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Mendicant Core, Guidelight
Legendary Artifact Creature — Robot
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.)
* / 3
$1.04Buy on TCGPlayer
“Artifact tokens with speed-scaling power and free copy triggers at max speed.”
Aggro
Intermediate
Combat damage, Tokens swarm
Tokens, Artifact Synergies, Spellslinger, Voltron
Strategy
Mendicant Core is a unique artifact-focused commander that rewards you for building an artifact-heavy deck while punishing opponents. Your main gameplan is to flood the board with artifact tokens while Mendicant Core grows in power based on your artifact count and the "speed" mechanic. The "Start your engines!" ability means the deck naturally gets faster as opponents take damage, encouraging a tempo-aggressive approach. Once you hit max speed 4, your artifact spell copies become free tokens, creating exponential value and overwhelming the table with creatures.
You'll want to pack cheap artifact creatures and spell-slinging artifacts that generate value when copied. Cards like Ornithopter, Springleaf Drum, and Signal Pest give you early plays, while engines like Trading Post or Goblin Welder provide repeatable triggers. The deck punches well above its mana cost since you're duplicating your spells for just one extra mana, turning a modest play into a board-stalling adventure. Win by swinging with a massive Mendicant Core backed by a swarm of artifact tokens, or occasionally combo out with artifact synergies.
Strategy generated by Tapped Decks AI. Not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast.
Key Synergies
Budget Build
Skip pricey artifact lords like Urza's Incubator; instead use budget copies like Metallic Mimic or Intrepid Paleontologist, and rely on cheap tokens like Ornithopter and Mycosynth Fiend.
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Inclusion = % of Mendicant Core, Guidelight decks running this card. +lift = percentage-point boost over the format average.
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Art Variants
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