The 33 Best Myr in Magic

Last updated on February 18, 2024

Alloy Myr | Illustration by Matt Cavotta

You happen across a small beaked robot autonomously performing and reperforming some long obsolescent task. What do you do?

Do you communicate with, or befriend it? Can something with a sharp metal beak really be considered friendly? Do you attack? It’s not doing anything aggressive, but as you look across the reservoir you and your party are standing in you see that you’re surrounded by thousands of these small beings.

New Magic players may not know what these little things, called myr, are. Should these utility artifact creatures be on your short list for an artifact Commander deck? Which ones are the best? Let’s find out!

What Are Myr in MTG?

Ichorclaw Myr | Illustration by Eric Deschamps

The myr are artifact creatures from Mirrodin, originally artifact gnomes ultimately developed into a new Magic race. With a backstory as mechanical servitors, these cute beaked creatures do all sorts of utility things, often including providing mana.

Best Blue Myr

With the exception of these two blue ones, all myr are colorless. You won’t find any white, black, red, green, or multicolor myr. But there are plenty of myr that interact with or produce colored mana of all shades.

Parcel Myr

An adaptation of the first colored myr from Future Sight, Parcel Myr provides nice utility as an artifact that can sacrifice and replace itself. For two mana.

Compare this card to something like Brass Secretary and Bomat Courier. Parcel is about as efficient as it gets without another trigger like discarding your hand or losing life.

Sarcomite Myr

The first colored myr was pretty useful. Sarcomite Myr is a better deal to sacrifice the flying text to drop the mana cost and turn into a Parcel Myr, but you could still do worse in a deck that wants to send metal to the ‘yard.

Best Colorless Myr

This is a big list, so buckle up. There are a few fair cards here (note that I’m putting affinity cards in the “fair” category, so just be aware of the territory we’re in before you go on!), but most of these are combo enablers.

They’re so cute, yet so menacing. Kinda like squirrels?

Myr Battlesphere

Myr Battlesphere card can be a house, even if you play it fairly. But a 7-drop can be a tough ask. Add sacrifice and ETB abusers and you have more than 2,000 combos.

It’s also in a lot of Cubes and you should probably pick it if you see it. You’ll want this in flicker-, reanimator-, and tinker-style decks as well as on either side of a control matchup.

Brass Squire

Brass Squire isn’t as good as alternatives like Puresteel Paladin for Modern Hammertime decks centered around Colossus Hammer, but it’s a cheaper card to pick up. And it’s colorless, which makes it perfect to drop into equipment-matters Commander decks. Especially if you move past Sram, Senior Edificer to red commanders like Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh or Boros () commanders like Wyleth, Soul of Steel, whose precon this card comes in.

This card can tap to add equipment at instant speed which is useful in decks with broken stuff like Skullclamp, Sunforger, and Umezawa's Jitte. And most folks who play Godo, Bandit Warlord as their commander run Squire, which is a good reason to toss in Helm of the Host that can win on the spot.

Myr Retriever

Now we’re talking. So many silly combos here, but Myr Retriever is just a useful creature for a small bit of artifact recursion in any EDH decks with an artifact theme.

Silly combos? Try two of this with Altar of the Brood. You’re welcome.

And if you’re running Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle as your commander then you’re already in this territory anyway. You just need a 0-cost artifact and your choice of evil sacrifice outlets, from Altar of Dementia to Blasting Station.

Myr Mana Dorks

These mana dorks are super helpful in the colors that could use them. A bit below rate for green mana elves but certain colors really need them.

Usually these are ramp cards for mono-color commanders like Zada, Hedron Grinder in red or even Taniwha(!!) in blue.

Palladium Myr

Palladium Myr works well with various infinite mana combos since it taps for two. But it’s also a fine ramp card for helping to speed out your Eldrazi, like Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger or Kozilek, Butcher of Truth.

Lodestone Myr

A wincon in affinity decks when it dropped, Lodestone Myr still shows up in affinity-style Commander decks like Alibou, Ancient Witness and Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer. Brudiclad just feels like it wants to get errata'd to toss “myr” into the type line, doesn’t it?

Plague Myr & Ichorclaw Myr

If you’re an EDH player running an infect deck then you’re running Plague Myr and Ichorclaw Myr.

Myr Welder

If you can get broken mana artifacts like Mana Crypt or even Sol Ring, or fairer rocks like Sisay's Ring, in the graveyard, that’s how Myr Welder starts. It just has to tap for two. Given that we all play with that one person at a Commander table that likes to target mana rocks, you often don’t have to try that hard to get these things in your graveyard.

How long is your Grim Monolith realistically going to survive? If you’re in an Oswald Fiddlebender deck then you tutor up something like Staff of Domination or Voltaic Construct and the mana flows and flows.

Shimmer Myr

Shimmer Myr is really useful in artifact decks, which is why it shows up in the Kotori, Pilot Prodigy precon along with another good commander for it, Sai, Master Thopterist.

Myr Galvanizer

Two Myr Galvanizers and a Palladium Myr gives you all the colorless mana you could ever want. So you’ve got to find a way to clone or copy it, maybe with Osgir, the Reconstructor? If you’re playing myr tribal then you’re probably already on the nutty combo train, so why not hitch this card to the caboose?

Myr Enforcer

Another solid affinity staple, Myr Enforcer has been strictly upgraded (and upgraded in terms of cuteness!) with Modern Horizons 2’s Sojourner's Companion. It’s really hard to decide where to put this on a list with so many durdley combo enablers but I’m choosing right here.

Myr Moonvessel

Your combo spidey senses are tingling, right? If you like durdley 4-card combos then toss Myr Moonvessel into your Koll, the Forgemaster deck with Goblin Bombardment and an equipment you can equip for zero, like Shuko.

Or this goes into your Glissa, the Traitor deck along with edict engines like Grave Pact so that you can wipe the board. Add Ashnod's Altar and you have a lot of mana. You probably picked Glissa as a commander for shenanigans like this, so Moonvessel is here for you.

Myr Sire

Myr Sire works like any Doomed Dissenter variant in sacrifice decks. It’s a bit easier to cast with a colorless mana cost and provides two types for delirium. But it’s still not a common inclusion since there are more coherent synergies for most sac commanders, but it does perform well in sac decks around artifacts like Arcum Dagsson.

Perilous Myr

I guess Perilous Myr has to go in your deck looking to combo with Enduring Renewal, right? This card is totally reasonable in decks with sacrifice and graveyard recursion, of which there are many, especially in the artifact space. In addition to the commanders mentioned throughout this piece I might add Breya, Etherium Shaper.

Myr Scrapling

Myr Scrapling is cheap and flexible. It plays well with commanders that want +1/+1 counters like Marchesa, the Black Rose and with artifacts or sacrifice commanders. You can pull of various combo shenanigans in Urza, Lord High Artificer and Emry, Lurker of the Loch decks, especially when coupled with a card like Mirran Spy. But those decks already have a lot of competition in the 1-drop slot.

Coretapper

Coretapper gets up to no good in various combos using Magistrate's Scepter and one of the cards that gets artifacts or creatures back from the graveyard, of which there are quite a lot, from Emry, Lurker of the Loch to Tameshi, Reality Architect.

Alloy Myr

A colorless Birds of Paradise is something you might want, but at Manalith casting cost and open to creature removal you can do better than Alloy Myr.

Myr Landshaper

Myr Landshaper or Liquimetal Coating plus Splinter may be the ultimate in feel bad combos to inflict on someone… in 2009. How many players run enough basic lands in Commander these days for this to be worth it?

Myr Superion

There are a number of casual decks that can find ways to drop Myr Superion as fast as possible with creature mana, from Burning-Tree Emissary to various tap for mana dorks. You could also try to tutor up Heartless Summoning to make this guy free.

This is a bit harder to pull off in Commander, but Superion definitely has to be played in your Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma decks, doesn’t it? But it’s easy to see how this card will be stuck in your hand until your opponents stop killing your commander and mana dorks. Is a vanilla 5/6 enough by then?

Myr Mindservant

It feels like you should be able to do something wicked with Myr Mindservant and something like Sensei's Divining Top or Future Sight. But not really. But I’d probably pop this into a The Reality Chip Commander deck just in case.

Darksteel Myr

Darksteel Myr is easy-ish to cast for your odd little Pariah deck, but it’s not very exciting.

Myr Adapter

Myr Adapter is too below rate for the equipment decks that might want it.

Myr Propagator

This kind of card is like the Mount Everest for combo players. I’m sure you could get Myr Propagator to do something sweet with the right six cards.

Myr Prototype

And Myr Prototype is another piece of combo bait that never really comes together. I just envision legions of Magic boomers sorting through their Mirrodin cards like they’re panning for gold, hoping for some hitherto unseen interaction they can amaze the playgroup with if it ever comes together.

In no way am I talking about myself.

Knighted Myr

There are better things to be doing in your +1/+1 counters deck than Knighted Myr, probably.

Myr Servitor

It’s hard to see Myr Servitor working in a Singleton format. Even if you clone or Rite of Replication it and sac it, that’s quite a bit for one exit the graveyard to ETB trigger a turn.

Hovermyr

I mean, Hovermyr flies, right? But still…

Myr Quadropod

Myr Quadropod is for myr tribal true believers only.

Suntouched Myr

Suntouched Myr is a mechanic that hasn’t aged well. I guess that is a bit surprising given the increasing number of dual lands. But you’d need a 5-color +1/+1 counters-matter commander to pull this out of the boomer shoeboxes where it currently lives. Even then is feels pretty below rate.

Omega Myr

Flavor-wise I guess Omega Myr and the Alpha have to be in your myr tribal decks, don’t they?

Alpha Myr

An under-rate vanilla creature. Alpha Myr has always bugged me because the flavor text tells me this should have first strike. Even then it’s probably just a beta myr.

Best Myr Payoffs

Artifact Matters Commanders

Myr are the most popular tribe for artifacts-matters decks just edging out golems but handily dominating scarecrows and constructs. I already mentioned most of the key commanders in this type if you’re looking for ideas. Myr offer a generally low casting cost for these decks coupled with the two most common myr modes: mana production, and combo synergy.

The mana becomes more and more important as the range of artifact commanders increases in color. Plenty of players still run a colorless commander like Karn, Silver Golem or Traxos, Scourge of Kroog, but having mana sources matters even more with artifacts-matter commanders with partner in all colors like my favorite, Keskit, the Flesh Sculptor, and commanders in three or more colors like Sharuum the Hegemon.

And the combo synergy is helpful even if you’re not trying to abuse the table with infinity and beyond combos since mana dorks that are artifacts are, like, doubly killable. So having some combo synergies helps make the commanders work, especially with ETBs and graveyard effects as with Silas Renn, Seeker Adept.

Myr Tribal

There are just barely enough myr for an EDH deck, but of course there are also a series of myr-adjacent cards that can fit into these decks, all of which are pretty good if you’re going this route.

• Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer
• Genesis Chamber
• Master's Call
• Myr Incubator
• Myr Matrix
• Myr Reservoir
• Myr Turbine
• Myrsmith
• Origin Spellbomb
• Parasitic Implant
• Shrine of Loyal Legions

Like Thopters it’s pretty easy to find ways to generate a decent number of tokens. But the rate is just a bit more expensive than things like Squirrel or Elf tokens.

How Many Myr Cards Have Been Printed?

There are 38 proper myr and 11 cards that make Myr tokens in some way.

Who Created the Myr in MTG?

Memnarch created the myr. But that being’s story is pretty complex.

The myr were created as servant automatons, and Memnarch could see through their eyes. But when Memnarch was defeated they were lost and started to build their own culture.

Is There a Legendary Myr in Magic?

There are no legendary myr, but there should be. The closest thing looks like a myr and makes more myr but is only an “artificer,” and that’s Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer.

Is Brudiclad a Myr?

Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer is not a myr. Brudiclad has been errata’d to be a “Phyrexian artificer,” and that’s already far too long for the physical creature type line to fit myr even if this creature’s status as a Phyrexian didn’t clearly suggest a different story.

But even though there are lots of different looks to Phyrexians depending on their state of compleation, most have some teeth. Or a lot of teeth. Looking at you (a bit unwillingly), Phyrexian Infiltrator. Even the beakiest of Phyrexians, Jin-Gitaxias, has teeth in there. Brudiclad does not and it also seems to have the little glowing eyes we associate with myr.

So I guess I wouldn’t blame you for playing a bit of homebrew errata with Brudiclad as a myr if your table lets you.

Wrap Up

Myr Scrapling | Illustration by Svetlin Velinov

Myr are cute in an almost inexplicable way. As an odd combination of robots, gnomes, and ants, it shouldn’t really work. But it does. Even the least cute myr is cuter than the cutest Thopter. So I think they’ll continue to be the most popular artifact tribe.

Artifacts have a vibe of being soulless combo enablers, and they have since the beginning. But myr, who also play their part in some wicked combos, give the whole thing a beaky WALL-E soul.

Which is your favorite myr? Do you have any fun lists featuring myr tribal? Let me know in the comments down below or over in Draftsim’s official Discord.

That’s all from me for today. Stay safe, stay healthy, and wash your hands!