Unusual Tribes 5: Myr

Myr are the next tribe to be examined in this series, which dusts off and discusses unusual Magic the Gathering creature types. Native to the artificial plane of Mirrodin, the Myr debuted in the block of the same name in 2003. Currently 35 Myr exist, as well as a handful of cards which generate Myr tokens. Myr are small artifact creatures. With the exception of Sarcomite Myr, and certain Myr tokens, they are all colourless. The Myr were constructed by Memnarch, the plane’s warden, to act as his loyal servants. Through an object called the Darksteel Eye, Memnarch was able to look through the eyes of every Myr and thus monitor the entire plane. After the death of their master the Myr of Mirrodin were left lost and without purpose. The Phyrexian invasion granted their lives new meaning, one way or another, some became corrupted servants of the invaders, whilst others stood alongside their fellow Mirrans in resistance. After Phyrexia’s victory most of Mirrodin’s Myr became the puppets of their conquerers. Although some, such as Alloy Myr, continue to resist.

Myr derive their name from the Greek term ‘myrmeco’ which is the taxonomic term for ants. The link between Myr and ants is clear, to quote Magic designer Mark Gottlieb on the subject, both are ‘small, ubiquitous, busy workers’.[1] Their name also links them to the Myrmidons, an order of warriors from Greek mythology renowned for their loyalty to their master Achilles. The Myr once felt the same devout loyalty towards Memnarch.

Myr possess a variety of effects although, primarily, they interact with artifacts. Some Myr return artifacts from the graveyard, others grant artifacts flash or place charge counters on them. This is to name but a small selection of tools from their artifact based arsenal. Outside of their interactions with artifacts Myr offer a selection of other effects, such as generating mana, creating tokens and returning themselves from the graveyard. 

Mana Making Myr

 Gold Myr, Silver Myr, Leaden Myr, Iron Myr and Copper Myr generate white, blue, black, red and green mana respectively. The members of the cycle have a pattern weaved through their flavour text. In their first priniting, in the original Mirrodin, the text describes the relationship between Myr and one of the races of Mirrodin. For example, Copper Myr describes the relationship between Myr and elves, stating ‘the elves thought of the Myr as minor threats, just as the myr thought of the elves’. When this cycle was reprinted in Scars of Mirrodin, their flavour text was changed and a new pattern was created. The Myr are now described as being similar to a material and a brief comparison is then made between the named material and the Myr. For example, Gold Myr's flavour text states ‘The myr are like razorgrass: numberless metal figures, reflecting each other's light’.

Scars of Mirrodin block brought in an additional mana making Myr in each of its constituent sets. Scars of Mirrodin itself introduced Palladium Myr, which adds two colourless mana to its controller’s mana pool. Palladium Myr’s flavour text matches its predecessors comparing it to the Glimmervoid, a blank desert-like expanse of smooth metal which stretches across Mirrodin’s surface. Matching this comparison to a blank void-like space, Palladium Myr adds 2 colourless mana to its controller’s mana pool.

Mirrodin Besieged added Plague Myr a Myr which both generates colourless mana and spreads poison counters through the Infect mechanic. Plague Myr demonstrates that Mirrodin’s Myr are falling to Phyrexian corruption.

Finally, New Phyrexia added one final Myr mana dork, Alloy Myr. Alloy Myr produces one mana of any colour, its art depicts it sitting beneath the 5 suns of Mirrodin, justifying its ability as each of the five suns is linked to one of the five colours of mana. Alloy Myr is a bittersweet card. Mirrodin’s suns are shown setting, demonstrating how the plane has fallen and transformed into New Phyrexia, yet the card’s flavour text ‘with or without witnesses, the suns continued their prismatic dance’ shows how the dawn will come again, even

under Phyrexian rule, and hints that  someday Mirrodin may be reborn.

Though hardly auto-includes, these mana making Myr can be used in certain EDH decks. They are typically less useful than signets, however, as they are vulnerable to board wipes and creature removal. These cards combo with several other cards of their tribe. Myr Superion needs to be summoned by mana generated from creatures, making any of these Myr able to help bring it forth effectively. Palladium Myr is especially useful, at this task, as it can bring the Superion to the field alone. Myr Enforcer, a 7 mana 4/4 Myr with Affinity for Artifacts, can be brought out rapidly using these Myr as well.

The Myr the merrier

Myr have a lord in Myr Galvanizer. Myr Galvanizer provides a +1/+1 to other Myr, and can be tapped down (at the cost of one mana) to untap other members of the tribe. This effect works especially nicely with the Myr mana dorks mentioned above, as it allows each of them to generate twice as much mana. As cards which buff artifact creatures benefit all Myr, Chief of the Foundry and Master of Etherium are functionally Myr lords as well.

Myr Servitor has a noteworthy effect. Each upkeep, if a Myr Servitor is on the battlefield, all Myr Servitors in either graveyard are returned to the battlefield. The flavour text makes clear what this effect represents, stating ‘The Krark Clan enjoys pulling them apart just to watch them reassemble one another’. Myr Servitors are evidently reassembling robots. Bringing up the Krark-clan in this text fleshes out the world of Mirrodin. A tribe of Mirran goblins, known for their infamous combo-enabling ironworks, the Krark-clan’s ability to destroy artifacts is infamous. Every card bearing the term ‘Krark-clan’ in its name destroys artifacts in some way. It is clear that the servitors are putting themselves together again, perhaps having fallen victim to the curious whims of some Krark-clan Engineers. The artwork on the card contributes further to this narrative. It depicts a Myr Servitor piecing another fallen servitor back together again. The art also makes clear that these servitors are small, even compared to other Myr, as we can see blades of grass rising high above them in the background.

Myr also, sort of, have a legendary commander in Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer. Brudiclad, though an artificer rather than a Myr himself, generates a 2/1 blue Myr artifact creature token on each of his controller’s combat phases. Brudiclad also grants all tokens haste, and enables them all to become copies of the strongest token in play. This synergises with the token generation strategy printed on several Myr cards such as Myr Battlesphere and Myr Incubator. This copy effect also enables some fun, if somewhat difficult to execute, strategies. Copying a powerful token, such as the 10/10 Eldrazi token generated by Idol of Oblivion, turns a mob of meek metallic Myr into a writhing horde of Lovecraftian monstrosities. [2] It is unfortunate that Brudiclad, does not have white in his colour identity. This causes Commander decks based around him to lose access to several Myr support cards, such as Myrsmith and Shrine of Loyal Legions. This also cuts Brudiclad decks off from white cards which are useful in token decks, most notably Anointed Procession.

Myr Support cards

One thing which makes Myr notable, in comparison to the other tribes previously  discussed in this series, is that a significant number of cards which archetypally support them exist. Several of these support cards simply generate Myr tokens, such as Master’s Call and Myrsmith. Myr Incubator can generate a huge number of these tokens, albeit at a steep cost both in mana and needing to exile artifacts from your deck. The huge number of tokens generated by the Incubator can potentially overwhelm opponents, though the card runs the risk of exiling most of its controller’s library only to have all of the Myr it generates destroyed by a board wipe. Genesis Chamber creates Myr whenever a non-token creature comes into play. Notably this effect is symmetrical, so before long both sides of the battlefield should be swarming with Myr.

Beyond token generation, there are other Myr support cards with differing and unique effects. Myr Resevoir generates colourless mana which can be spent exclusively to play Myr and can also return Myr from the graveyard to the hand. Myr Matrix provides a +1/+1 bonus to every Myr in play, and has the ability to generate tokens, but at 5 mana is likely too expensive to be useful in any format outside of Commander. Myr Turbine allows for significantly cheaper Myr generation, as well as the ability to bring Myr directly from the library onto the battlefield. The turbine, unlike the matrix, is not Indestructable and it does not provide the same +1/+1 bonus. However, the ability to flood the board with Myr Battlespheres more than makes up for these shortcomings and, arguably, makes it a better card.

Mirrodin Besieged from Modern Horizons is one of the more interesting Myr support cards. Like many cards from Modern Horizons it exists as a reference to Magic’s history. Specifically it is a throwback both to the set Mirrodin Besieged, which shares its name, and to a cycle of cards from Fate Reforged. The Siege cycle was a series of five enchantments which told the story of the war between the clans of Tarkir and the plane’s dragons. These cards had two effects of which only one could be chosen. One of these effects was labelled ‘khans’ and the other ‘dragons’. Choosing either option enabled players to pick a side in the sets war through their actions in gameplay. 

Mirrodin Besieged parallels this cycle, but changes its context from the war between the Khans and dragons on Tarkir, to the war between the Mirrans and Phyrexians on Mirrodin. The Mirran effect creates a Myr creature token whenever its controller plays an artifact, an effect which demonstrates the Mirrans rising to resist the invaders. Given that all Myr are artifact creatures, this effect works well in a Myr tribal deck, allowing you to play a second Myr each time one would come into play. The Phyrexian effect, meanwhile, is more complex. It allows its controller to draw and then discard a card during their end step, as well as being an alternate-win condition which causes its controller to win the game if they have 15 or artifacts in their graveyard at the end of their turn. This second effect reflects the Phyrexians ultimate victory in the war. The fact that this victory is attained when a large number of artifacts are in the graveyard demonstrates how the Phyrexians slaughter much of the populace of Mirrodin, a plane heavily themed around artifacts.  Alternate win-condition cards are always interesting to build decks around, however, this second ability doesn’t work quite as well in a Myr deck as the first. Myr are better at getting artifacts out of the graveyard than putting them in there.

Flavour: A

The effects of Myr are wide-ranging, but also appropriate to their flavour as artificial ant-like workers.  The multitude of ways to create Myr tokens reflects their ever-presence across Mirrodin. Myr who return from the graveyard demonstrate their ability to reassemble themselves. Their ability to generate mana reflects their alignment with each of the five moons of Mirrodin, and thus with each of the colours. Finally Myr gaining Infect demonstrates their increasing corruption throughout the Scars of Mirrodin block, which parallels the increasing degradation of their home plane. Each of these differing effects slots together neatly, furthering their identity rather than undermining it or becoming making it too broad. It is clear that Myr serve a variety of functions in both Mirran and New Phyrexian society and these functions are well represented on their cards.

Viability: A-

Myr definitely make the most viable tribal deck of any of the tribes discussed thus far. They have by far the most support, of any of the previously discussed tribes, and have genuine synergies and strategies binding them together. Though Myr may never become a tier 1 modern deck, it is entirely possible to build a usable casual deck featuring them in the format. Beyond this, Myr Enforcer was once a key part of the affinity decks which terrorised standard from 2003 to 2005. In Commander Myr also offer fun and versatile deck building possibility, whether one wants to make a token-themed go-wide deck or an artifact centric strategy. Myr can only get better with time, as Magic’s story seems to be gearing up for a return to New Phyrexia in the relatively near future.

Best and Worst Myr:

Myr Battlesphere is arguably the best card of the tribe. 7 Mana for a total of 8/11 worth of stats, spread out over five bodies, is undoubtedly impressive. In formats where large creatures are practical, or if it can be cheated out, the Battlesphere demands an answer. Though without some means of granting it haste the Battlesphere does not present an immediate threat, in the event that it is able to attack it is guaranteed to leave a mark. Shimmer Myr also deserves a mention. Its ability to grant artifacts Flash enables many interesting strategies and its name is incredibly fun to read aloud.

Myr Adapter, in contrast, is simply awful. A 1/1 for 3 mana, Myr Adapter receives +1/+1 for each piece of equipment attached to it. This means that at least 2 pieces of equipment attached to it to be worth its cost, and even then, a 3/3 for 3 is hardly exciting.  Myr Prototype is also terrible. A 2/2 for 5 mana which gets a +1/+1 counter on each of its controller’s upkeep phases is already unremarkable. That this comes with the additional downside of the Prototype not being able to attack or block unless 1 mana is spent for each +1/+1 counter on it makes the card largely unusable.

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[1] https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/myrrer-myrrer-2004-06-10
[2] I had initially written here that it was possible to transform the Myr into a 20/20 Marit Ladge token, as created by Dark Depths or Marit Lage's Slumber. Unfortunatley this does not work as the tokens are legendary and thus cannot be copied. My thanks to Maridiem on Reddit for pointing out my mistake.