Magical Thinking: Mirrodin
Welcome back to Magical Thinking, a look back at the cards and art of Magic: the Gathering, set by set, from the beginning. Through the eyes of a casual fan. Today we’re hitting the big one, the start of what I consider the second big era of Magic: the Gathering. Atime where we saw a lot of things about Magic changing: The card borders, how creature types work, and more importantly the story. Welcome to Mirrodin block, and its first expansion: Mirrodin.
Released in October of 2003, Mirrodin is set in the realm of Mirrodin, a plane created by Karn and eventually populated with individuals kidnapped from different planes by Memnarch, a creation of Karn made from the Mirari (Who got infected by some Phyrexian oil Karn had stuck to him from Invasion). The plot focused on Glissa Sunseeker, an Elvish hunter who is being pursued by Memnarch and his levelers, as she travels to unravel the secrets of Mirrodin.
Mirrodin is the first set to focus entirely on a new plane of existence. Yes there have been sets which feature other planes (Mercadia, Rath, Serra’s realm, The Homelands) but they were always connected at least tangentially to Dominaria. Mirrodin is the first setting which is entirely its own, with no connection to Dominaria, and began a trend of Magic sets visiting new planes of existence. This is also the first set since Antiquities where Artifacts mattered, which would be a major theme of the plane. So without further ado, lets begin our tour of Mirrodin.
Mirrodin plains, by the way, are badass! The grass is actually made of razorwire and spears, making it already way cooler than any other plain in the Magic multiverse so far. Also, this set introduced the Human creature type to the game. Also worth noting, on Mirrodin organic beings have metal components on them (Which totally isn’t a red flag for the whole Phyrexian thing. I’m sure its fine).
On Mirrodin, the cats point laser pointers at YOU!
Here we also have an introduction of entwine, a mechanic which apparently came to Mark Rosewater in a dream. Basically you choose one of two effects, but why choose when you can just pay the entwine cost and get both? It’s Mushrooms and cookies. Its Mushookies!
Storyline wise, this set introduces a bunch of races which would become mainstays of the game later on. Here we have leonine, the cat people whom produced Ajani Goldmane, the White Planeswalker. Magic has had cat people before, but these guys are different because they are lions and are almost always white.
Here’s another new race that proved to have staying power. The Loxodon. Presumably based on the Loxo from DnD (Since Wizards owned DnD at this point), Loxodon would go on to show up on other planes as another iconic white creature type. Also worth noting, while they are identified as Loxodon, their creature type is elephant, so you can use them for Elephant tribal (Same with Leonine being cats).
AKA things the Republican party does not respect.
Also, the grandpa lions there looking a lot like muppets. Is it me?
One of the gimmicks of Mirrodin is that it has four “Suns” (Or Moons depending on who you ask) for four of the colors of magic (With green being absent). There are these creatures called Slith who are influenced by the sun they are born under and follow it. And… that’s it, they don’t really fulfill any in-story purpose as far as I can tell, just some local color (Ha. Color. Cause it’s Magic).
Cause of death: Overdose of Sunny D. Their body just couldn’t handle that much power of the sun.
Oh dear.
Yes, we need to talk about this.
See, Mirrodin was a fun block, but it was also incredibly, terribly broken. Part of the reason it was broken was the affinity mechanic, where a permanent costs less for each artifact you have in play.
In a set based around artifacts.
And this creature has power and toughness equal to the number of artifacts you have in play.
So if you have enough artifacts to get this at max discount, you are getting, at minimum, an 8/8 for two mana.
For blue.
I love Mirrodin, but it had problems.
This is from one of the deleted scenes of Return of the Jedi where Luke just puts the Rancor to sleep with his Jedi powers. It was cut for being kind of boring.
Here’s another new creature race, the Veldaken. This was Magic’s attempt to create a new race whole cloth for Blue, since Merfolk obviously wouldn’t be a good fit for a plane made of metal (all that rusting). The Veldaken are basically Star Trek Vulcans if they were blue. Of course, these weird four armed Veldaken bear little resemblance to Veldaken that we would see later, but you have to start somewhere, right?
I don’t want to tell Memnarch how to do his job, but wouldn’t a bird that’s half made of metal be too heavy to fly? Am I missing something here?
Alright, call Ali Baba. We have him on speed dial, and get the aspirin on standby. I think this one is gonna sting.
Ah yes, the Mirrodin equivalent of the Bogeyman: The Jiffy Pop ET. You can hear him in closets at night, popping popcorn as he tries to phone home.
I do love how that lady is selling being scared of that thing. I’d be too busy laughing at it to run.
As I said, these weird, four armed, gray style Veldaken are very different from what we would eventually get from the Veldaken in later sets. I wonder what was behind the decision to redesign them.
Yeah, I don’t see this guy having a musical number with Mary Poppins. Also, while it’s a new era in Magic we still haven’t quite gotten to the point of making creatures that aren’t terrible yet. I mean, we’re getting close but not all the way there yet.
I like this one a lot. It’s pretty much the anti-Pacifism. With Pacifism you can’t attack or block. With this one you don’t want to attack or block.
White may have the power of Leprosy, but Black has the power of radiation poisoning. Check and mate, White.
Nim are the zombies of Mirrodin. This one is trying out the HR Geiger edition Hulk Hands. Sold only at Spencer’s Gifts. Get yours today.
And here we have a big bad demon with a big bad effect: Play from hand and terror the entire board. And you probably spare your own creatures since they will all be black anyway.
Speaking of Terror, here’s the old boy itself. Last time we saw Terror was in Alpha. It was reprinted in sixth edition, but here it is shiny and new with new art. Of course, Terror probably isn’t as good as it was in a meta with a lot of artifact creatures, but it’s still reliable removal.
Okay, no, that’s just a health hazard that is. Tell Ali Baba not to bother with this one. I mean, he has a family to think about.
Speaking of a blast from the past, it’s our old pal Atog, all the way from Antiquities. He’s come a long way since then, had an entire family and a legendary leader show up, and now he’s back to show us all how it’s done. Even has a brand now look (Although he still has a winning smile).
From the creature of HR Geiger Hulk Hands, Rob Liefeld Hulk Hands! Also, that may be the happiest Goblin ever, because he gets to punch people.
Ah, Grab the Reins, combining the two classic Red mechanics: Fling and act of treason effects. Temporarily take control of your opponent’s best monster, then throw it at them. Make them pay for that Broodstar or Demon they just played.
Oh dear. It looks like the Atog has a big brother.
And here we have it. I mean you thought AtogAtog was the apex predator of Atog kind? Please. This guy is an Atog’s Atog. Twice as big and three times as mean. Just stuff it with artifacts and watch it go. It’s Atogzilla.
Hey, speaking of stuffing with artifacts, here’s what a Mirrodin Ogre looks like. Apparently they don’t have Dentists on Mirrodin (Or alternatively they did, but the Ogres kept eating them). Also, I never noticed he’s holding a Veldaken in one hand, and the Veldaken is positively annoyed by losing his favorite staff.
Yep, cause sometimes you just want to chuck a Mox Ruby at someone and yell “fire in the hole!” for that final five damage to finish them off. Like a winner.
I just really like the metal hair this lady hair. It’s all black and spiky. Bet it gets really warm in the summer. Does Mirrodin have summers? Questions for later.
Hey! Remember these guys? From Ice Age? Of course not. Everyone remembers the Atog, no one remembers this guy. Also, why did Memnarch insist on bringing creatures that disrupt artifacts to his Artifact plane? (I mean, Memnarch is crazy but he’s not stupid).
And here we have the hero of this expansion, Glissa Sunseeker. She’s here to destroy artifacts and first strike, and you’re all out of artifacts. So, will Glissa die a hero, or live long enough to become the villain?
It’s the second one.
And of course it wouldn’t be Magic if we didn’t have a beast that was just some generic made up monster with a goofy name. Seriously, things like this are Green and Red’s bread and butter. They are silly, but I love ‘em.
And here we have an example of an ability that wouldn’t become an ability till later: Hexproof. The keyword that Black, Blue and Red players love to hate? Sorry, your removal won’t work here. You have to just hit this thing to kill it.
And your friendly reminder that Green is the “Hate artifact” color. Probably the reason Glissa is the main character in this set.
Oh, and here we have trolls. As I recall the Trolls are actually the mystics who give orders to the Elves. Naturally Glissa doesn’t trust them, which is part of what starts her on her journey.
Man, the Veldaken cannot catch a break with their staves, can they? Poor guys.
Okay, we’ve covered the five colors, so we’re almost done right?
Oh you wish.
Because we’re barely a third through the set, and we still have the artifacts to go through.
And hoo boy do we have artifacts.
One thing I haven’t really talked about are the new card borders. Introduced in 8th edition I think, they are very different from the old card borders we grew up with. One major change is they changed the Artifacts from brown to grey, which I think was a good call, because it would have made Mirrodin a way uglier set with all those drab brown cards.
Meanwhile, we have a new keyword: Equipment. Artifacts which behave like enchantments you can attach to creatures at will, but stick around after the creature using them dies. Equipment was the big smash hit from this set, and went on to become an evergreen mechanic, being a major theme to Zendikar rising and to the upcoming Kaldheim set to name a few.
Bosh is another major player in the Mirrodin fiction, being a friend and ally to Glissa. Also, although this is the “artifacts matter” set, artifacts of specific colors is still a way off. While Bosh has a Red activated ability, he’s technically colorless.
Here’s another keyword: Imprint. Attach a card to an artifact when you play it. Now it can do stuff based on the associated card, like your customizable Mox here. What color Mox is it? Any color you like, it just costs you one additional card.
And we have a whole cycle of these clockwork creatures. I like the flavor here: The more they attack, the more they wind down (lose counters), so you need to pay mana to wind them back up. I mean, it’s already several heads above Mishra’s Dragon Engine from Antiquities.
There are plenty of Myrs in Mirrodin, who at this point are minions of Memnarch and are his eyes and ears. The Myrs I care about are a cycle who act as Mana dorks, one for every color of Mana. So you are giving every color a mana dork in a set that features affinity, which means you are getting that Broodstar even quicker. It could be worse. It could be artifact lands. *Eyes shift around nervously*
Remember this from Urza’s Saga? I can still imagine Sarkhan taking a bath with this. That jerk.
Another artifact cycle: The replicas are each artifact versions of a different tribe, one for each color. I think this is the first set where artifact creatures had creature types. So I guess these were to help demonstrate that.
Now we can give this to one of the Ogre cards in this set and recreate Portal Second Age (or we could if they had any knights with guns. Ah well a guy can dream).
Remember Black Lotus? Like the most valuable and powerful card in all of Magic? What if we made one of those that never went away? Of course it’s no longer free, but it’s still pretty potent. Yeah, this never reached the heights of the original, but it’s still a good attempt.
This is also long before we had vehicles as a mechanic unfortunately, so we still have things like this. In time though we’ll come up with new stuff. Oh those wacky Goblins and their war wagons.
There were a lot of artifact cycles. Here’s one for shards, which do something, but are cheaper if you use the right color. Pretty neat way to be loose with multicolor decks.
Here’s another imprint card. Imagine imprinting lightning bolt, or Dark Ritual, or Counterspell on this bad boy. It’s a guaranteed way to ruin someone’s day.
Ah yes, Krak. He would eventually show up in person (minus his thumbs) in the recently released Commander legends. But for now just settle for his thumb, which lets you flip coins with advantage (A DnD 5e Joke, thank you).
….What?
I both love and hate cards like this. On the one hand it’s clearly a bad card. On the other hand it’s pretty clear there’s some way to play it and turn it’s ability to an advantage. On the other hand I don’t know the cards well enough to figure out how to do that. So I’m stumped.
And another cycle of artifacts! These are the spellbombs. You can either sacrifice them to do something color related (Like make a land a creature for a turn) or you can just draw a card with them. I think a lot of these cheap artifacts are just there to fill up for affinity cards or to feed to Atogs.
And ANOTHER cycle of artifact creatures. This time color-coded golems who do something related to their color.
Ah, the Mindslaver. Now here is a one-of-a-kind card. For ten mana total, you can completely ruin your opponent’s next turn by hijacking their turn and messing up all their combo pieces, or making them attack into an unfavorable board, or just do anything. If I had one I’d try and work it into every deck I’d make. I don’t care how bad it is or how little it fits.
The rare Big Chungus Myr. (Big Chungus? Anyone? Are we still using that meme?)
It’s the Tony Stark Myr. I mean, Tony would build a tiny robot specifically to shuffle decks of cards for him, wouldn’t he?
Just what you need to intercept those pesky artifact creatures. Stupid surprise Needlebug.
It wouldn’t be an artifact themed set without the best artifact of them all: The Ornithopter. Of course, now that affinity and equipment and such are a thing, you actually have a reason to play this thing.
Ah, Platinum Angel, the card that says “oh you don’t have any targeted removal for flying artifacts? Then I guess you lose. Eventually. I don’t lose though. Ever.” Man, I bet Donald Trump wishes he had one of these right about now. Then again, even an Angel can only do so much.
Huh. I guess they do have dentists in Mirrodin (I mean they COULD use that for dentistry. In theory).
See? What did I tell you about rust? I’m getting Tetanus just looking at that big boy.
They say dress for the job you want, not the job you have. Wearing this suit says the job you want is “indestructible giant worm”. Isn’t that everyone’s dream job?
Here’s another imprint card I really like. It basically lets you endlessly churn out duplicates of any minion you attach to it. The possibilities are pretty much endless.
Hey, it’s the perfect defense capsule from Mother three. Only this time they made a way to open it. Always shows how smart the Veldaken really are.
And STILL YET ANOTHER card cycle. This time the Talismans, a bunch of allied color mana rocks. They come in five flavors: Dimir, Gruul, Rakdos, Azorious and Selesnya. Collect them all!
On Mirrodin, Stylus’ are for more than making Mario Maker levels. They are deadly weapons. Anyway, it’s at the very least a good way to stow away creatures for use later. I’m sure some deck had use for it.
Just remember, Mirrodin followed a block where mana costs mattered. If you still had your Onslaught cards you could basically just take a turn every turn. Scornful Egoist, it’s your time to shine!
And another cycle. They really went hog wild with the card cycles here. Of course, this cycle won’t be completed till we get to the next Mirrodin-inspired block. But, um, more on that later.
You may recall the Antiquities Triskelion being a clunky and rickety steam punk rust bucket. Meanwhile the Mirrodin Triskelion is a lean, mean killing machine. Amazing what a difference nearly ten years makes, huh?
I think there might be such a thing as over-enchanting a sword. This is the equivalent of tying an A bomb to a stick and using it as a club. It’s not gonna end well for anyone.
This is the only locus in this set. I presume there are gonna be other Locus cards incoming, but apparently this was a powerful card because it had a gold bordered championship version made, and it’s banned in modern and pauper. I guess it’s just over my head.
Wow, Stonehenge really is a magic place, where the moon doth rise with a dragon face.
Well, I guess that’s it. That’s the end of Mirrodin, We don’t have anything else to talk about… Oh. Oh no. Not that. ANYTHING BUT THAT.
Here we are, the artifact lands. The Lands that were also artifacts, which means they interacted with Affinity, which means they could be sacrificed for Atogs and other such effects, which means they counted for anything you need for artifacts. This is one of the reasons why Mirrodin was such a broken set, and also the reason we don’t have enchantment lands in Theros.
Well, for real this time, we’re done with our look at Mirrodin. On a personal note, I owned two of the preconstructed decks of this set, and this is when I was really starting to get into Magic at college, so these cards are very near to my heart. I owned a lot of the cards shown here and some of them I still own. I hope you all enjoyed seeing them again as much as I did. In any case, next time tune in to see the next part of the Mirrodin saga, where we make like Conan and learn the secrets….of Darksteel. Until then, stay Magical.
