Scars of Mirrodin (SOM): Set Guide & Card List

Some sets feel like the calm before a storm. Scars of Mirrodin is the storm arriving.

Released on October 1, 2010, Scars of Mirrodin is the 53rd Magic: The Gathering expansion and the opening chapter of the Scars of Mirrodin block - a three-set arc that would go on to reshape the game in ways players are still talking about. The set contains 249 cards and launched one of the most celebrated and emotionally resonant storylines in Magic's history: the Phyrexian invasion of Mirrodin.

What is Scars of Mirrodin?

Scars of Mirrodin is the first set in the Scars of Mirrodin block, which also includes Mirrodin Besieged and New Phyrexia. The block as a whole tells the story of an all-out war between two factions - the native Mirrans defending their metal world, and the insidious Phyrexians tunnelling up from beneath it to corrupt everything they touch.

This was a return to Mirrodin, a plane Magic had visited before in the original Mirrodin block (2003-2004). But where that first visit felt like wide-eyed wonder at a world of living metal, Scars of Mirrodin carries a creeping dread from its very first card. Something is deeply wrong here, and the set knows it.

Format check: Scars of Mirrodin is not legal in Standard or Pioneer. It is legal in Modern (which launched with an August 2011 banned and restricted list, coinciding with the tail end of SOM's Standard life), as well as Legacy, Vintage, and Commander.

Themes and mechanics

Scars of Mirrodin is a set built around two opposing identities: the metallic ingenuity of the Mirrans, and the oily, corrupting spread of Phyrexia. That thematic split maps almost perfectly onto its mechanical identity.

Metalcraft

Metalcraft is a returning mechanic from the original Mirrodin block's design space - more precisely, it's a new keyword codifying something the artifact-heavy Mirrodin environment always implied. Cards with metalcraft get bonuses when you control three or more artifacts. In a set where artifacts are everywhere (it is Mirrodin, after all), this mechanic rewards you for leaning into the plane's metal-saturated nature.

The Metalcraft intro pack, built around blue and red, captures this identity well - including Argent Sphinx as its foil rare, a flier that can phase out to dodge removal as long as your artifact count stays high.

Infect

This is the mechanic that defines the set's legacy, and it's a big one. Infect is a keyword ability that does two things: creatures with infect deal damage to players in the form of poison counters rather than life loss, and deal damage to other creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters rather than regular damage.

The goal is to get an opponent to ten poison counters. That's a completely parallel win condition to reducing life to zero - and it completely changes how both players think about the game. A 1/1 with infect isn't a 1/1; it's a clock that ignores life totals entirely.

The Phyrexian Poison intro pack (black-green, with Putrefax as its foil rare) puts infect front and centre, and gives a clean first look at how Phyrexia fights.

Proliferate

Proliferate lets you choose any number of players and permanents that already have a counter on them, then put one more of each kind of counter already there onto each chosen player or permanent. It's a mechanic that amplifies - it speeds up poison counters, loyalty counters, charge counters, -1/-1 counters, you name it.

In the Deadspread intro pack (blue-black, foil rare: Carnifex Demon), proliferate shows up as a way to grind opponents down with poison while spreading -1/-1 counters across their board.

Imprint and other returning mechanics

Imprint - a mechanic from the original Mirrodin block that lets you exile a card and reference it later - also returns in Scars of Mirrodin, keeping the set's connection to its predecessor feeling grounded rather than gratuitous.

Limited and Draft

The Scars of Mirrodin draft environment is remembered fondly by players who were there for it. The format has a clear mechanical spine: you're either building around artifacts (leaning into metalcraft and equipment synergies) or you're going deep on infect.

The five intro packs give a rough map of the draft archetypes available:

• White - artifact creatures and equipment, built around the Myr creature type (Sunblast Angel as the flagship rare)
• Blue-Red - metalcraft payoffs and artifact synergies (Argent Sphinx)
• Blue-Black - proliferate and attrition (Carnifex Demon)
• Red-Green - artifact destruction and aggression (Hoard-Smelter Dragon)
• Black-Green - infect and poison (Putrefax)

The infect decks in particular had a reputation for closing games fast - a well-drawn infect curve could end things before an opponent stabilised. The format rewards knowing which lane you're in early, since metalcraft and infect don't naturally support each other.

Notable cards and impact

Scars of Mirrodin introduced several cards that went on to see significant play across multiple formats. Without going into an exhaustive list, the set's artifact-heavy design and the introduction of infect gave competitive players a lot to work with - particularly in Modern and Legacy, where cheap infect creatures combined with pump spells became the foundation of dedicated aggressive strategies.

The intro pack rares hint at the power level the set was operating at: Carnifex Demon, Hoard-Smelter Dragon, Putrefax, Argent Sphinx, and Sunblast Angel all represent different flavours of the set's mechanical ambition.

Lore and setting

Mirrodin is a plane constructed entirely of metal, originally created by the Planeswalker Karn. It is a world of five suns - one for each colour of mana - where even the wildlife has evolved with metallic shells and artifice built into their biology. The Myr, small artifact creatures who scuttle across Mirrodin's surface doing mechanical work, are among its most iconic inhabitants.

But beneath Mirrodin's surface, something has been growing. The Phyrexians - a faction of grotesque, oil-slicked beings who believe in "completing" organic life by replacing it with metal and machinery - have been quietly infiltrating and corrupting the plane for years. Scars of Mirrodin is the moment that corruption becomes impossible to ignore.

The set establishes the central tension of the block: native Mirrans fighting to preserve their world against a Phyrexian invasion that is already further along than anyone realised. It's a horror story wearing a fantasy-science-fiction coat, and the card art across the 249-card set does a remarkable job of showing a world in the early stages of being eaten alive.

Lore aside: The name "Phyrexia" predates Mirrodin entirely - the original Phyrexia was a separate plane destroyed during the Weatherlight Saga in the 1990s storyline. Scars of Mirrodin reveals that Phyrexian oil survived and has been seeding Mirrodin with a new Phyrexia, built in its image. For longtime players, this was a deeply unsettling revelation.

Set legacy

Scars of Mirrodin is remembered as one of the stronger set designs of the early 2010s. Its mechanical identity is unusually clear - two factions, two mechanical philosophies, a draft format that rewards commitment - and the lore it kicks off pays off with one of Magic's most divisive and beloved endings in New Phyrexia.

The infect mechanic in particular left a lasting mark. Infect decks have been a presence in Modern since the format's inception, and the question of how to handle a parallel win condition based on poison counters has informed design discussions ever since. When Wizards returned to the mechanic with the Phyrexia: All Will Be One set in 2023, Scars of Mirrodin was the obvious touchstone.

For many players who started around 2010-2011, this block is the formative Magic experience - the one that taught them what it feels like when a storyline actually has stakes, and when a faction you're rooting for might not win. ✨