(Myr BattlesphereMyr Battlesphere | Art by Franz Vohwinkel)

Like Mox Jet, But Cuter

Welcome to Too-Specific Top 10, where if there isn’t a category to rank our pet card at the top of, we’ll just make one up! (Did you know that HovermyrHovermyr has the exact same power and toughness and casting cost of Omega MyrOmega Myr?)

I mentioned off-handedly last week that Myr BattlesphereMyr Battlesphere was so good in Jetmir, Nexus of RevelsJetmir, Nexus of Revels that you could build a Myr tribal deck out of it.

Well, time to put my money where my mouth is, I guess.

Now, at first glance, this deck appears to be exactly what I intended: a bad JetmirJetmir Myr Tribal build. But, as many of you are probably figuring out in your pods right now, there's no such thing as a bad Jetmir build. He is just too efficient a finisher, and any combination of creatures and Naya ramp will create a board that has to be answered immediately, at which point there are any number of expensive cards can just immediately recreate the problem with a horde of tokens, with Myr BattlesphereMyr Battlesphere chief among them.

And so, for this week's Too-Specific Top 10...

Top 10 Non-Spherical Myr

Why don't we just ignore that guy?

Criteria: Cards that either are Myr or create Myr tokens that are not named "Myr BattlesphereMyr Battlesphere". As is tradition, all results are ordered by EDHREC score.

Is this an arbitrary way to take a pretty simple top ten criteria and make it "more complex" by specifically weeding out a card everyone knows would be at the top of said list? Absolutely. Does it make more room for us to talk about some much less loved Myr? Absolutely. So let's get to it.

10. Ichorclaw MyrIchorclaw Myr

(5,044 Inclusions, 0% of 1,150,938 Decks)

There's no doubt that Infect is a controversial subject in the Commander world, but outside of Triumph of the HordesTriumph of the Hordes and Blightsteel ColossusBlightsteel Colossus, I've never really understood that particular boogeyman. The vast majority of Infect creatures are exactly like Ichorclaw MyrIchorclaw Myr: poorly costed, tiny, with mostly irrelevant gimmicks. An Infect player rarely kills more than one player, at any power level, at which point they're inevitably killed themselves for being scary.

It's just not good enough a strategy to even be controversial, much less be a boogeyman.

9. Brudiclad, Telchor EngineerBrudiclad, Telchor Engineer

(Helms 2,498 Decks, Rank #116; 6,054 Inclusions, 2% of 258,457 Decks)

You know what is scary, in a non-controversial fashion? A Brudiclad, Telchor EngineerBrudiclad, Telchor Engineer deck that's gotten online and is about to start making infinite copies of Combat CelebrantCombat Celebrant. When Brudiclad was first printed, there were a lot of hoops to jump through to make interesting tokens, as opposed to just 2/1 Myr or 3/3 Golems. Not so anymore. With the newfound prevalence of permanent copy tokens, it's now trivially easy to copy your two-mana Junk WinderJunk Winder so you can make all of your tokens 5/6 just in time for a new token that then taps down the whole board.

8. Genesis ChamberGenesis Chamber

(10031 Inclusions, 1% of 1,150,938 Decks)

If you're looking to flood the board in a more traditional fashion, however, then look no further than Genesis ChamberGenesis Chamber. Oft maligned for being symmetrical, Genesis ChamberGenesis Chamber is anything but in a deck designed around it. Sure, that other player will get a 1/1 when they play their Eternal WitnessEternal Witness. You're going to get one when you play your Elvish VisionaryElvish Visionary, your Wall of BlossomsWall of Blossoms, your Ice-Fang CoatlIce-Fang Coatl, your Coiling OracleCoiling Oracle....

7. Brass SquireBrass Squire

(10,185 Inclusions, 1% of 1,150,938 Decks)

If instead you'd rather go tall than wide, then there's always Brass SquireBrass Squire. As a 1/3 for three, it's not exactly blowing anyone away with its base stats, but attach an Argentum ArmorArgentum Armor to it for free and you're certainly getting your money's worth. In fact, let's just take a look at some of the most used Equipment that Brass SquireBrass Squire gets you a discount on:

Top 10 Equipment That Equips for More Than Three

1. Helm of the HostHelm of the Host
2. Colossus HammerColossus Hammer
3. Argentum ArmorArgentum Armor
4. Thornbite StaffThornbite Staff
5. Nim DeathmantleNim Deathmantle
6. Kaldra CompleatKaldra Compleat
7. Blade of SelvesBlade of Selves
8. BatterskullBatterskull
9. Moonsilver SpearMoonsilver Spear
10. Belt of Giant StrengthBelt of Giant Strength

...and that's just looking at how much you're saving on the first activation, not to mention the ones that follow!

6. Plague MyrPlague Myr

(11,792 Inclusions, 1% of 1,150,938 Decks)

If you've got a hankering for Infect shenanigans, but also need some ramp in your life, then Plague MyrPlague Myr has you covered! It's not the most efficient in either arena, but when it can do both at once, who cares?

5. Mirrodin BesiegedMirrodin Besieged

(14,224 Inclusions, 2% of 575,834 Decks)

The thing I love about Mirrodin BesiegedMirrodin Besieged is that it can either be a bad BitterblossomBitterblossom or an immediate win condition. Unlike other conditional win cons, like Revel in RichesRevel in Riches or Helix PinnacleHelix Pinnacle, it's not sitting there scaring the entire table if you play it down early to get some bodies, but you can also play it down late and just win the game! While I've gone into some detail about the feel-bads that can result from that sort of thing, games do have to end, and it's not like people don't have a chance to remove it.

4. Mono-Mana Myr

(2,422-18,156 Inclusions)

The original Myr that started it all, this cycle of mana Myr is about as simple as they come. For two colorless, you get a cute little robot that will make you mana of a given color. At the top of the list is Iron MyrIron Myr, Silver MyrSilver Myr, and Gold MyrGold Myr, all simultaneously in colors that like artifacts and don't have rampantrampant ramp spells in their colors. At the bottom is Leaden MyrLeaden Myr and Copper MyrCopper Myr, in colors where ramp is much more prevalent and artifact decks are much less prominent.

Like the cycle itself, it ain't rocket science, although it might be Robotics 101.

3. Shimmer MyrShimmer Myr

(21,490 Inclusions, 2% of 1,150,938 Decks)

Shimmer MyrShimmer Myr is, at its heart, a discount. By and large, if you're looking to cast things at instant speed, you're going to pay four mana for that effect. Whether it's Vedalken OrreryVedalken Orrery, Leyline of AnticipationLeyline of Anticipation, Raff Capashen, Ship's MageRaff Capashen, Ship's Mage, or Yeva, Nature's HeraldYeva, Nature's Herald, four just appears to be the going rate. Even against the exceptions like Vivien, Champion of the WildsVivien, Champion of the Wilds or Teferi, Time RavelerTeferi, Time Raveler, Shimmer MyrShimmer Myr still blows the competition out of the water by having flash itself!

In other words, as popular as Shimmer MyrShimmer Myr is at 21,000 inclusions, I honestly think it should see even more play. Preferably at your opponent's end step.

2. Palladium MyrPalladium Myr

(23,340 Inclusions, 2% of 1,150,938 Decks)

Seeing Palladium MyrPalladium Myr near the very top of this list was a huge surprise for me. Don't get me wrong, I'm as much of a fan of Worn PowerstoneWorn Powerstone as the next player, but putting it on a creature makes it a lot more vulnerable, and while I'm sure there're some decks that focus specifically on creature ramp because they also want to swing with said creatures, and some decks that focus on untapping creatures specifically, even those strategies put together probably don't equal 23,000 decks. So is this more Precon bias from its inclusion in the Daretti, Scrap SavantDaretti, Scrap Savant deck in 2014, or am I missing something about this shiny Myr-guy?

1. Myr RetrieverMyr Retriever

(26,767 Inclusions, 2% of 1,150,938 Decks)

The King is dead, long live the King. Even with Myr BattlesphereMyr Battlesphere out of the picture, it wasn't too hard to figure out which Myr would reign supreme. A mere 3,000 inclusions behind the big bad sphere itself, Myr RetrieverMyr Retriever is the most efficiently costed of all the small Aristocrat artifacts. At two mana for a 1/1 that gets you an artifact back to your hand when it dies, it beats out Junk DiverJunk Diver, Workshop AssistantWorkshop Assistant, and Scrap TrawlerScrap Trawler all. In other words, if you're looking to be moving your toys from one pile to another all game long, you'll need the master, and there's only one.

Honorable Mentions

You'll notice that despite our criteria including cards that make Myr as opposed to just Myr themselves, there weren't many of them on our list. With that in mind, then, I'd be remiss if I didn't give a more all-inclusive look at the options for making Myr tokens:

Top 10 Myr Makers

1. Myr BattlesphereMyr Battlesphere
2. Mirrodin BesiegedMirrodin Besieged
3. Genesis ChamberGenesis Chamber
4. Brudiclad, Telchor EngineerBrudiclad, Telchor Engineer
5. Myr TurbineMyr Turbine
6. Myr SireMyr Sire
7. MyrsmithMyrsmith
8. Myr MatrixMyr Matrix
9. Myr PropagatorMyr Propagator
10. Shrine of Loyal LegionsShrine of Loyal Legions

A decent list, and yet I can't help feeling like it's not from a nearly big enough pool. At 38 Myr total, and 15 Myr token-creators, the tribe remains woefully underrepresented even after visiting Mirrodin six different times throughout Magic's history, so here's hoping we see some Myr on the front lines when the next Phyrexian invasion does finally come!

Nuts and Bolts

There always seems to be a bit of interest in how these lists are made (this seems like a good time to stress once again that they are based on EDHREC score, NOT my personal opinion), and people are often surprised that I’m not using any special data or .json from EDHREC, but rather just muddling my way through with some Scryfall knowledge! For your enjoyment/research, here is this week’s Scryfall search.

What Do You Think?

For once, I am without a hot take or controversy to throw at my readers as red meat for a poll. So instead...

Finally, what is your favorite Myr? What decks have you managed to squeeze them into? Are there any radical, out-there Myr tribal builds you've managed to concoct in the absence of a true Myr commander?

Let us know in the comments, and we'll see you at that table they do the robot soccer competitions on. In between rounds, of course.

DougY

Doug has been an avid Magic player since Fallen Empires, when his older brother traded him some epic blue Homarids for all of his Islands. As for Commander, he's been playing since 2010, when he started off by making a two-player oriented G/R Land Destruction deck. Nailed it. In his spare time when he's not playing Magic, writing about Magic or doing his day job, he runs a YouTube channel or two, keeps up a College Football Computer Poll, and is attempting to gif every scene of the Star Wars prequels.