cards and Artifact Creatures Matter cards, with the latter being an infinitely bigger space, so they need a few better tribal cards if they want to actually exist as a tribe. A Legendary creature that makes Myr tokens faster than Brudiclad does would go a long way. Hopefully we’ll see something akin to it during the next Phyrexian invasion, which looks like it’ll be coming sooner rather than later.

One minor issue of Myr is that their typing is so narrow they’re unlikely to show up on other planes. Kaladesh had Servos which aren’t the same as Myr but sharing a creature type with them would’ve gone a long way. I hope Myr make their way somewhere else in numbers, just so we can have more Myr, but I’m not sure how when they’re so intrinsically tied to Mirrodin.

And here I almost lost hope and that help was never going to come.

Very sexy of Ashiok to learn about Elesh-fucking-Norn and immediately think "oh, I gotta give that bitch a nightmare".

Karn,

Please bring reinforcements soon

It's very scary here

magic the gathering fans talk about their blorbos like “he’s totally a soft top 😍 imagining cuddling him he would be so nice and warm 🥰 omfg i want them to KISS 🥴💕 imagine them exploring each other’s bodies”

meanwhile their blorbos are like

MIRRODIN WILL RISE AGAIN!

This is actual pain.

Kaldra Compleat by Vincent Proce

Narrator Voice: The year is 2022, and some Magic players have joined together, united by their shared disgust at the idea of being forced to look at any vile Universes Beyond cards. To this end, they create their own format where such cards are banned. They name this format “Mirrodin Pure.”

For real though, Mirrodin Pure would be the perfect name for the format because they both represent fighting a futile battle, and both only exist in the minds of players in severe denial.

MY BABIES!

MYR!!! i demand you all to look at t h e m

a poor baby who deserves to live on and do great things!! fuck pontifex this little being is now my child and i will fend off anyone who tries to hurt them

full of love!!!!! look at their backpack of secrets and their curious little face!!! he bag too big for he body!!

and last but not least a gallant paladin!!!! not quite sure what the visor is for though, as it clearly can’t fit over their beak….

we need more myrs with classes. myr artificers, myr wizards, myr warriors, the possibilities are endless. wotc im begging

Just picked up the "Planes of the Multiverse" Magic the Gathering book and I'm once again questioning if Mirrodin and the Mirran Resistance have been abandoned.

Thats Cute

*the echoes of Billions of T-posing Myr laughing as the Katamari Damacy theme plays in the background and getting louder*

Just waiting for Elesh Norn to bring Atraxa who T-poses on whatever is left of Mirrans. Atraxa is the ultimate T-poser and Norn KNOWS IT.

oh for sure

both physically since she has 4 arms and metaphorically because her compleation marked the defeat of mirrodin in the war

we better see atraxa with the praetors in new phyrexia 2 because mm juicy character interactions

i like to think that even though the praetors have huge beef with each other they grudgingly consider atraxa their collective daughter

The Mirran Resistance is still in need of help.

Alright I GOTTA know which planeswalker is out here making interplanar art because they are so valid

Mirrodin Magic Items (Pt 4)

Art by Daniel Ljunggren

Blinkmoth Serum

Potion, rare Serum or less commonly Lymph, is an addictive substance harvested from the blinkmoths of Mirrodin by neuroks and vedalkens for its very useful effects in their research. When you drink this potion, your intelligence, charisma, or wisdom modifier increases by +1 for 1 minute. Afterwards, you must succeed on a DC 20 Constitution check or become addicted. Once addicted, each day you go without drinking at least one bottle of Serum you gain no benefits from a long rest and instead gain a level of exhaustion. After taking a long rest while addicted, you can attempt the Constitution check again to cease being addicted.

Darksteel

Darksteel is a metal forged through magic in the core of Mirrodin. Once cooled, nothing can bend or shatter the object created. Darksteel has an object AC of 30 and has twice the hit points of a normal object of its size. Armor made of darksteel has a +1 bonus to AC and weapons made from darksteel has a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with them.

Mirrodin Magic Items (Pt 3)

Art by Donato Giancola

Kaldra is a mysterious figure of Mirrodin’s past. Not much is known about him other than that he was a great warrior of some sort who left behind powerful artifacts bestowed with a remnant of his personality.

Sword of Kaldra

Weapon (scimitar), legendary (requires attunement by a creature of lawful alignment) The Sword of Kaldra is a representation of his might in battle and as such is unparalleled on all of Mirrodin in pure destructive power. The blade curves gracefully down into a hilt of beautifully wrought metal curling in on itself. You gain a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon.  Exile from Existence. When you hit a creature with an attack using this magic weapon, you may choose to force the target for make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, they take 20d6 force damage. If they are reduced to 0 hit points from this, their body disintegrates into a fine dust. A creature destroyed this way can be restored to life only by a wish spell. This property can’t be used again until the next dawn. Reforged Will. While holding the Sword of Kaldra, you instinctively know where the Shield of Kaldra and Helm of Kaldra are so long as they are on the same plane of existence. Sentience. The Sword of Kaldra is a sentient lawful neutral weapon with an Intelligence of 14, a Wisdom of 12, and a Charisma of 18. It has hearing and darkvision out to a range of 120 feet. The weapon can communicate with its wielder by vibrating slightly in their hand. It can also use this ability to distract its wielder in combat, giving them disadvantage. Personality. The Sword of Kaldra is the most violent of the three weapons and seeks righteous bloodshed above almost anything else. If it sees a crime committed it feels it must punish the wrongdoer. What counts as a crime depends on the land the sword is in and it has an instinctual knowledge of what is against the law. The one thing the Sword of Kaldra views as a higher priority than this duty is reuniting with the Shield of Kaldra and Helm of Kaldra. If its wielder refuses to intervene with a crime, commits a crime themselves, or explicitly states they will not seek out the other two weapons of Kaldra, a conflict happens between it and its wielder.

Shield of Kaldra

Armor (shield), legendary (requires attunement by a creature of lawful nature) The Shield of Kaldra contains the portion of Kaldra dedicated to protecting the innocent. It’s form is made of plates of a metal akin to bronze fused together into an inseparable carapace. Impervious Defense. You can use your reaction to choose a damage type. Each creature within 120 feet wielding the Sword of Kaldra, Shield of Kaldra, or Helm of Kaldra gain immunity to that damage type until your next turn. You can not choose the same damage type twice in one day. Reforged Will.  While holding the Shield of Kaldra, you instinctively know where the Sword of Kaldra and Helm of Kaldra are so long as they are on the same plane of existence. Sentience. The Shield of Kaldra is a sentient lawful neutral weapon with an Intelligence of 12, a Wisdom of 18, and a Charisma of 14. It has hearing and darkvision out to a range of 120 feet. The shield can communicate with its wielder by reflecting images in its inner side to express its desires. Personality. The Shield of Kaldra believes it has a duty to protect all innocents. If any lawful character is in danger within the shield’s senses, it feels it must step in to help by any means possible. If its wielder refuses a conflict will arise. Similarly, the Shield of Kaldra wishes to be reunited with its other pieces and a conflict will occur if its wielder outright refuses to search for them.

Helm of Kaldra

Wondrous item, legendary (requires attunement by a creature of lawful nature) The Helm of Kaldra is a full helmet with elegantly curving horns and ridges swept back in a complex pattern. The face of the helmet is a simple V shape made of some kind of violet glass. Tactical Perfection. While wearing the Helm of Kaldra, you have advantage on initiative rolls and have an additional action on each of your turns. That action can only be used to take the Attack (one weapon attack only) or Help action. Reforged Will.  While wearing the Helm of Kaldra, you instinctively know where the Sword of Kaldra and Shield of Kaldra are so long as they are on the same plane of existence. Whole Once More. If you are attuned to all three weapons of Kaldra, their personalities fuse to become the Avatar of Kaldra. The Avatar of Kaldra is a lawful neutral being with an Intelligence of 18, a Wisdom of 18, and a Charisma of 18. The Avatar of Kaldra has preternatural knowledge of the biggest threat to Mirrodin and seeks to stop it above all else. If the wielder refuses to stop the threat, a conflict arises. If the Avatar of Kaldra wins the contest, it physically manifests and takes the sword, shield, and helm with it. Use the Marut stat block (MTF) without the justify ability for the Avatar of Kaldra. Sentience. The Shield of Kaldra is a sentient lawful neutral weapon with an Intelligence of 18, a Wisdom of 14, and a Charisma of 12. It has hearing and darkvision out to a range of 120 feet. The helm can communicate with its wielder telepathically and can speak, read, and understand Common. When near by the Sword of Kaldra and Shield of Kaldra, the helm can communicate with them telepathically and often speak for them out of convenience. Personality. The Helm of Kaldra is an imposing presence with confidence bordering on arrogance. This is mostly because the helm has great experience with combat in all forms and is rarely wrong. However, it only provides advice to its wielder when directly asked or if the wielder is imminent peril because it believes that its wielder can only improve from experiencing failure. The helm refuses to answer questions about who Kaldra was and his true motives and making the weapons of Kaldra. Additionally, the helm is reluctant to share about its history after its creation. The helm wishes to reunite with the Sword of Kaldra and Shield of Kaldra above all else. It believes if the Avatar of Kaldra is not whole then Mirrodin is defenseless and it’s just a matter of time before it falls.

Gilded Lotus

Over such beauty, wars are fought. With such power, wars are won.

Artist: Martina Pilcerova