I have been known to make some slightly unhinged Magic: the Gathering Commander decks in the past. Recently, I set out to build a deck around “Valgavoth, Terror Eater.” The goal was to play a bunch of mythic sorceries in Valgavoth’s colors. I soon realized that wasn’t going to work. My desire to build a mythic deck quickly sent me on a spiral into madness.

After my failure with Valgavoth, I tried building a mythic spells decks centered around Blex, Extus, and Jadzi. I thought Commanders that doubled as a mythic spell and had access to more colors (and cards) would allow me to build a functioning deck. None of it worked.

After too long trying to build a mythic spells deck, I realized a simple truth that I already knew instinctively. Mythic cards in Magic: the Gathering are usually not very good. I love these janky mythic cards. Not in spite of this their lackluster strength but because of it. I was determined to find a deck to do them justice.

Magic: the Gathering’s Mythic Problem

In my first year of playing MtG, I realized that most mythics are honestly kind of bad. Unfortunately, this was after spending too much money on packs searching for mythic cards. The first mythic creature I ever pulled from a pack was “Savageborn Hydra.” It currently sells for less than a dollar and is quite literally not worth the money I spent on the pack. I’ll be damned if I didn’t still immediately start playing with it.

I love mythic Magic: the Gathering cards. Two of my favorite cards in Magic: the Gathering are “Worldspine Wurm” and “Elderscale Wurm.” During my first year of playing MtG, I saw these in a friend’s collection and loved them. These are both huge mythic green creatures that seem incredibly fun. They are also both kind of terrible.

Most mythic cards are not that powerful or end up being cheap bulk cards. Nevertheless, I’m inextricably drawn to them. After so long trying to make mythic spells deck work, I realized part of the reason I started this journey was because I like weird mythic spells. There’s something thrilling about finding a way to get the most out of something that kinda sucks. Eventually, these cards become favorites because of all the time spent trying to make them work.

However, the problem with purposely building a deck around terrible cards is that you might end up with a cumbersome deck. In my deep dive to build a mythic deck, I learned a lot about the mythic cards in Magic: the Gathering. If you, like me, have a deep love for mythic cards in MtG, you might learn something new from my struggles.

Wait, It’s All the Same?

When going through mythic sorceries in Magic: the Gathering, I realized something interesting. Most of the spells are very similar to each other.

My troubles started with my first crack at the Valgavoth deck. Mono-black has 37 mythic spells that are legal in commander. However, 13 of those are reanimation cards, which return creatures from the graveyard to the battlefield. Of the remaining mythic black spells, 8 of them tutor for specific cards, and another 8 are board wipes of some kind.

When I switched to building “Extus, Oriq Overlord” and “Blex, Vexing Pest,” the trend persisted. There is a significant percentage of mythic sorceries in each color identity that are mechanically similar. With Extus, I realized that most mythic white sorceries are board wipes or just make angels. When I tried building a Blex deck, it turned out that most mythic green sorceries are either ramp spells or spells to cheat creatures into play.

After seeing the green sorceries, I switched to attempting to build a “Jadzi, Oracle of Arcavios” deck. I hoped the combination of blue and green could make the mythic spell deck work due to the greater versatility of green mythic spells. That hope didn’t last. Out of 30 blue mythic sorceries, 9 of them are extra turn spells.

This trend of spells that are nearly mechanically identical at mythic rarity is a shame. Currently, mythic spells predominately fit within a few archetypes for each color identity. However, “Body of Research” proves that mythic spells can innovate and explore more design space. Furthermore, unique cards like “Profane Transfusion,” demonstate that mythic spells haven’t even exhausted the existing ideas that could be done in each color.

The Allure of Mythic Magic: the Gathering.

When I first learned about mythic cards, they were exciting for two reasons. The first reason was uniqueness. Mythic cards are the rarest you can pull and depict some of the rarest creatures and occurrences within Magic: the Gathering. Even if mythic cards do not depict legendary creatures, these cards depict special entities. “Deathpact Angel” and other cards like it are great examples of non-legendary mythic cards depicting things that stand out within their own setting.

The second thing that compelled me about mythic cards was that outside of depicting unique characters, they could depict unique abilities. In this case, my love for Worldspine Wurm resurfaces once more. While “Worldspine Wurm” is a huge, intensely threatening creature, it also has a very rare ability. 

“Worldspine Wurm” has everything a card needs to be mythic. Worldspine Wurm’s ability to return to the deck after hitting the graveyard is currently only shared with eleven other MtG cards. Of those cards, six have been printed at mythic rarity, proving how scarce this ability is. “Worldspine Wurm’s” ability also makes it nearly impossible to lose by being milled out, as well as hard to deal with permanently.

“Elderscale Wurm” is another card that I think represents peak mythic design. Like “Worldspine Wurm,” “Elderscale Wurm” makes it nearly impossible to lose the game in a certain way. As long as “Elderscale Wurm” is out, your life total cannot go lower than 7. 

Both “Elderscale Wurm” and “Worldspine Wurm” alter the game when you play them. Even though these cards are not the best, to me, they will always remain my go-to example of what a mythic card should be. These cards demonstrate the true power of mythic cards: they can fundamentally break the game.

Where is the Love?

Despite my love for mythics like “Worldspine Wurm” and “Elderscale Wurm,” most mythics are still kinda bad. They might be cool and have a big effect, but a good amount of the time, they won’t win you the game on the spot. 

So, are all mythics bad? Turns out, not at all. Of the more than two thousand mythic cards currently in Magic: the Gathering, twelve hundred are creatures. Of those mythic creatures, almost eight hundred are legendary creatures. This is where many of the best mythic cards hang out.

While mythic sorceries languish in obscurity, mythic legendary cards shine brilliantly. Some legendary creatures have similar mechanics to each other. Meanwhile, legendary cards have been an increasingly common place to try new things. Legendary creatures are some of the coolest characters and people will gravitate to them. Therefore, effort is put into making these cards interesting, mechanically diverse, and powerful.

Take “Valgavoth, Terror Eater” for example. The card that started my descent into madness depicts the major villain of Duskmourn. During MtG’s story, Valgavoth was close to escaping his own plane, potentially setting him up to be a recurring villain. Because Valgavoth might return one day, he was given such a powerful card that made him memorable.

Valgavoth’s card is incredibly powerful. You can play creatures you kill with Valgavoth as your commander, and the demon even lets you cast enemy spells without spending mana. Valgavoth’s card stands out among Magic: the Gathering cards and is just one example of how inventive ideas are given to mythic legendary creatures.

The last few sets alone gave many important characters interesting and powerful mythic cards. “Ulamog, the Defiler,” along with the rest of the Eldrazi Titans, got a cool new card that reintroduces annihilator, one of the most busted abilities put to print. Modern Horizons 3 also introduced another creature in a powerful mythic cycle, “Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury.” This card puts the iconic MtG spell “Lightning Helix” onto a creature type that was already to abuse. Finally, in Bloomburrow, “Maha, Its Feathers Night,” is a primary antagonist in the story. It gets a powerful card with a debilitating static ability.

While non-legendary mythic creatures can get some interesting cards, it’s clear that much of the focus for mythic card design goes into major characters. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it does mean that mythic cards that don’t depict major characters can end up feeling lackluster.

Personally, I’d like every mythic card to be exciting. Opening these cards should be an awesome experience. Instead, oftentimes it feels like non-legendary mythic cards can be underwhelming compared to characters that clearly got more love and attention.

My Heart Will Go On

I will always love janky mythics.  Despite the mechanical similarities of many mythic cards and the lion’s share of creative space being reserved for legendary cards, mythics still excite me.

One of my favorite mythic cards of all time is “Mascot Exhibition.” Within Magic: the Gathering, this card is wholly unique. This is a colorless mythic sorcery for seven mana that makes different tokens representing factions from the set it was in. Since this is currently the only colorless mythic sorcery, this card carves out a niche for mythic colorless spells. 

“Mascot Exhibition” is unique and exciting. Someday, I hope to build a deck around it. For now, it remains an example of untapped ideas still remaining in Magic: the Gathering.

As much as some mythic cards can feel stagnant, cards like “Arcane Proxy” prove there is room to innovate. Prototype is such a fun mechanic, and that pairs well with the familiar ability for this to sling a spell from a graveyard. One of my initial ideas for my mythic deck involved using this in a “Jadzi, Oracle of Arcavios” spellslinger deck. The prototype cards are great examples of excellent mythic design on non-legendary cards.

I also adore “Bladecoil Serpent” and “Clay Champion.” I like these two cards so much that “Clay Champion” eventually made it into the final version of my mythic deck. I’ve always loved cards that change depending on how you cast them. MtG has played with this idea before, such as with the “adamant” keyword, but the implementation here feels great. I love mythic cards, and I can’t wait to find new favorites.

My Watch is Over

After the better part of two weeks trying to make a mythic deck work, I finally found a solution. I went back to two of the mythic cards that I love the most, “Worldspine Wurm” and “Elderscale Wurm,” and built a deck around them. Using Helga, Skittish Seer as my commander, I found a bunch of fun mythic creatures in her colors and put them in a deck. Sticking with my theme, I specifically built this deck using as few legendary creatures as possible. 

I would love to see more mythic cards that actually feel mythical. Pulling a mythic from a pack should be an exciting experience, regardless of whether or not it portrays a major character. I’d love to see more mythic cards with mechanical diversity and more exciting ideas. While bad mythic cards can be fun, they shouldn’t be the norm.

I will likely continue building weird decks in Magic: the Gathering and chasing weird ideas in this convoluted game. Despite this experience, mythic cards remain my favorite type in Magic: the Gathering. I will continue to be just as excited for them as I was before this. My new Helga deck is a tribute to my love for janky mythic cards, and, in a big way, my love for Magic: the Gathering in general. This is not a perfect game, but I still love it. After all, with cards like “Worldspine Wurm” and “Elderscale Wurm” in a deck, what’s not to love?