Decided to take a shot at building a deck around Monastery Mentor. I took a stock UR Delver list from VSL, removed the red and Delvers, then got to brewing. Artifacts are good at triggering Mentor, so I brought in Sol Ring and Vault/Key. Top is another cheap artifact, so I through that in. That gave room for tinker and Blightsteel. Added a couple Jaces to make it more controlly as well as upped the count to 3 Dig Through Times. I've gone 5-1 in the 2-mans, and the list seems solid. You've got 3 angles of attack in Mentor, Tinker and Vault key, and you get to play a ton of counters and draw. The UR Delver matchup is really solid. Pyromancer does basically nothing on the board with a Mentor out. Would love to hear thoughts on the main or the board.
Mystical Tutor seems like a slam-dunk. If you can resolve a Mentor, on your next upkeep cast Mystical and put Time Walk on top. Cast the walk and maybe one other spell (a cantrip or mox) and you'll have three monks (plus hit for 5), then you take your second turn with 5 power + 4x the number of noncreatures you can cast, meaning even two spells puts you to 13 damage, which makes 18 with the previous swing. In a format where people tend to lose 2 life from Fetches, FoW, Misstep, Vamp, Seal, etc, that's almost certainly lethal. And if not, just throw in a third spell and you're dealing 22 total.
You can also just Mystical for StP, Repeal, Gush, Ancestral, FoW, etc.
Merchant Scroll is a similarly very good spell, letting you get FoW, Repeal, Gush, or Ancestral.
It might also be worthwhile to consider additional colors. Black gives you Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Imperial Seal, and Yawgmoth's Will. Red gives you artifact destruction and Lightning Bolt. Green gives you Fastbond primarily. There's no reason not to run the rest of the Moxen, as they give you "lands" that trigger prowess/monk generation, lead to earlier Mentors/Jaces, and let you consider Tolarian Academy as another way to power out Jace.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My Moderator Helpdesk
Currently Playing:
Legacy: Something U/W Controlish EDH Cube
Hypercube! A New EDH Deck Every Week(ish)!
There is a link to the videos, as just a slight glance, he is running Tolarian Academy for some massive mana acceleration. I do like the Mystical Tutor suggestion above.
Edit** Adding in link to decklist and the feature of it over on another site.
I'm working on a different approach with black for Dark Confidant (sorry, delve draw spells), and Cavern of Souls. They are Humans (as is Snapcaster; sadly SFM is not)
Mystical Tutor is indeed a total and utter beating.
If you run all or almost all of the broken artifact mana, you can actually maindeck Hurkyl's Recall, which does obscene things.
Lastly. I'd think about dropping the Tinker/BSC/Vault/Key package to pick up Skullclamp, Batterskull and SFM. Perhaps this is more suited to my Dark Confidant version, but Clamp is still absurd in Vintage and synergizes ridiculously with Mentor. Vault/Key gets free wins, but also causes you dead cards when you invest heavily into the combo but your opponent has the answer. And I think JTMS is just a bad version of Mentor in the deck - both cause you to tap out, both win you the game, but MM is faster and doesn't die to Pyroblast.
On a side note, deck titles are personal preference - but I clicked on this thread expecting to see something about Monastery Siege - most people are referring to these archetypes as Mentor rather than as Monastery. You might get more input if you rename the thread, as more people will have experience with "Mentor" decks.
I am not sure what counts as Control. I have been running the following list in the casual rooms. I only played it in one daily event but went 4-0! I am probably going to go to 2-3 wear/tear as I really like the card! The wastelands are good in the "fish" mirror on the play but not great on the draw. So one wasteland in the main is ok. Also the wasteland is obviously great to have vs workshops which is important. The wear/tears are great vs Shops/Oath/Blue-belcher/Tezzerett. Also they give you outs to all sorts of random things like Propoganda (lsv played this vs me in the daily lol)/Night of Soul's betrayal etc. I really prefer the wear/tear to cage vs shops as at least you can blow up a mox if they sided out the oaths. I also wonder if I should play a rest in peace over a Ravenous trap.
Cantrips 7
1 Time Walk
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
4 Preordain
I'm looking at building this, and I've got a few questions:
1) Is it worthwhile to run Blightseel Colossus, Inkwell Leviathan, and/or Sphinx of the Steel Wind as a Tinker target, or is it fine to just use Tinker as a way to tutor up the missing piece of Vault-Key?
2) Should I run Tolarian Academy? Assume that I'm running 5x Mox, Lotus, Ring, Crypt, Vault, Key, uncertain if any others (maybe 1x Top)
3) Is it worthwhile to run something like 1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor as an alternative wincon/card draw engine? Or am I better off just sticking to 4x Mentor, Tinker, Tezz, and Vault-Key as my wincons?
4) Is Library of Alexandria worthwhile?
5) How about [c]Snapcaster Mage[/c}?
6) Is it worth it to splash black just for the tutors and maybe some SB options?
imho balance seems like it would be bad in your deck, with mentor your trying to get allot of tokens and it seems like balance could be an awkward draw. also dig through time is restricted. lastly with the mentor decks, you want to play the full set of moxen, they trigger mentor and accelerates you into mentor
How do you fight through the discard package and Defense Grids that combo packs? How do you fight through Blue Belcher? Around the country, the top decks in the format (more or less in oopularity in tournaments) are
- Mentor
- Pyromancer
- Dark Petition Storm
- Oath
- Other Combo (belcher, painter, tezzcast, etc.)
- Grixis
- Dredge
- Ravager Shops
unless your area is infested by shops, playing 3 colors benefits you more than it hurts you, and Red is still really good right now. Dack owns the workshop matchup, and helps filter you to relevant spells when playing the mirror, especially when gush draws you into more lands. Red also gives you access to REB, which is a better counterspell than force in the blue matchup and can kill Jace, Vryn Prodigies. if you wish to keep it to W/U, then you need a way to go over thee top in attrition wars, maybe Mystic Remora.
I would work 2-3 containment priest in the board as diversified Dredge hate that also gives Oath problems. Vs shops, Id board in Serenities over Energy Flux, as its cheaper so it can resolve easier through spheres. if youre playing red, pulverize is better, because it is free, and your cantrips help dig you to more lands,
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Blue: teaching Magic players manners since 1995
Shops: Teaching blue players manners since 2009
You might want to consider a 4-color Remora-Gush shell with Trygon Predator and happy times... Works well against Shops, Pyromancer, and more, and Remora seems a bit too good in context to pass up.
3 Monastery Mentor
1 Blightsteel Colossus
Spells:
3 Gitaxian Probe
1 Ponder
4 Preordain
1 Time Walk
1 Treasure Cruise
3 Dig Through Time
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
4 Gush
4 Mental Misstep
1 Repeal
2 Swords to Plowshares
1 Tinker
1 Balance
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Pearl
1 Time Vault
1 Voltaic Key
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
Planeswalkers:
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Lands:
3 Polluted Delta
1 Strip Mine
2 Island
4 Tundra
1 Library of Alexandria
4 Flooded Strand
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Flusterstorm
4 Rest in Peace
1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Plains
1 Mana Drain
2 Energy Flux
You can also just Mystical for StP, Repeal, Gush, Ancestral, FoW, etc.
Merchant Scroll is a similarly very good spell, letting you get FoW, Repeal, Gush, or Ancestral.
1-2 Snapcaster Mage couldn't hurt either.
It might also be worthwhile to consider additional colors. Black gives you Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Imperial Seal, and Yawgmoth's Will. Red gives you artifact destruction and Lightning Bolt. Green gives you Fastbond primarily. There's no reason not to run the rest of the Moxen, as they give you "lands" that trigger prowess/monk generation, lead to earlier Mentors/Jaces, and let you consider Tolarian Academy as another way to power out Jace.
Currently Playing:
Legacy: Something U/W Controlish
EDH Cube
Hypercube! A New EDH Deck Every Week(ish)!
http://www.channelfireball.com/videos/channel-lsv-vintage-mentor/
There is a link to the videos, as just a slight glance, he is running Tolarian Academy for some massive mana acceleration. I do like the Mystical Tutor suggestion above.
Edit** Adding in link to decklist and the feature of it over on another site.
http://www.gatheringmagic.com/carlosgutierrez-constructed-2282015-5-decks-you-cant-miss-this-week/
Mystical Tutor is indeed a total and utter beating.
If you run all or almost all of the broken artifact mana, you can actually maindeck Hurkyl's Recall, which does obscene things.
Lastly. I'd think about dropping the Tinker/BSC/Vault/Key package to pick up Skullclamp, Batterskull and SFM. Perhaps this is more suited to my Dark Confidant version, but Clamp is still absurd in Vintage and synergizes ridiculously with Mentor. Vault/Key gets free wins, but also causes you dead cards when you invest heavily into the combo but your opponent has the answer. And I think JTMS is just a bad version of Mentor in the deck - both cause you to tap out, both win you the game, but MM is faster and doesn't die to Pyroblast.
Cantrips 7
1 Time Walk
1 Ponder
1 Brainstorm
4 Preordain
Threats 8
4 Monastery Mentor
4 Young Pyromancer
Removal 3
3 Lightning Bolt
CounterSpells 13
4 FoW
4 MM
3 Flusterstorm (kitten runs 1 spell pierce)
2 Pyroblast
Draw 9
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Treasure cruise
3 Dig Through Time
4 Gush
Mana 20
1 Lotus
1 Petal
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Strip Mine
1 Wasteland
2 Island
2 Tundra
3 Volcanic Island
3 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
Sideboard 15
4 Ingot Chewer
1 Wasteland
1 Mountain
3 Grafidgger's Cage
4 Ravenous Trap
1 Null Rod
1 Wear/Tear
1) Is it worthwhile to run Blightseel Colossus, Inkwell Leviathan, and/or Sphinx of the Steel Wind as a Tinker target, or is it fine to just use Tinker as a way to tutor up the missing piece of Vault-Key?
2) Should I run Tolarian Academy? Assume that I'm running 5x Mox, Lotus, Ring, Crypt, Vault, Key, uncertain if any others (maybe 1x Top)
3) Is it worthwhile to run something like 1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor as an alternative wincon/card draw engine? Or am I better off just sticking to 4x Mentor, Tinker, Tezz, and Vault-Key as my wincons?
4) Is Library of Alexandria worthwhile?
5) How about [c]Snapcaster Mage[/c}?
6) Is it worth it to splash black just for the tutors and maybe some SB options?
I'm looking at something like this:
1 Blighsteel Colossus
1 Tinker
1 Time Vault
1 Voltaic Key
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Treasure Cruise
2 Gush
2 Dig Through Time
4 Preordain
3 Mental Misstep
3 Flusterstorm
1 Tezzeret, the Seeker
2 ???
5 Moxen
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
3 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
3 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
1 Island
1 Strip Mine
With the ???'s being something from above - Jace, Academy, Library, Snapcaster Mage, or maybe Hurkyll's Recall
Currently Playing:
Legacy: Something U/W Controlish
EDH Cube
Hypercube! A New EDH Deck Every Week(ish)!
- Mentor
- Pyromancer
- Dark Petition Storm
- Oath
- Other Combo (belcher, painter, tezzcast, etc.)
- Grixis
- Dredge
- Ravager Shops
unless your area is infested by shops, playing 3 colors benefits you more than it hurts you, and Red is still really good right now. Dack owns the workshop matchup, and helps filter you to relevant spells when playing the mirror, especially when gush draws you into more lands. Red also gives you access to REB, which is a better counterspell than force in the blue matchup and can kill Jace, Vryn Prodigies. if you wish to keep it to W/U, then you need a way to go over thee top in attrition wars, maybe Mystic Remora.
I would work 2-3 containment priest in the board as diversified Dredge hate that also gives Oath problems. Vs shops, Id board in Serenities over Energy Flux, as its cheaper so it can resolve easier through spheres. if youre playing red, pulverize is better, because it is free, and your cantrips help dig you to more lands,
Blue: teaching Magic players manners since 1995Shops: Teaching blue players manners since 2009