Artifact creature

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Artifact Creature
Multiple Card Types
Subtypes	Artifact type Creature type
Scryfall Statistics
cards

Artifact creatures are both artifacts and creatures and therefore the rules for both apply to them. In most settings they are colorless, but occasionally they are either colored or strongly affiliated with a color.

History

In the beginning artifact creatures didn't have a creature type, but that slowly changed. The first artifact creatures to bear a subtype were Obsianus Golem and Lead Golem from Sixth Edition. With the Grand Creature Type Update an "every creature has a creature type" policy was adopted, so lots of artifact creatures gained subtypes at that moment. Artifact creatures can have artifact types in addition to creature types. Gingerbrute for example is a Golem (creature type) and Food (artifact type).

For much of Magic's history, all artifact creatures were colorless and hence generally weak. The acceptance of colored artifacts as a design starting from Throne of Eldraine meant more had colored mana costs.

By and large, most artifact creatures are robots of some sort and were fashioned out of metal, glass or stone by other creatures or planeswalkers. As such, decks heavy on artifact creatures are often called "Robots" decks.

Rules

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (July 25, 2025—Edge of Eternities)

Artifact Creature

A combination of artifact and creature that’s subject to the rules for both. See rule 301, “Artifacts,” and rule 302, “Creatures.”

The term "artifact creature" has special significance when part of a type-changing effect in a card's rules text. When an object is changed to be an "artifact creature", it retains its original card types even if the effect does not include one of the usual clauses for that purpose. This does not extend to the object's subtypes.

From the Comprehensive Rules (July 25, 2025—Edge of Eternities)

• 205.1b Some effects change an object’s card type, supertype, or subtype but specify that the object retains a prior card type, supertype, or subtype. In such cases, all the object’s prior card types, supertypes, and subtypes are retained. This rule applies to effects that use phrases such as “in addition to its other types” or that state that something is “still a [type, supertype, or subtype].” Some effects state that an object becomes an “artifact creature”; these effects also allow the object to retain all of its prior card types and subtypes. Some effects state that an object becomes a “[creature type or types] artifact creature”; these effects also allow the object to retain all of its prior card types and subtypes other than creature types, but replace any existing creature types.

Creature types

A number of creature types are usually associated with artifact creatures.

Construct

A Construct is the Magic equivalent of a robot, a magically or mechanically animated device, usually with a pedal propulsion method. They come in a wide variety but often imitate organic lifeforms. With Robots introduced separately in Aetherdrift, the distinction is yet to be fully determined.

Golem

A Golem is a magically or mechanically animated statue. The most well-known Golem is Karn who eventually became a planeswalker.

Myr

The Myr are a race of small creatures with beak-like heads native to Mirrodin. They were created by Memnarch to act as spies.

Scarecrow

Scarecrows are artifact creatures native to Shadowmoor and lead by the Reaper King. Originally they were constructed by the Kithkin to help them with farming, but outlived the Kithkin and have taken lives for their own. Mechanically they often deal with colors and -1/-1 counters.

Thopter

A Thopter is a small flying device, Ornithopter being the most well-known.

Toy

Hailing largely from Duskmourn, Toys are animated versions of low-tech children's entertainment objects. Influenced by Valgavoth, most are hostile and vengeful.

Other types

• Assembly-Worker
• Blinkmoth
• Cyborg (Acorn)
• Dreadnought
• Gargoyle
• Gnome
• Juggernaut
• Masticore
• Prism
• Robot
• Sculpture
• Servo
• Toy
• Triskelavite, Tetravite and Pentavite
• Wall

Imitated life

Many artifact creatures are an imitation of organic lifeforms. Those creatures share their creature type with their organic counterpart, e.g. Horse, Bird, etc.

Trivia

• The Kamigawa block and the Lorwyn block feature no artifact creatures at all, the former having immediately followed the artifact creature-heavy Mirrodin block.
• In the Grand Creature Type Update, the subtype Twin for a token created by Gemini Engine was changed into a Construct token "named Twin".
• Master of Etherium is the first artifact creature Lord.
• Out of all the artifact creatures in the Shadowmoor block, only one (Altar Golem (Eventide)) is not a Scarecrow.
• Robot was introduced as a creature type on Acorn cards but was ported into main Magic sets in Aetherdrift, after a series of Universes Beyond products with robots.
  • Notably, Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty "bots" like Runaway Trash-Bot are constructs, and not robots.
• Neon Dynasty also introduced the concept of Mechs in the Magic Multiverse (e.g. Surgehacker Mech). These are giant robots or machines controlled by people. In Magic they have the Vehicle type.