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A comprehensive breakdown of one of EDH’s best mechanics
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Myriad is a powerful mechanic that’s exclusively useful in multiplayer Commander games. Creatures with this ability create tokens when they attack, and these tokens attack whoever the myriad creature isn’t attacking. In other words, it allows you to attack everyone all at once with the same creature. We’ll explain how myriad works, cover any unique rules related to the mechanic, and explain some of the more powerful cards that grant the ability.
Myriad Rules
When a creature with myriad attacks, its controller creates a token of that creature for each opponent not being attacked. Each token comes into play tapped and attacking one of the players not being attacked by the myriad creature.
Steps
Section 2 of 4:
How does myriad work?
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You attack one of your opponents with your myriad creature. Say, for our example, that you’re playing a game against Mike, Amanda, and Tony. On your turn, you move to the beginning of combat and declare your attackers. You control a Banshee of the Dread Choir and decide to attack Mike. [2] X Research source
- Pro tip: Unless you have a really good reason to do otherwise, always attack the player least likely to kill the original creature. It doesn’t matter if the tokens die in combat, but you want to protect the creature that matters.
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The myriad trigger goes on the stack once you declare attackers. As soon as you turn your Banshee sideways to tap it as an attacker, the myriad ability is triggered and it goes on the stack. Your opponents all get an opportunity to respond to the trigger.
- Even if you’re going to create multiple tokens, myriad only creates one trigger. This means that a player could prevent multiple tokens from being created by countering the trigger with a card like Stifle .
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Place tokens of the myriad creature on the battlefield, attacking each other opponent. Once the myriad trigger resolves, you get two fresh copies of your Banshee of the Dread Choir. They come into play as tokens, tapped and attacking. You set one Banshee token in front of Amanda and the other Banshee token in front of Tony.
- You cannot choose to set multiple tokens in front of one opponent. Each token must attack different opponents. If Amanda were already out of the game, you would create only one token for Tony.
- The Banshee tokens have all of the text and stats from the original Banshee. Since the Banshee has rules text that says, “Whenever Banshee of the Dread Choir deals combat damage to a player, that player discards a card,” the tokens will force Tony and Amanda to discard if they aren’t blocked.
- Myriad is technically a “may” ability, meaning that you get to choose to not make the tokens. There aren’t very many scenarios where you’d want to skip the ability, though.
- What if I don’t have the right token cards? Just use the back of a random Magic card! Or, you can simply not put a physical token on the field and just picture them existing. The tokens won’t stick around anyway.
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Combat damage takes place. Once the tokens are in play, your opponent declares their blockers. Then, damage occurs the same way it normally would in normal combat. Place any creatures that die in their respective graveyards, complete any damage-based triggers or effects, and reduce any hit points if you get any damage through to the players.
- If any tokens die in combat, they are exiled. Tokens do not go to the graveyard when they die.
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Any remaining myriad tokens are exiled at the end of combat. Any myriad tokens that are still alive after damage has been dealt are automatically exiled at the end of combat step. Remove the tokens from the battlefield and move on to your second main phase.
- This can be hard to remember because most temporary tokens in Magic are “until the end of turn” or “until the end of your next turn.” You must remember the myriad tokens do not get to see your second main phase.
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References
- ↑ https://media.wizards.com/2021/downloads/MagicCompRules%2020211115.pdf
- ↑ https://media.wizards.com/2021/downloads/MagicCompRules%2020211115.pdf
- ↑ https://draftsim.com/myriad-mtg/
- ↑ https://media.wizards.com/2021/downloads/MagicCompRules%2020211115.pdf
- ↑ https://www.thegamer.com/magic-the-gathering-mtg-best-myriad-cards/
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