Table of Contents
Much to my personal excitement, Monastery Mentor is now Standard legal. I think there will be multiple shells where it fits and I am excited to try it out. Today, I’m presenting to you multiple brews, trying to take advantage of this thrilling addition to Arena.
Monastery Mentor wants to be played alongside multiple, preferably cheap noncreature spells. Each shell will try to accommodate that requirement to the fullest. On top of that, I will try to take advantage of the newly introduced convoke mechanic that synergises heavily with tokens made. Without further ado, let’s get to it!
Article List
- Many Faces of Monastery Mentor With March of the Machine
- Seven Battle Decks With March of the Machine
- Eight Team Up Decks With March of the Machine
- Seven Praetor Decks With March of the Machine
- March of the Machine Constructed Set Review and Decklists: White
- March of the Machine Constructed Set Review and Decklists: Blue
- March of the Machine Constructed Set Review and Decklists: Black
- March of the Machine Constructed Set Review and Decklists: Red
- March of the Machine Constructed Set Review and Decklists: Green
- March of the Machine Constructed Set Review and Decklists: Multicolor and Colorless
Mono White
Mono White Mentor
by Skura
Standard
best of 3
11 mythic
20 rare
14 uncommon
15 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (9)
Instants (2)
Sorceries (4)
Artifacts (4)
Enchantments (10)
Lands (23)
60 Cards
$386.18
Mono White historically is not known to be a colour combination where you can go spell slinging. However, there are numerous strong nonlands that play well with Monastery Mentor. The first is Mondrak, Glory Dominus. Getting twice the tokens for each trigger is unbelievably strong and in most cases needlessly powerful – after all, you don’t really have to have 16 tokens, 8 would do the job. However, it’s a good way to squeeze out value of Mentor when you are not likely to make many tokens and then the difference between 3 and 6 is big. On top of that, Mentor fuels Mondrak’s ability to gain indestructibility.
Another March of the Machine card I really want to see in such a shell is Invasion of Gobakhan. It’s a cheap spell that triggers Mentor and provides interaction. You can exile opponent’s removal to ensure Mentor’s survival. On top of that, it’s easy to flip battles in Mentor decks due to the sheer number and size of creatures – this motif will come back later in the piece as well.
Surge of Salvation is the white equivalent of Shore Up. I want to be able to save Monastery Mentor (and trigger it while doing it), Serra Paragon, or Mondrak. It can be a total blowout against Brotherhood's End decks as well.
In this version, 25 cards trigger Monastery Mentor so you will never find yourself lacking in that area.
Azorius Mentor
Azorius Mentor
by Skura
Standard
best of 3
12 mythic
19 rare
0 uncommon
29 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (4)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (23)
60 Cards
$309.24
Let’s analyse what you gain by adding a secondary colour, in this case blue. Blue offers card draw and permission which are very desirable. I am happy to have a card like Consider in my Mentor deck to trigger it for super cheap, get some card selection and immediately a card back. It’s an easy way to pump your prowess threats in combat as well when you’re holding up just a single mana.
You can play permission in the form of Make Disappear and Spell Pierce. I am a Spell Pierce lover and there is no better place for it than in a Mentor shell. It triggers it, can counter opposing walkers or mass removal, and can act as a protection spell for Mentor. I can’t wait to Spell Pierce opposing Depopulate and see the opponent immediately scoop.
There are a ton of new cards as well that I think will make this shell pretty competitive.
Meeting of Minds is a convoke draw spell that can act become a draw two for two mana very easily. In this shell, it could even cost one or zero! Whenever you can pull it off for cheaper than three, you’re golden. It’s a great way to recoup used resources or dig deeper to find even more spells to trigger Mentor again.
Another blue convoke card. Zephyr Singer can grant our prowess Monks flying permanently which puts immense pressure on the opponent, as they can no longer keep chumping all the creatures. It can be played for less than two, as Invasion of New Phyrexia makes tokens which are also blue. And speaking of…
We’re getting a battle that triggers Mentor, makes tokens itself so plays into our convoke plan, and will be easy to flip as most battles are in a Mentor shell. It scales great as the game progresses so it might be a one-card win in the late stages of the game where both players are on scarce resources.
Overall, blue adds a ton of new cards and flexibility. I have high hopes for this version.
Boros Mentor
Boros Mentor
by Skura
Standard
best of 3
6 mythic
24 rare
14 uncommon
16 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (2)
Creatures (14)
Instants (14)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$321
While Mono White was a midrange shell and Azorius more tempo oriented, Boros is absolutely going to smash face. This is an aggressive take where we sort of combine a Mono Red approach with white staying power. Stoke the Flames is an exciting reprint that fits a token shell perfectly. It will often turn into Boros Charm or Lava Coil. It’s a great card to close out games even if the opponent stabilised at a relatively high life total. Getting the opponent dead from 8 hp? No problem!
Surge of Salvation is played here like in the Mono White version. I want to be able to protect our Monk but also be able to have some blowout in combat against black and red decks.
Bloodfeather Phoenix is another new addition to any aggressive strategy. Here the recursion is pretty easy with 12 burn spells in the deck. It further multiplies the angles of attack between going wide with tokens, evasive threats, and burnout.
If that wasn’t enough, this shell can easily transition into a more midrangy plan with The Wandering Emperor and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker. You can also find some micro-synergies like discarding Phoenix to the second chapter of Fable to then bring it back with a burn spell.
If you like going face, this is the variant for you.
Jeskai Mentor
Jeskai Mentor
by Skura
Standard
best of 3
8 mythic
27 rare
8 uncommon
17 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (3)
Instants (20)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (24)
60 Cards
$333.48
Now we are in the adding-a-tertiary-colour territory. Jeskai is a way to combine the flexible blue countermagic and card draw with red’s aggression. However, the real winner of this combo is Third Path Iconoclast. Since the cost is specifically UR and Mentor is W, you can’t play it in a non-three-colour shell. With two such effects between Iconoclast and Mentor you’re getting that much needed redundancy in token making. It’s also a two drop that has to be answered on the spot.
Having so many tokens works well with convoke, as established previously. Stoke the Flames and Meeting of Minds comes in very handy as both are instants and provide powerful effects.
Naturally, you can try to lean on one colour more than another. It could be built like Azorius but just a light splash of red for Iconoclast and a bit of removal, as Boros with just permission, or Izzet splashing just for Mentor! You could take it into multiple directions despite the fact that it’s the same colour combination.
Jeskai Control
Jeskai Control
by Skura
Standard
best of 3
8 mythic
36 rare
3 uncommon
13 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Instants (18)
Artifacts (4)
Lands (26)
60 Cards
$394.24
Sideboard
15 Cards
$67.77
Around a month ago I wrote a guide on Jeskai Control. With Mentor in the format I don’t really want to add it into the main deck, as the whole idea was to dodge main deck removal that so many decks play. Main. Deck. Removal.
What I want to do here is play Monastery Mentor in the sideboard! Against decks that side out removal against control (which is perfectly natural) or don’t have answers usually anyways (Toxic, Soldiers), you can add it for the postboard games for the ultimate surprise factor.
For the third game the opponent will be in a pickle. On the one hand removal kills *just* Mentor, but if they allow it to stay alive, it will dominate the game completely!
I have put Monastery Mentor in my control sideboards for way longer than I’d like to admit. Here it’s no different. Catch the opponents by surprise with such a transformative sideboard strategy.
Esper Mentor
Esper Mentor
by Skura
Standard
best of 3
8 mythic
32 rare
6 uncommon
14 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (2)
Instants (20)
Sorceries (4)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (24)
60 Cards
$534.68
Black does provide interesting tools such as hard, efficient removal in the form of Cut Down or Go for the Throat. I particularly like Pile On as well, since it’s going to be cast very cheap, tags any creature or planeswalker unconditionally and gives you further card selection with surveil 2.
Another black effect is discard. Duress can preemptively take a removal spell that would target Mentor or even a Wrath of God effect that would sweep the entire board. It can mess with the opponent’s hand in general, especially if the opponent has mulliganned. I can easily imagine scenarios where the opponent’s draw relies heavily on resolving Fable of the Mirror-Breaker or Wedding Announcement and you just take it out from their hand for just one mana. It’s even better when played post-Mentor, since it triggers him for very cheap and you can sculpt the game from that point on.
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse is of course a generically powerful card that any black deck is almost forced to play. I will happily gain a bunch of life with Considers and Meeting of Minds, stabilising my life total.
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Skura
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