Hey guys! I’m back! Turns out you guys liked my article enough, and I’ve been invited to share my insight, for whatever it’s worth, every other week with you guys! And, as promised, since I got invited back, I get to share some insight on another linchpin card from Innistrad.

First, however, I want to actually give you a thorough introduction. Last week I did a quick, quirky intro, but since I’m going to be beamed into your computer (or iPad or Android or whatever you’re using to view this article) on a bi-weekly basis, I’d like you to get a chance to know who I am instead of “that one guy who writes about semi-playable decks on a semi-regular basis.” (If you’re not interested in anything other than decklists and “actual content,” scroll down and find the bold “ACTUAL CONTENT” and read from there.)

My name is, in fact, Michael Martin—no matter what you’ve heard to the contrary. I’ve been playing Magic: The Gathering since the release of Urza’s Saga (if I remember correctly; I was young and barely remember which cards were “new,” but based on piecing together my memory’s puzzle, I’d place it within 1998 and around the release of Saga). I played very casually up until my enlistment into the U.S. Army in 2004. I remember the days when Call of the Herd, Anurid Brushhopper, and Phyrexian Scuta were big cards very fondly, and my first loves were Ancient Silverback, Thorn Elemental, and Avatar of Might.

In 2004, life obviously changed. For four years, I sold my soul for rock and roll (well, in this case rock and roll involves rocky/sandy Iraqi terrain and rolling down the streets of Tikrit, IZ, getting blowed up and whatnot…). After my time serving in the 82nd Airborne Division (AIRBORNE!) as an Intel Sergeant, I got out in 2008 and moved in with my grandma in Jacksonville, FL, where I started playing Magic way back in the yesteryears. She was diagnosed with her fourth (or fifth?) bout with cancer, and no one was living with her to help. Since I could think of no one who meant more to me in the world than my Grandma, I offered to give away my apartment (including furniture and other belongings) to move in with her and help. I gave away a $32,000 scholarship (on top of my GI Bill) to Arizona State University to move in with her as well. I wouldn’t change a thing about that time with her, and on top of it, my cousin Patrick Stowe got me back into Magic while I was down there. That’s also where I met my good friend Jesse Oliff.

After my grandma miraculously checked out cancer-free one day, and I noticed all of the red digits in my bank account, I moved up to South Carolina to try to find work; I went back to Underground Games in Charlotte to play some FNM with a really bad Necrogenesis deck, and that’s where I met this infidel named Ali Aintrazi. One night at Waffle House later and I had a new friend that would stay with me to this day.

However, work was light, and I found work in the Washington, DC area. I moved up and started playing more competitively. I’ve slowly found my way around the MTG arena, and I’ve slowly improved as time permits. The big advancement in life since I’ve moved here is:

(This is a photo taken when Zoey was told “No!” Turns out, she hates being told no. Whodathunkit!?)

This is my daughter, Zoey Anne Martin, born October 9, 2010 at 9 lbs., 3 oz. This is why I can’t playtest 18 hours a day. I try to fill in gaps of free time with Magic, but she’s pretty greedy when it comes to my time. That’s understandable, I suppose…

One last thing; I’m so happy that my grandma got to meet Zoey before she passed. I miss you, Grandma. For those that don’t know, the reason I crashed out at Nationals during the draft portion was that I got all of one FNM draft in before Nationals due to being in Florida for my grandma’s funeral right after the release of M12. I like to think of it as my grandma, the ultimate card shark, throwing down one last gauntlet for me.

Anywho, that’s me. That’s my life story (so far). I live with Sarah in Dumfries, VA, with the three little ones she brings to the table and our one ball of fun, making it four total kids with her and me. I was a sergeant in the Army, a former member of MENSA (but who wants to pay fees to be a member of a “society” in which you gain no tangible benefits?!), and a fanatic for the Discovery Channel. I’m a full-time Government Instructor, full-time dad and spouse, part-time Magic Enthusiast. Now we’ve been properly introduced! 🙂

ACTUAL CONTENT

Alright, welcome back to our regularly scheduled programming! As I stated in the last article, I’m going to look into another linchpin card from Innistrad, Mentor of the Meek. Let’s review our criteria from the last time we ventured into this subject matter:

When I say linchpin in regards to a Magic card, I’m referring to cards that meet a specific list of criteria. These are:

1. Have to be built around in order to be used

2. Are incredibly powerful when built around correctly

3. Have a slight drawback, which is what requires them to be built around (this goes hand-in-hand with 1, but is different in some cases)

So, with that in mind, I bring you the one, the only, MENTOR OF THE MEEEEEEEEEK! (Insert uproarious cheering as “Get Ready for This” plays and Mentor rips off the tear-away pants, NBA-Style…)

Has to be built around in order to be used:

I’m going to do that thing where the author of an article explicitly and grossly overstates the obvious here. To play with Mentor effectively, you need to play a deck chock full of creatures with power two or less.

Shocking, I know…

Another way in which you need to build around Mentor is that you have to keep the creatures relatively cheap. The reason for this is if you actually plan on getting a benefit from Mentor, you need to essentially add one generic mana to the casting cost of every creature card in your deck. Sure, Acidic Slime activates Mentor of the Meek, but when you finally assemble the pieces for this uber-combo, you’ve paid six mana to assemble a much inferior titan. You want to be able to plow through your deck with this card.

Is incredibly powerful when built around correctly:

The obvious comparison here is Puresteel Paladin. Except you get to play creatures. A lot of them. You’re not required to run shoddy equipment (though there is obviously overlap between the two cards). Once you start chaining cheap creatures together, you’ll quickly find a second Mentor; then you’re not only replacing the creature from your hand after casting it, you’re drawing an extra card as well. This allows an aggro deck that’s running Mentor to overextend into Day of Judgment without having to worry about the card disadvantage that normally comes with having that card cast against you. Sure, they killed seven creatures, but you still have a full grip ready to replenish your resources.

Has a slight drawback which requires it to be built around:

In this case, this one goes hand-in-hand with the first criteria; your drawback is your need to run a critical mass of creatures with power two or less. You also probably need to plan on attacking with a swarm of creatures to deal your damage. You can’t play too many non-creature spells, as when you’re chaining cards together, hitting a patch of non-creatures will result in running out of ways to actually use Mentor, thereby stopping the chain altogether.

There are other uses for Mentor, but here’s the issue I’ve found with Mentor: it’s a creature. It has all the inherent flaws that comes with being a 2/2 creature. Sure, you could play Mentor in your control deck with Elspeth Tirel meant to churn out card advantage, but unless you’re playing Mentor in a deck chock full of Shock targets, guess where that pretty little burn spell is aiming…

However, I still think we can be creative with this one. Let’s take a look at the updated list from the end of my last article involving two linchpin cards that have an overlap, Heartless Summoning and Mentor of the Meek:

As you can see with this list, we play 20 creatures that naturally turn on Mentor and another four that turn on Mentor with Heartless Summoning in play. We also have recurring card advantage in both Reassembling Skeleton and Perilous Myr (with Glissa in play) while Sun Titan tends to bring everything together while playing the role of either a mini-Primeval Titan when returning Viridian Emissary or a mini-Inferno Titan when returning Perilous Myr and a Heartless Summoning is in play. Oh, and you get to draw a card from each of those returns as well. And if your Mentor or Summoning die? Bring them back with Sun Titan.

Yeah, turns out Garruk’s Horde was too cute. I tried though. Mentor of the Meek just does a much better job at gaining card advantage.

So far, this is the best deck I’ve found using my previous article’s linchpin, Heartless Summoning. Oh, but we’ve only begun to explore the possibilities with Mentor of the Meek.

So where to start? Well, let’s take a look at some (of the somewhat and/or remotely playable—and even considered unplayable) cards that actually work with Mentor (with brief notes in parenthesis):

White:

Alabaster Mage

Auramancer (In some quirky aura-card advantage theme?)

Auriok Edgewright

Benalish Veteran (a three-power creature in an aggressive deck that still activates Mentor)

Blade Splicer

Champion of the Parish (Another three+ power creature, possibly, that activates Mentor)

Cloistered Youth (Another three-power creature that activates Mentor)

Doomed Traveler

Elite Inquisitor (Mono-White)

Elite Vanguard

Elspeth Tirel

Fiend Hunter

Geist-Honored Monk

Gideon’s Avenger (Another three+ power creature that works with Mentor)

Gideon’s Lawkeeper

Glint Hawk (w/Memnite, card advantage galore!)

Grand Abolisher

Inquisitor Exarch (In a mono-white aggro build, perhaps)

Kemba, Kha Regent (Oh, the shenanigans!)

Leonin Arbiter (AND we get to play Ghost Quarter for the Strip Mine effect?!)

Leonin Skyhunter (once again, mono-white aggro perhaps?)

Mausoleum Guard (on this list solely because of Liliana)

Mentor of the Meek (Yes, it works with other Mentors to form a Mentoring team…)

Mesa Enchantress (In cohorts with Auramancers for the sick aura beats, maybe?)

Mirran Crusader (Another virtual three+ power creature that works with Mentor)

Puresteel Paladin

Silverchase Fox (A stretch, but maybe if you expect a lot of Oblivion Rings?)

Spectral Rider (mono-white aggro again)

Stonehorn Dignitary (Venser gets to lock out an opponent AND draw a card with his +2?)

White Sun’s Zenith (It’s like a Blue Sun’s Zenith for half as many cards and a bunch of kitties)

So we see, there are a ton of options in white. Obviously we can just stick to mono-white and make that work. If we want to include Cloistered Youth, it’s probably not worth it to play Honor of the Pure, though the question then becomes how much damage output could you reasonably expect to gain with one versus the other. They’re both two-mana spells; one is a guaranteed 3/3 without needing anything else, while the other is dependent on having at least three creatures out to make it work, but when it does, you’re assuredly getting some sort of extra damage.

I think this question would be tough to answer without testing, but since this is an article about Mentor of the Meek, and Mentors hate Honor and Purity (I hope I don’t have to explain my bad pun; please don’t make me…), we’re going to go with the creature that is a 3/3 that draws a card off Mentor.

Check out this possible White Weenie deck:

Sure, we could run 23 Plains, but with Ghost Quarter, why not support a Strip Mine effect with Leonin Arbiter? Also, a splash is possible, a la Township Tokens, but that would require a bit of testing to flesh out if the possibility of mana issues is worth the minor added punch. Moorland Haunt is another possibility that gives you the option of countermagic out of the sideboard.

This deck actually has a bit of game since you’re running the Arbiter. Wolf Run Ramp has a couple of search effects (Green Sun’s Zenith, Viridian Emissary, and Primeval Titan) that it works against, giving you time to bash face. While Mentor doesn’t help with the speed plan, it does help as a backup plan for “going long.” It allows you to play creatures without the worry that a wrath will wipe your board (and hand) clean and leave you out to dry.

Blade Splicer over Mirran Crusader is a tip of the hat to Liliana of the Veil. If you play in a format with more Birthing Pod decks, by all means, play Crusader.

“Selfless Cathar?!” you might ask. Well, since we can’t run Honor of the Pure in this build, this is our mini-Honor that still wears a sword if need be. Sword of Feast and Famine gives us the ability to make any of our creatures into a threat while O-Ring gives us some flexible removal should we need it, though this may be a slot that could be better occupied by Dismember. This is where we’ll need to test these different options. This Weenie build has a lot more going for it than just bashing with a couple of guys.

However, we’re not restricted to mono-white. Let’s take a look at some of the hits from the other colors:

Blue:

Aether Adept

Azure Mage

Cryptoplasm (copying either Mentor or whatever the opponent has going on, perhaps?)

Delver of Secrets (though this seems like a non-bo; one wants a ton of instants/sorceries while the other wants a ton of creatures)

Grand Architect (We already know how much I like crossing over linchpins!)

Invisible Stalker

Mindshrieker

Phantasmal Bear

Phantasmal Image (depending on what you copy; copy the Mentor!!)

Phyrexian Metamorph (Same ^)

Snapcaster Mage

Spined Thopter

Treasure/Trinket Mage (With Trinket able to get another guy so you can draw a card!)

Wing Splicer

Black:

Cemetery Reaper (though white-black is historically not a good combination, this guy churns out the card advantage with Mentor)

Diregraf Ghoul

Entomber Exarch

Phyrexian Crusader

Phyrexian Rager (Yes, it does feel as good to get this and a Mentor activation as it would seem…)

Reassembling Skeleton (We already know how I feel about this guy)

Royal Assassin (but who plays this guy nowadays anyway?)

Vault Skirge

Red:

Bloodcrazed Neonate

Chandra’s Phoenix (the one time someone would appreciate its lower power!)

Falkenrath Marauders (Comes in JUST low enough to activate Mentor then takes off in power. Probably too expensive though.)

Furnace Scamp

Goblin Arsonist

Goblin Chieftain (though, again, a non-bo, as it turns off other creatures)

Goblin Gaveleer

Goblin Warchief (I like this option, since it’s an anthem effect that doesn’t shut off Mentor)

Grim Lavamancer (again, seemingly a non-bo, as this wants cards in the ‘yard, and Mentor wants dudes)

Instigator Gang (another card in the Goblin Warchief vein, though possibly a bit expensive)

Manic Vandal (One-way ticket to Value City?! Don’t mind if I do!)

Priest of Urabrask (Pays for the trigger AND adds two mana; still seems janky though)

Reckless Waif

Spikeshot Elder

Stromkirk Noble

Green:

Acidic Slime (sure, it’s expensive, but with Heartless Summoning in play…)

Ambush Viper (Actually not a bad option; it works with Mentor’s desire to have a ton of creatures while also serving as removal. Though I’m sure this would look rather obvious to an opponent after the first one)

Avacyn’s Pilgrim/Birds of Paradise

Daybreak Ranger (Kibler would be proud…)

Elvish Archdruid

Ezuri, Renegade Leader

Hamlet Captain (yes, we could go there with Humans as well)

Gatstaf Shepherd

Garruk Relentless

Llanowar Elves

Mayor of Avabruck (another value-town creature)

Skinshifter

Tree of Redemption

Viridian Corrupter

Viridian Emissary (It’s the new Squadron Hawk, didn’t you hear?)

Colorless/Multi/Land:

Geist of Saint Traft

Evil Twin (check out Phantasmal Image, only add a Doom Blade to the casting cost)

Adaptive Automaton (Read Goblin Chieftain)

All of the Myr that produce colored mana

Etched Champion (Seems perfectly at home in Mentored Puresteel)

Hex Parasite (This guy with Garruk Relentless? DING!)

Immolating Souleater

Memnite

Moorland Haunt

Moriok Replica (Take me down to the 3-for-1 city… not quite as catchy, is it?)

Myr Propagator

Myr Sire (again, passes the Liliana test)

Neurok Replica

Pentavus (talk about recurring advantages…)

Perilous Myr

Phyrexian Revoker

Signal Pest

Solemn Simulacrum (I’ve got no more bad value puns left for this guy, but assume I inserted one)

Spellskite (Worried about Kessig Wolf Run? Well, you shouldn’t be… You’re on Skite Tactics!)

Throne of Empires

Well that’s a list I think maybe two people are going to actually look at. The point was to try to get some creative juices flowing. And it did exactly that. Something I hadn’t realized up until this point that may be possible is some version of standard Combo Elves (or, rather, green guys in this case). How, you might ask?

Wow… Look at that pile of work. I will be the first to admit, this is probably nowhere near ready for prime time. However, I think Village Bell-Ringer could very well fuel some broken-ness with Elvish Archdruid, allowing you to chain your deck together. I want to have as few lands as possible, so right now it sits at 23, but I want to work it down to 22 if possible. I just want to ensure I hit my first three land drops; then I want to chain a bunch of action spells together.

The Swiftfoot Boots are there to allow you to use any drawn Elvish Archdruids, though after a bit your Archdruids turn off any Elvish creatures you play when it comes to Mentor. Luckily, this deck isn’t purely an Elf deck, so this may not be horrible. This isn’t an “infinite combo” deck, but it is a deck that aims to put insurmountable pressure on the board as early as turn 3 by untapping all of your creatures with Village Bell-Ringer.

Swiftfoot Boots also allow you to continue “going off” if need be by suiting up a Copperhorn Scout so you can untap all of your guys and, if you have Ezuri on board, hopefully win. Additionally, you can just chain your way up to enough mana to cast Blightsteel Colossus, attach some boots to that robot, and win. This deck really wants an Arbor Elf though, so without it, this may be just a really bad G/W deck. I definitely feel this needs to be explored, though. I just wish I had more Llanowar Elves to work with.

One last quick deck before we head out (because we all like lists!):

Simply a rough sketch of a Mentor U/W list. We want to bring the quick beats backed by countermagic, and it may be the case that a U/W Blade list is better than this shell. However, when trying to build around Mentor of the Meek, I want to try to chain as many creatures as possible together, allowing me to flood the board and overextend without depleting my resources. Otherwise, what’s the point in running Mentor? The split on countermagic is a concession to the fact that I just want to stop my opponent from doing anything that I care about, which more often than not is a Day of Judgment. Thus, the Negates. I’ll probably put some number of Flashfreeze in the sideboard to combat the new Wolf Run Ramp decks floating around.

If you guys come out to the StarCityGames.com Open Series: Baltimore this weekend, look out for me. I’ll be there, though I have no idea what type of spells I’ll be slinging at this time. I’m not in love with any decks at this time, and I didn’t get a chance to battle in States this past weekend due to family responsibilities. I’ll figure it out though! If you see me there, come up and say hi; it’s always nice to meet someone who actually reads these articles!

Until next time,
Michael Martin

@mikemartinlfs on the Twitter