The discount which Gargos provides is significant, especially for Hydras with X in their mana cost, but Polukranos, Engine of Ruins ability to generate tokens also shouldnt be underestimated
There are a number of ways to help speed up your clock, and theyre all dependent on personal preference
A well known fact, from the days before you had to play with sleeves, was also that the first printings of Mirage was far more glossy than other sets (same with some printings of Antiquities), which made Mirage lands sough after by semi-cheaters who wanted to be able to see if the top card of their library was a basic land
Wishlists Keep a live list of the cards you're hunting, see what completing it would cost, and move cards to your collection the moment you pull them
Since they come with card draw, you don't lose card advantage, and when Zander isn't on the battlefield, you can just target an opponent's creature to effectively use it as a 1-mana cycling effect
It's easy to consider mentorship as one way, akin to teaching, where the "experienced" one passes their knowledge to someone else