It has the same stats as the famous Elf it makes
copies of, but the fact that it itself doesn't
tap for mana, but taps to make a token that taps
for mana, means it can't give you that quick
start that first-turn Elf players have enjoyed
for years. It accelerates you to turn four
instead of turn three. The bonus, of course, is
that you can make as many Elves as you have
extra cards. Trouble is, the extra cards you
usually have are lands. Why discard a land to
make a token that will tap for mana, when you
can just play the land and tap it for mana that
turn? It has its uses, of course-- an extra mana
source per turn, a Madness outlet, a way to get
your Dredge card in the graveyard. I'm just not
seeing it as all that great overall.
Constructed- 2.5
Casual- 3.5
Limited- 3.5
Aethereal
Monday -
Llanowar Mentor
This was the first of the creature spellshapers
to be spoiled and it was generally
well-received, and for good reason. The ability
to constantly produce tokens that can make more
mana is certainly not bad. This is decent for
ramping up your mana really quickly, but it
requires you to pitch cards for it. Good with
Madness and Life from the Loam, and other
similar things, naturally. I'm not sure where
this will fit in constructed, though.
In casual, this is excellent for elf decks, as
it makes elves.
In limited, I'd probably take it. You can pitch
excess land or excess cards to its ability if a
creature is needed.
Hrmmm the ability to make llanowar elves.
Honestly I don't this this guy is that great.
The whole point of elves is to mana accelerate.
Usually a first turn drop. This guy takes a lot
of investment. 1 for him, then another 1 AND
discarding a card to make an elf then you have
to wait another whole turn before you can use
it. Just stick to the original unless they take
it out of 10th.
Constructed: 2
Casual: 1
Limited:3
David Fanany
Player since
1995
Llanowar Mentor
If you've played many Standard matches recently,
you may have seen a few Llanowar Mentors around,
probably in NarcoBridge or some other kind of
deck based on the Dredge mechanic. The good
thing about it is that it functions not only as
a discard outlet but also creates mana elves in
the process. An extra point or two of mana is
always a good thing to have. Unfortunately, if
you're not playing Dredge (or, er, Madness),
it's just a waste of cards. The original
Llanowar Elves is better in any other kind of
deck.
Welcome to spellshaper week, I hope everyone had
good luck at this past weekend’s Regionals for
those of you that went.
Constructed: Seeing play in the back/green
versions of the Bridge Dredge deck I have to say
I’m not that big a fan of it. Doesn’t net you
mana right away, trading cards in hand for one
one mana producers that also don’t net you mana
right away (and before you say that it just
makes llanowar elves, I would hope most of your
cards are better than the elves or you’d just
run the elf over the mentor in the first place).
Though it does allow you to mass produce tokens
from very early in the game and for a relatively
cheap cost. And with rumors of Overrun coming
back in 10th it could see a huge boost to its
playability in decks after Ravnica and it’s
dredge mechanic are gone from standard.
Casual/Multi: I could maybe see the potential of
this card in a deck using lots of cards that
untap all your creatures (Seedborne Muse,
Vitalize, To Arms!, etc.) to power out big mana
spells, and might help you get out of a small
mana rut. Also try running if you want to
experiment with some reanimator decks (a benefit
that all of this week’s spellshapers have so
this will be the only time I mention it) or to
make a G/* madness deck.
Limited: There aren’t really that many cards
that give you a huge benefit to having lots of
mana but there are a few, Disintegrate and Spell
Burst coming to mind, but in decks where cards
are at a premium I’m not sure how inclined I am
to turn cards in hand into small creatures and
if you have an opening hand with lots of cards
that you want to discard to the mentor then
maybe you should have muliganed. If you drafted
a Tromp the Domains early in the draft though,
by all means power out the tokens and pair it
along side some thallids to make more use of the
crippling sorcery. One of the other benefits I
can see with this card is that there isn’t a lot
of mass removal in the format (about 4 by my
count: 2 rare and 2 uncommon) so there’s a good
chance you won’t get nailed by that. However,
not being hated out of the environment does not
a good card make.
Constructed: 2
Casual: 2.5
Limited: 3
PsychoAnime
#1
Magic Noob in Canada since 2002
Let's say
Llanowar Mentor comes out on turn 1, which is
the best time
for him to come out, you can start making
Llanowar Elves on turn 2,
and then that Llanowar Elves can start producing
mana on turn 3.
Assuming you have played a land every turn, you
would end up with 4
mana on turn 3. Did you know a Signet does the
same thing except that
I don't end up with a useless 1/1 that can only
produce more
Llanowar Elves.
4 Llanowar Elves and 4 Birds of Paradise is
plenty...
I guess it does help Dredge due to Dredge's
nature to have rather low
amounts of mana sources but that's a very
limited application and a
lot of Dredge decks don't run this and are still
fine.
