Mendicant Core, Guidelight
Mana Cost:
Type: Legendary Artifact Creature — Robot
Oracle Text:
Mendicant Core's power is equal to the number of artifacts you control.
Start your engines! (If you have no speed, it starts at 1. It increases once on each of your turns when an opponent loses life. Max speed is 4.)
Max speed — Whenever you cast an artifact spell, you may pay {1}. If you do, copy it. (The copy becomes a token.)
Power/Toughness: */3
Rarity: rare
Prints: View all prints (1) →
Expansion: Aetherdrift
Public Decks Using This Card
No public decks are currently using this card.
Character Background
Mendicant Core, Guidelight is a legendary Robot that turns every scrap of machinery into momentum—its power scales with the number of artifacts you control, so the fastest way to make it threatening is to flood the board with your own metal: cheap artifact bodies, mana rocks, and artifact equipment all pull double duty. Its “Start your engines” engine rewards a steady, inevitability-style clock; you want opponents to lose life repeatedly (for example, via artifact damage, chipping combat steps, or lifeloss triggers) so speed climbs from 1 to 4 and stays relevant. The Max speed copying clause is pure value for tempo and combo turns: when you cast an artifact spell, paying {1} to copy it can stack multiple key pieces—extra plays of removal, extra resource artifacts, or cloned threats—while still benefitting from Core’s higher power as your artifact count grows. Build it in an artifacts-forward shell (Esper/ Selesnya/ Izzet depending on your card pool), pairing it with cards that repeatedly enable artifact casts and lifeloss, so you consistently convert acceleration into board advantage rather than just a big stat stick.
Generated using gpt-5.4-nano · Updated at 2026-03-27 20:28:56 UTC