Killian, Decisive MentorKillian, Decisive Mentor | Art by Billy Christian

Killian Lu is the the quintessential Silverquill student and has all the hallmarks of a hero in the making. As the son of the stern and ruthless Silverquill Dean Embrose, Killian had grown up with quite the chip on his shoulder, always trying to impress his father and school but never being quite enough for both.

Through learning to embrace his lighter half and trust in the unity that his friends provide, he's become a fully fledged mentor to inspiring Silverquill mages in his own right.

Now that Killian is his own man, we get to see him really shine bright in the new Secrets of Strixhaven set at the head of his very own precon deck. However, precons are about bringing new players into Magic and going over the basics. Today, we're building a deck that celebrates Killian Lu in all his glory with the full might of the multiverse behind him!

So lets take a dive into Killian, Decisive MentorKillian, Decisive Mentor!

What Does Killian, Decisive MentorKillian, Decisive Mentor Do?

Killian, Decisive Mentor is a 2/3 Human Warlock with two very poignant abilities. First, whenever an enchantment you control enters, tap up to one target creature and goad it. Second, whenever one or more creatures that are enchanted by an Aura you control attack, draw a card.

So the first ability just cares about enchantments you control entering. Be they cast, createdcreated, flickeredflickered, and so on. Then you can tap an entirely separate creature so that your opponents get opened up to attacks they thought they could block, and goad it so that its not even attacking you next turn.

The next portion sends you deeper into a specific strategy payoff by calling out Auras and giving you some needed draw power in black and white (). You can place the Auras on both your and your opponents' creatures so that you can generate value no matter which way you want to go with the list.

The Deck Strategy for Killian

So to combine Killian's first and second abilities, it's clear that the card is leading us towards a deck where we want to put Auras into play, enchanted onto our opponents' creatures that we then goad into attacking our other opponents.

We're basically roleplaying as a Silverquill student who's convincing everyone around them into doing all the fighting while we gain value from the chaos.

It's similar to a truly political deck that we've seen before in the original Strixhaven set with Breena, the DemagogueBreena, the Demagogue.

We've also seen the straight-up same strategy, although from the opposite side of our forced attacks with Eriette of the Charmed AppleEriette of the Charmed Apple. Eriette decks are the lead examples of this strategy, and we'll be taking a lot of pointers when looking at the direction of this deck. But it won't end up being a total one-to-one conversion, as those decks cared mainly for draining foes who cannot attack you instead of our goal of forcing buffed up creatures to do our bidding.

Lastly, since our Commander is a full-on character in his own right, we're incentivized to stay in the Silverquill college of Strixhaven theme, which won't be too hard as the two Strixhaven sets give us a lot of cards that fit Killian's playstyle. So bring on all the cards of the students wearing the ultimate drip in the multiverse.

Key Cards for Killian, Decisive MentorKillian, Decisive Mentor

Creatures

While we talked about Eriette, she's a good secondary help to the overall strategy of winning, but we need to have more creatures that are giving us the following:

• Providing us enchantments. Especially if they can end up doing double duty as Auras as well.
  • Summon: YojimboSummon: Yojimbo
  • Eidolon of Countless BattlesEidolon of Countless Battles
  • Spellbook VendorSpellbook Vendor

• Rewarding us for having/producing enchantments.
  • Victor, Valgavoth's SeneschalVictor, Valgavoth's Seneschal
  • Mesa EnchantressMesa Enchantress
  • Doomwake GiantDoomwake Giant

• Give bonuses to/for enchantments.
  • Ondu SpiritdancerOndu Spiritdancer
  • Xenk, Paladin UnbrokenXenk, Paladin Unbroken
  • Daxos the ReturnedDaxos the Returned

Each of these creatures and creatures adjacent to them are great for what this deck wants to do, so regardless of if you choose these exact ones, as long as you have cards like Mesa EnchantressMesa Enchantress that trigger drawing you cards when you make enchantments, you're doing the right thing.

Instants

We're in the wrong college for a deck super focused on instants, so this section will be short and sweet. Basically the better removal spells in , but you want to be sure to have them handy as eventually, your opponents won't be goaded anymore and it turns into a 1v1 that you will have to remove the creatures you've been buffing the whole game!

Sorceries

Most enchantment production we do is at instant speed, so we still want to dedicate most of our main phases to exactly that. Which leaves us with room for only the most powerful of sorceries, and luckily enchantments have been getting buffs in that department for the past decade.

Artifacts

Honestly, we're just here to protect our Commander, and we probably don't even need it. There are too many Auras that will do the same thing but also be Auras. Mana rocks however are a must in this deck. Absolutely ruin the fit with some boots if you have to.

Enchantments

Now this is where the real focus is, and honestly, a lot of this will be left up to your own goals and playstyles, but I do believe that every Killian deck is going to want enchantments that fit these needs:

• Auras that permanently goad, so that Killian can choose different creatures than the ones we're buffing with our Commander.
  • Vow of MaliceVow of Malice
  • Vow of DutyVow of Duty
  • Martial ImpetusMartial Impetus

• Auras that give us benefits while attached to other opponents' creatures.
  • Spirit LinkSpirit Link
  • Kaya's GhostformKaya's Ghostform
  • Vampiric LinkVampiric Link

• Removal enchantments since we can get double value out of them.
  • Sheltered by GhostsSheltered by Ghosts
  • Nowhere to RunNowhere to Run
  • Grasp of FateGrasp of Fate

• Curses that hurt opponents on top of everything else we're doing to them.
  • Parasitic ImpetusParasitic Impetus
  • Ragged VeinsRagged Veins
  • Nurgle's RotNurgle's Rot

• Auras that self-reanimate, meaning we'll get to use from them more often than we plan for no additional cost.
  • Eye of NidhoggEye of Nidhogg
  • Ghoulish ImpetusGhoulish Impetus
  • Gift of ImmortalityGift of Immortality

• Absolute crazy buffs that put a target on our opponents and not us.
  • All That GlittersAll That Glitters
  • Ethereal ArmorEthereal Armor
  • Tempest TechniqueTempest Technique

• Value Auras that we probably stick on our own creatures when our opponents don't have them/can sac their own.

  • Songbirds' BlessingSongbirds' Blessing

  • Brilliant WingsBrilliant Wings

  • Hyena UmbraHyena Umbra

• General enchantments that are helping upkeep the entire theme.
  • Sigarda's AidSigarda's Aid
  • Sphere of SafetySphere of Safety
  • Hallowed HauntingHallowed Haunting

Enchantments are clearly the biggest aspect of the deck and there are at lot of overlaps, even in the examples given we can see multiple jobs are done on each Aura. We don't want to give too many opposing creatures indestructible, as it makes things harder when its a 1v1 game, as well as the fact that we do gain a benefit when opposing removal is used on things that are threats and not us, who is the real threat!

Killian, Decisive Mentor Commander Deck List

Now with all of that out of the way, lets take a look at a pre-Secrets of Strixhaven deck for Killian, Decisive MentorKillian, Decisive Mentor.

Conclusion

I think that there will be a lot of interesting deck styles we'll see with Killian, and most will have those new cards from the actual precon he's coming out of as well. Hopefully this can help you get ready to play that deck once he's in your hands and upgrade him much easier as well!

Killian is a cool character and an even cooler commander, so go forth and show the world what Silverquill is made of!