"Ajani, Mentor to Heroes: Anyone call Cat Support?"

"Ajani, Mentor to Heroes: Anyone call Cat Support?"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

Now here is a guy that is making a great come back. Lending a hand to his old friend Elspeth. Ajani , Mentor to Heroes. Once the spoilers came pouring in and I saw that arm and arm greeting between him and Elspeth (Solidarity of Heroes), you just have to know that he is going to make an appearance here and not a moment to soon because of all the things that are happening in the plane of Theros.

Now that Ajani has reincarnated into Selesnyan(W/G) colors we could expect a lot of support from him , especially in the token armies and White weenie army fronts.Costing just 5 mana he can easily be powered out as early as turn 3 in a deck that has Elvish Mystique in standard. With starting stats of 4 Loyalty counters Ajani is all upside the moment he hits the battlefield.

"And now I am 4/4! what?"

G-Growth Ajani Style

He can distribute 3 +1/+1 counters on one , two or three creatures you control. The mana producer that powered him out could easily become a Muscled Giant at 4/4 with his first ability. A plus one ability at that. Or you have the choice of making any of your existing creatures much bigger. It depends on the number that you have on the field. He basically gives you a bunch of 2/2's if you have 3 creatures , 3/3's if you have 2 and a 4/4 brute if you have one. He makes heroes out of the lowly 1/1's and that is great news for you. I envisioned him playing along side Elspeth and making her Soldier tokens way bigger than they have any right to be.Imagine being in an EDH game where Ajani fetches this fella...

"And Now for the win!"

Mentoring you

His second ability is a godsend as well. For a +1 Loyalty Counter you could "Commune" with your Library and look at the top 4 cards ,  Reveal an Aura , Creature or Planeswalker from it and put into into your hand , the rest is put under your library in any order. Now let us step back for a moment , in an environment like Theros where creatures are also enchantments , you could easily find the things that you need. You don't have a target for Ajani's first ability next turn? here you go. You need someone to Bestow your creatures here you go. You need Elspeth because she is not in your hand? here you go. Need a monster to finish off your opponent or just pressure him or her some more? here you go. Ajani , not only mentors the creatures on your battlefield. He mentors you. So you could be the best hero that you could be...if you like that kind of thing.

Lifegain: A little mixed

Now for Ajani's ultimate ability you have him giving you 100 life. I kind of have mixed feelings about this. In the standard setting that kind of life gain is insane. Insurmountable even. It is a different matter in the EDH and Modern setting however where 10 poison counters and 21 General Damage can end you.  Still 100 life does buy you a lot of time. It can even be a win condition. Felidar Sovereign seems to be happy with the new Ajani as it was with the other life gaining Ajanis. Serra Avatar's happy to see this guy too. One of the things I would be looking forward to is flopping down (at least) a 100/100 Serra Avatar. And winning with a Felidar Sovereign. Now on to get an Ajani in a Journey into Nyx pack and hoping not get hit by a Skullcrack when I use his Ultimate.

"You just know this can ruin someone's day"