The recent MTG banlist change brought some much needed changes to a format that was floundering. The axing of two top blue cards was a great bonus, as Izzet has been oppressively powerful for far too long. But it was also great to see the back of Badgermole, a mana-accelerating card that made green decks extremely fast.
However, now that the dust is settling, it seems like green players didn’t need the mole after all. Mono-green decks are still number one in the meta, thanks to all of the great landfall cards released over the last couple of years.
There have been lots of great green Badgermole decks since the card debuted in Avatar: The Last Airbender. As Wizards’ banlist article mentioned, the meta moved from Ouroboroid decks, to Nature’s Rhythm decks, to landfall lists. It was the growing strength of Selesyna decks which overran the field with Practiced Offense that finally tripped the alarm and made WotC swing its banhammer, but green players just went straight back to their landfall strategies.
It turns out Badgermole was no longer a load-bearing element of this deck – in fact, fans were already in two minds about whether it was worth including. The new deck looks extremely similar to the old, relying on Earthbender Ascension to ramp and stack counters, Icetill Explorer to throw down more lands, Sapling Nursery to throw up a wall of trees, and Mightform Harmonizer to force through more damage.
While the deck could use a better two drop, for the most part players have added an extra copy of Esper Origins, thrown in a basic two-mana ramp spell and carried on like nothing changed.
According to Magic.gg, Mono-Green makes up about 13% of the meta right now. The top deck having a less than 15% meta share suggests WotC’s bans had the intended effect and Standard is looking a little healthier right now.
There are several strong decks right now, with Dimir Midrange, Izzet Spellementals and 4-Color Control making up the A-tier. There’s lots of jostling for a spot in B-tier though. Notably, Orzhov Lifegain looks strong right now, and I’m keen to see if Sultai Reanimator can make a splash.
What are you playing in Standard right now? Share your brews and fantastic plays over on the Wargamer Discord.
Source: Wargamer
