Ardent Recruit MTG Card

Ardent Recruit - Mirrodin Besieged (MBS)

Mirrodin Besieged (MBS)
2011-02-04 - Number 2

Ardent Recruit - Duel Decks: Mirrodin Pure vs. New Phyrexia (TD2)

Duel Decks: Mirrodin Pure vs. New Phyrexia (TD2)
2011-05-14 - Number 4

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	1
Rarity	Common
Type	Creature — Human Soldier
Abilities	Metalcraft
Power	1
Toughness	1

Key Takeaways

Ardent Recruit provides significant board presence for low mana, enhancing your threat diversity.
It capitalizes on artifact abundance, hastening your plays and strengthening your position.
Instant-speed Metalcraft activation can unexpectedly strengthen Ardent Recruit during combat.

Text of card

Metalcraft — Ardent Recruit gets +2/+2 as long as you control three or more artifacts.

"We lost our homes and our kin. We won't let those rotters take our future as well."

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Ardent Recruit may not directly allow you to draw cards, but it represents a significant threat on the board. Its low casting cost makes it easier to play alongside other cards, potentially overwhelming your opponent with multiple threats and putting you ahead in terms of board presence.

Resource Acceleration: Ardent Recruit’s affinity for artifacts can accelerate your game if you have enough of them on the field. Though it doesn’t produce mana itself, it greatly benefits from artifacts that do, allowing you to deploy more substantial threats sooner than your opponent might anticipate.

Instant Speed: While Ardent Recruit itself is not an instant, its Metalcraft ability can become active at instant speed as long as you’re able to play an artifact during your opponent’s turn. This can surprise attackers or blockers with a sudden boost to Ardent Recruit’s power and toughness, turning the tides of combat in your favor.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While the Ardent Recruit doesn’t require a discard to be played, it’s worth noting that it relies heavily on having a certain type of card on the field. Without artifacts in play, the Recruit’s effectiveness diminishes, leading to scenarios where it may become necessary to discard it for a more immediately relevant play.

Specific Mana Cost: The Ardent Recruit demands a white mana to be cast. Although this is typically easy for mono-white or artifact-oriented decks, it can be a stumbling block in multicolored decks that may struggle with mana consistency, thus not revealing the full potential of the Recruit’s Metalcraft ability.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Despite costing only one white mana, the Recruit’s true cost lies in its reliance on having three artifacts to achieve its full potential. Without achieving Metalcraft, a 1/1 for one mana is underwhelming, especially when other one-drop creatures in the format offer immediate impact or have innate evasion abilities.

Reasons to Include Ardent Recruit in Your Collection

Versatility: Ardent Recruit is a robust addition to any deck aiming to capitalize on artifact synergy. With its low mana cost and Metalcraft ability, it easily adapts to aggressive and artifact-centric strategies.

Combo Potential: This card shines in combinations with other artifacts, potentially becoming a sizable threat for just one white mana. It rewards players for committing to artifact-heavy builds, unlocking massive damage potential early in the game.

Meta-Relevance: Given its efficiency in a meta that leans towards fast, synergistic play, Ardent Recruit holds its ground. Its relevancy peaks in environments where decks that deploy a lot of artifacts quickly are dominant, making it a prudent pick for those metagames.

How to Beat Ardent Recruit

Ardent Recruit may seem like an imposing card to face in MTG, mainly due to its potential to become a formidable 3/3 creature for just one white mana—provided metalcraft is active with three or more artifacts on the battlefield. However, strategically dismantling this early threat can shift the tides to your favor.

One effective strategy is to limit the number of artifacts your opponent controls. This diminishes the power of metalcraft, rendering Ardent Recruit a less significant threat. Simple removal spells like Naturalize or Shatter can effectively reduce artifact counts. Alternatively, board wipes like Shatterstorm not only clear multiple artifacts at once but also deal with Ardent Recruit and other creatures benefiting from metalcraft.

Direct creature removals, such as Doom Blade or Path to Exile, offer another solution by directly targeting Ardent Recruit. In absence of the metalcraft condition, Ardent Recruit is a manageable creature and easily handled by most removal spells or combat interactions. Focusing on maintaining control of the board and preventing the metalcraft condition from being satisfied can protect you against the early aggression that Ardent Recruit aims to establish.

Cards like Ardent Recruit

Ardent Recruit stands out in MTG as a formidable creature at the cost of a single white mana. Its resemblance to other cards lies in its Metalcraft ability, which provides a power boost when you control three or more artifacts. This is akin to the mechanic seen in Court Homunculus which also gets stronger amid a cluster of artifacts but requires an additional mana to play. Some players may see parallels with Toolcraft Exemplar, a card that not only gets a power increase but also gains first strike until end of turn if you control three or more artifacts.

Additionally, cards like Vault Skirge offer a different approach, where life gain is provided instead of a pure power increase. Though Vault Skirge comes with a lifelink ability, Ardent Recruit potentially offers a greater power strike without the life gain feature. The tradeoff is simple: Ardent Recruit excels in aggressive artifact-centered decks looking to capitalize on high-power creatures early in the game.

Hence, while each card carries its unique benefits and strategies, Ardent Recruit fittingly finds its niche among early-game creatures that synergize with artifact-heavy playstyles, balancing low cost with substantial power potential.

Cards similar to Ardent Recruit by color, type and mana cost

Faerie Guidemother // Gift of the Fae - MTG Card versions

Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful - MTG Card versions

Bushi Tenderfoot // Kenzo the Hardhearted - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Ardent Recruit MTG card by a specific set like Mirrodin Besieged and Duel Decks: Mirrodin Pure vs. New Phyrexia, 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 Ardent Recruit and other MTG cards: