This paper presents a systematic study on the structure, phase composition, strength and hardness of the rapidly solidified Mg 100−2x Cu x Y x alloys. Their structure mostly consists of relatively large dendritic grains of hcp-Mg phase and smaller grains of CuMg 2 phase. Nano-particles of CuMg 2 phase were also observed as a result of decomposition of the supersaturated Mg-solid solution. As in the Mg 98 Cu 1 Y 1 alloy studied earlier some fraction of the glassy phase was observed in the studied alloys and the volume fraction of the glassy phase increases with increase in Cu- and Y-content. Yield stress and Vickers microhardness values in general increase with increase in the solute content and reach a saturation at x=4–5.