In what can only be called a massive metagame upset, Nathan Steuer's Selesnya Landfall MTG deck has won the Secrets of Strixhaven Standard Pro Tour, showing that there's more to Standard right now than just blue/red.
It's a surprising turn of events, given how dominant the Izzet color pair appeared to be in the format. According to the official Magic: The Gathering esports website, 30.5% of Pro Tour players were running Izzet Prowess, another 8% played Izzet Spellementals, and a further 7.4% brought an Izzet Lessons deck.
In contrast, just 11 Selesnya Landfall players came into the Pro Tour on Day 1, out of 325 qualifying players total (3.4%). So it's pretty shocking that not only did this archetype win the competition, the finals was actually a mirror match. Steuer beat the reigning champ Christoffer Larsen to take home the trophy, but both players were running more or less the same deck.
What is Selesnya Landfall, you might now be wondering, since this strategy hasn't exactly been a leaderboards-topper up to now? Well, it might actually be quite familiar, since it looks a lot like monogreen landfall decks, with a little twist. You have cards like Mightform Harmonizer and Sazh's Chocobo to take advantage of lands entering the battlefield, and Badgermole Cub, Earthbender Ascension, and Icetill Explorer to set up the ramp.
Where the deck differs is a couple of copies of Dryadrine, Synthesis Amalgam, and more importantly, a full playset of the busted new Strixhaven removal spell, Erode. Dryadrine can turn +1/+1 counters into card draw and extra bodies, but Erode is the star of the show here. It's efficient removal that can take out big threats for just one mana, but it can also be used on your own Earthbent lands for extra ramp. And occasionally, getting one more land drop by blowing up your own creature is all you need to push the last bit of damage through.
You should be warned, just because it played well against a sea of Izzet decks, doesn't necessarily mean that the Selesnya strategy will perform for you on the ladder. What is clear from this tournament result, though, is that the Standard format is getting increasingly fast-paced. With turn 4 wins the norm, it's starting to look more and more like Modern.
Badgermole is such a good ramp card that it's singlehandedly holding up a pillar of green decks. But if you knocked that pillar down and stuck the card on the MTG banlist, there'd be nothing left but an endless sea of blue and red. It's a tricky spot for sure. Let us know what you think of the state of Standard over on the Wargamer Discord.