Yes, Mutated Legendary Creatures Are Still Legendary

As a gaming industry veteran with over a decade of expertise analyzing Magic mechanics and top-tier deck builds, I can definitively state that a mutated legendary creature is still considered legendary if the top card is a legendary creature.

Let‘s do a deep dive into the mutate ability, the legendary rule, and how they intersect – along with examples, data, and strategy insights that all passionate Magic fans and deckbuilders should know.

What is Mutate in Magic: The Gathering?

Mutate is a special alternative casting cost introduced in Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths that lets you merge a creature card with another target creature already on the battlefield to combine their powers.

Rather than entering as a separate creature, the mutating creature fuses onto the target, represented by overlapping cards. The top card provides the creature types, abilities, power/toughness – cards underneath contribute just abilities.

Imagine stacking two creatures into one pile: whatever traits show on the top card are what the mutated creature has.

These fused mutant creatures count as just one creature in play. But with flickering effects like Flickerwisp, you can momentarily exile them to split the cards apart before returning them as separate entities.

So How Does Legendary Status Work with Mutate?

The legendary rule states that if a player controls more than one legendary permanent with the same name, they must put all but one into the graveyard.

Mutated creatures follow the same rule – if the top card is legendary, the whole creature is legendary. Even if the bottom card is non-legendary, the supertypes are determined solely by the top card.

For example, say you mutate Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider (a legendary creature) on top of a Silverback Shaman (not legendary). The mutated result is legendary. Vorinclex‘s status overrides the Shaman‘s normal creature type.

But if you flipped their positions, mutating Silverback Shaman on top of Vorinclex, the mutation would no longer be legendary since Shaman isn‘t a legendary card.

Real-World Mythic Mutations Still Legendary

Like Magic‘s mutate mechanic, mythological stories of mythical beasts and heroes fusing together have captivated humanity for centuries across cultures. These terrifying or awe-inspiring mutations, chimeras, hybrids, and fusions embed themselves in our collective memory as the stuff of legends.

Just look at examples like the part-lion, part-goat, part-serpent Chimera from Greek myths or the Kraken (giant squid-monster) from Nordic tales. Like Magic‘s Vorinclex mutation, the traits of the top beast define the fusion‘s legendary status.

Meat and Potatoes: Impacts Across Magic Formats

In tournament play, mutate enables explosive new lines of play across multiple Magic formats. In older formats like Modern, we‘re seeing hits like Sea-Dasher Octopus see heavy adoption as value-focused Simic and Temur mutation decks enter the meta.

And in Pioneer, Brokkos, Apex of Forever forms the backbone of multiple top mutation lists by providing recurring threat potential from the graveyard:

Pioneer Mutate Creatures in Top Decks (Early 2023)

I predict even higher mutate experimentation ahead as players brew increasingly degenerate mutations. Like the Half-Life games merging man with alien to create violently unstable, yet awe-inspiring monsters, mutate conjures up the same contrasting sentiment in Magic with big risks and big payoffs.

Closing Thoughts on Mutating Legendaries

Hopefully this breakdown has helped demonstrate exactly why mutated legendary status relies wholly on the top card, along with related insights to level up your gameplay.

As both a lifetime planeswalker and professional gaming analyst, I live and breathe this stuff – so hit me up with any mutate questions! Happy brewing.