A-Mentor's Guidance MTG Card

A-Mentor's Guidance - Strixhaven: School of Mages

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Sorcery
Abilities	Scry
Released	2021-04-23
Set symbol
Set name	Strixhaven: School of Mages
Set code	STX
Number	A-46
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Brian Valeza

Key Takeaways

Improves card quality through scrying, giving players a strategic edge by filtering draws to suit various game states.
Enables potential resource acceleration by allowing an extra spell cast, perfect for creature-based clerics, rogues, warriors, or wizards.
While sorcery, it complements instant spells, amplifying deck versatility and enabling control over the flow of the game.

Text of card

When you cast this spell, copy it if you control a planeswalker, Cleric, Druid, Shaman, Warlock, or Wizard. Scry 1, then draw a card.

Kasmina had encouraged the twins to apply. Strixhaven would test not only their magical potential, but also their character.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: A-Mentor’s Guidance shines by allowing you to scry before drawing cards, ensuring you receive the most impactful cards for your current game state. This process of filtering enhances your card quality, thus granting you a superior advantage on the battlefield.

Resource Acceleration: The card contributes to resource acceleration by potentially allowing you to cast two spells in the same turn. If you control a Cleric, Rogue, Warrior, or Wizard, you may reveal the top card of your library and if it’s a creature card of the relevant type, you can put it into your hand.

Instant Speed: Although A-Mentor’s Guidance is a sorcery, it synergizes well with instant speed spells in your deck. By setting up your draws efficiently, you can ensure that you have access to your instant spells when they are most needed, effectively playing on your opponent’s turn.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: A-Mentor’s Guidance places a demand on its caster to discard one card in addition to paying its mana cost. This action can deplete your hand and reduce future play options, especially detrimental in a game where maintaining card advantage is crucial.

Specific Mana Cost: This spell requires a commitment to blue mana, which can be a constraint for multicolored decks that utilize various mana sources. Decks lacking consistent blue mana generation may find it challenging to cast A-Mentor’s Guidance at the crucial moment it’s needed.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With its requirement of three mana, including two blue, A-Mentor’s Guidance may seem costly when compared to other cantrips or card advantage spells in the game. Players might find alternative cards that offer similar effects at a reduced mana expenditure, thus allowing for more efficient mana use throughout the game.

Reasons to Include A-Mentor’s Guidance in Your Collection

Versatility: A-Mentor’s Guidance shines in a range of decks, primarily those that require spell synergy or are looking to benefit from scry mechanics. It can significantly smooth out draws, ensuring you get to the spells and lands you need without delay.

Combo Potential: This card excels in enabling combos by helping dig through your deck to find the necessary pieces. It can easily be part of a set-up that leads to game-winning plays, particularly in decks that are spell-heavy and can cast multiple spells in one turn.

Meta-Relevance: In highly competitive scenes where the right card can make all the difference, A-Mentor’s Guidance may provide the edge needed. Adaptive to ever-changing landscapes, this card can improve consistency against various decks, staying relevant and effective.

How to beat

A-Mentor’s Guidance is an enigmatic inclusion to blue-based control strategies in MTG. Like other spells such as Preordain, it assists players in manipulating their draws to stack the deck in their favor. However, A-Mentor’s Guidance shines in its ability to scry and then draw, combined with a bonus of potentially copying if you control a planeswalker or legendary creature, enhancing card quality and advantage.

Combatting this potent spell includes strategies to limit its impact. Disrupting the setup is essential. Denying the presence of a planeswalker or legendary creature through removal spells or counteractions ensures the spell cannot capitalize on its full potential. Hand disruption techniques can also be effective, removing A-Mentor’s Guidance before it’s cast, consequently diminishing an opponent’s ability to sculpt their ideal hand.

Attention to the timing of plays can prove pivotal. Swiftly adjusting strategies to deal with legendaries or planeswalkers can minimize the card advantage your opponent gains from A-Mentor’s Guidance. Thus, executing prompt interference restricts their ability to orchestrate a perfect game plan and leaves them with a simpler, more manageable spell.

Cards like A-Mentor's Guidance

A-Mentor’s Guidance shines in the expansive world of Magic: The Gathering as a distinct choice for deck enhancement. Its similarity with other scry and draw cards, particularly Preordain, is undeniable, as both offer the scry then draw mechanism, letting players fine-tune their next moves. While Preordain is solely focused on this efficient card filtering technique for a mere one blue mana, A-Mentor’s Guidance steps it up with an additional requirement that can trigger a beneficial secondary effect.

Another comparable sorcery, Anticipate, offers immediate depth in accessing the top three cards of one’s library, and yet it does not grant the additional advantage A-Mentor’s Guidance does when a second spell is casted. Serendipity is another peer in this category, providing even deeper look into the upcoming cards but at the cost of giving your opponent the same advantage, something A-Mentor’s Guidance tactfully avoids.

What sets A-Mentor’s Guidance apart in this collective is its interactive nature, rewarding players who successfully cast another instant or sorcery during the same turn. This promotes a dynamic playstyle, encouraging smart spell sequencing and synergies, much more than the average card-filtering spell in Magic: The Gathering. Such specific advantages mark it as a strong competitor among its kin.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase A-Mentor's Guidance MTG card by a specific set like Strixhaven: School of Mages, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the A-Mentor's Guidance and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where A-Mentor's Guidance has restrictions

Format	Legality
Historicbrawl	Legal
Historic	Legal