Ajani, Mentor of Heroes MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost5
RarityMythic
TypeLegendary Planeswalker — Ajani
Loyalty 4

Key Takeaways

  1. Ajani provides strong card advantage by filtering the deck for crucial creature or planeswalker cards.
  2. It offers considerable resource acceleration, enhancing creatures or planeswalkers swiftly for board dominance.
  3. Ajani’s ability to adjust creature stats or planeswalker loyalty can pivot the game’s direction unexpectedly.

Text of card

+1: Distribute three +1/+1 counters among one, two, or three target creatures you control. +1: Look at the top four cards of your library. You may reveal an Aura, creature, or planeswalker card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order. -8: You gain 100 life.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Ajani Mentor of Heroes is adept at ensuring card advantage. It can sift through the top four cards of your deck to find creatures or planeswalkers, essentially filtering your draws and providing access to your most impactful cards.

Resource Acceleration: Its second ability grants a substantial boost to your creatures or planeswalkers. By adding three loyalty counters or bolstering a creature, it accelerates the effectiveness of your resources, leading to a dominating board presence.

Instant Speed: Although not an instant itself, Ajani’s ability to instantly increase creature stats or planeswalker loyalty during your turn can be a game-changing surprise factor. This adaptability can shift the tides in your favor, creating opportunities for decisive plays when your opponents least expect it.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Although Ajani Mentor of Heroes doesn’t force a card discard, it’s important to note that having this card in your deck might mean missing out on other cards that bolster your hand without such a high deployment cost.

Specific Mana Cost: Ajani Mentor of Heroes requires a mix of generic and two specific colors of mana (green and white) to be cast. This can be a limitation in diverse decks that cannot consistently provide the specific mana needed, making it less desirable compared to more flexible planeswalkers.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of five mana, Ajani Mentor of Heroes can be a heavy investment in the early game. This cost demands a significant portion of your mana resources, which could otherwise be allocated to develop your board presence or respond to threats more immediately.


Reasons to Include Ajani Mentor of Heroes in Your Collection

Versatility: Ajani Mentor of Heroes shines across various deck builds, offering a robust suite of abilities that can enhance creature strategies, bolster your life total, and improve card selection. The card’s flexibility allows it to be a linchpin in decks that aim to outlast opponents through incremental advantage.

Combo Potential: With its ability to add counters, Ajani can synergize with a multitude of counter-based strategies, setting the stage for explosive turns. It combines well with proliferate effects or other planeswalkers, turning it into a key component for combo decks looking to leverage +1/+1 counters or loyalty abilities.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta that values longevity and board presence, Ajani Mentor of Heroes provides sustained value, making it a formidable card against control and midrange matchups. Its ability to dig deep into your deck for key creatures or planeswalkers ensures you maintain threat density against removal-heavy decks.


How to beat Ajani Mentor of Heroes

Ajani Mentor of Heroes shines as a powerful planeswalker in MTG, offering invaluable support in bolstering your creature’s strength and fishing for key cards. Beating this particular card requires a multifaceted approach, starting with pressure. Applying consistent pressure can prevent your opponent from safely casting Ajani or force them into a defensive stance, making it harder for them to utilize Ajani’s abilities to their fullest.

Spot removal and direct damage spells are also potent tools. Eliminating creatures that have been buffed by Ajani’s +1 loyalty ability mitigates the advantage gained. Cards such as Doom Blade or Lightning Bolt can help manage the board. Additionally, counter spells are instrumental in thwarting Ajani from ever entering the battlefield, while cards like Thoughtseize can pluck it straight from an opponent’s hand before it becomes a threat.

Once Ajani hits the board, it becomes crucial to focus on reducing its loyalty counters. Attacking Ajani directly prevents the accumulation of counters to the ultimate ability, which can be a game-ender. In conclusion, calibrated aggression and smart use of removal and disruption create a pathway to prevail over the challenge posed by Ajani Mentor of Heroes.


BurnMana Recommendations

Understanding the nuances of Ajani Mentor of Heroes is essential for any MTG enthusiast looking to optimize their gameplay. This card’s unique abilities can be the keystone for a dominating strategy in the right deck setup. While it presents challenges, such as its specific mana requirements and early game investment, the advantages it offers, like resource acceleration and versatility, can’t be overlooked. If you’re ready to enhance your deck with this dynamic planeswalker, and seek strategies that play to its strengths while mitigating its vulnerabilities, delve deeper with us. Let’s explore together how Ajani can become a heroic mentor in your MTG battles.


Cards like Ajani, Mentor of Heroes

Ajani Mentor of Heroes is a standout planeswalker in Magic: The Gathering with a unique set of abilities that support wide-ranging strategies. In the realm of planeswalkers, it shares utility with cards like Elspeth, Sun’s Champion. Both bolster your board presence, yet Ajani directly increases loyalty on creatures and Elspeth creates soldier tokens, catering to different tactical needs. Another related card is Garruk, Primal Hunter, which offers a powerhouse in creature token generation but diverges with its beast-themed card drawing ability compared to Ajani’s potent life gain and digging for key creatures or planeswalkers.

Comparatively, the card Domri Rade echoes Ajani’s creature-centric philosophy. Domri Rade is adept at creature empowerment and deck manipulation but trails in terms of the direct life-gain Ajani provides, making Ajani an excellent choice for protracted games. Sorin, Solemn Visitor is another parallel, granting life gain and boosting creature capabilities, yet he shines in aggressive strategies by amplifying attack power, contrasting with Ajani’s defensive and support strengths which are better in mid-game to late-game transitions.

Overall, Ajani Mentor of Heroes holds its ground in MTG’s rich tapestry of planeswalker cards. It’s particularly favored when looking for sustainable board advantage and seeking out specific creatures or planeswalkers to turn the tides of battle in your favor.

Elspeth, Sun's Champion - MTG Card versions
Garruk, Primal Hunter - MTG Card versions
Domri Rade - MTG Card versions
Sorin, Solemn Visitor - MTG Card versions
Elspeth, Sun's Champion - Theros (THS)
Garruk, Primal Hunter - Magic 2012 (M12)
Domri Rade - Gatecrash (GTC)
Sorin, Solemn Visitor - Khans of Tarkir (KTK)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Ajani, Mentor of Heroes MTG card by a specific set like Journey into Nyx and Mythic Edition, 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 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Ajani, Mentor of Heroes Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2014-05-02 and 2019-12-02. Illustrated by 3 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12014-05-02Journey into NyxJOU 1452003normalblackAaron Miller
22018-10-05Mythic EditionMED RA52015normalborderlessBram Sels
32019-12-02Secret Lair DropSLD 3972015normalborderlessUta Natsume

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Ajani, Mentor of Heroes has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PioneerLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Ajani, Mentor of Heroes card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

DateText
2014-04-26 If one or more, but not all, of the targets of the first ability are illegal when that ability tries to resolve, no counters will be placed on illegal targets. You can't change the distribution you announced when you activated the ability; the excess counters are just lost.
2014-04-26 You announce how many counters will be placed on each target creature as you activate Ajani's first ability. Each target must receive at least one counter.

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