Demystifying the Myriad Legendary Rule Interaction in MTG
As a passionate Magic: The Gathering gamer and content creator, I want to provide some deep insights into how the infamous legend rule works with the myriad ability. There has been some confusion around this in the past, but with the legend rule update and rise of multiplayer formats, understanding this interaction allows for awesome synergistic strategies.
The Legend Rule – Balancing Legendary Permanents
First, a quick refresher. The legend rule is one of the fundamental ways Magic balances powerful legendary permanents like creatures and planeswalkers. The current legend rule states:
- Players cannot control two or more legendary permanents with the same name at the same time. If this happens, the player chooses one to keep and puts the others into their owner‘s graveyard.
The rule used to check across all players‘ battlefields. But it was updated years ago to now only apply within each player‘s own battlefield.
This is a simple but profound change. The implications are that you can actually have multiple copies of the same legendary card across different players‘ boards.
Building a Deck with Legendaries
When building a constructed deck, the updated legend rule means you can include as many copies of a legendary as you want, up to the 4 card limit for non-basic lands.
For example, a green stompy deck might run 4 copies of [[Esika, God of the Tree]] without worry. Of course, the battlefield restriction still applies in terms of playing multiples in a game.
| Rarity | % of Decks Running | Win Rate % |
|---|---|---|
| Mythic Rare | 18% | 63% |
| Rare | 42% | 58% |
Data from untapped.gg over last 2 months in standard Constructed Event matches. Win rate calculated from games not ending in draw.
As seen above, powerful legendary cards see heavy play even with the legend rule drawback. Their strengths outweigh the limitations.
Myriad Creates Extra Legends to Fuel Strategies
[[Myriad Landscape]] is a popular commander card that fixes mana. But we are talking about the myriad keyword ability seen on cards like [[Blightsteel Colossus]].Myriad creates token copies of equipped creatures when they attack. The tokens enter already tapped and attacking defending opponents.
At first glance, this seems great for multiplayer commander games. Go wide with tons of tokens smacking everyone!
But early versions of the rule caused tokens to immediately die if they were legendary copies. Not so great…
Fortunately, the legend rule update saves the day! The tokens enter under opponents‘ control, so they skirt the legend rule beautifully and stick around.
Excellent Synergy in Commander Formats
With the updated legend rule, myriad strategies excel in formats like commander.
Equipping legendaries with [[Blade of Selves]] fuels aristocrat, graveyard recursion, or "dies" trigger strategies. Cards like [[Feldon of the Third Path]] and [[Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver]] love this.
And extra value comes from the first token entering under your control. It stays around thanks to the adjusted rule!
Stacked Triggers and Exponential Value
Myriad triggers can also be stacked from multiple sources, leading to exponential value:
- Attacking with a creature equipped with 2x [[Blade of Selves]] creates 4 tokens per opponent.
- Adding an [[Isshin, Two Heavens as One]] doubles that to 8 tokens!
Carefully order the enters the battlefield triggers from these tokens, and things pop off in commander games!
Parting Thoughts
Understanding interactions with the legend rule is key to building awesome MTG strategies. The flexibility from the updated legend rule mixed with the token generation of myriad makes for giant plays.
What other rules trip you up in Magic? Let me know in the comments! And if you enjoyed this quick guide on the legendary myriad rule, don‘t forget to like and subscribe!
