Green Decks Are Finally Hitting Hard at Standard Tournaments

Last updated on July 15, 2025

Tifa Lockhart – art by Laurel Austin

Two weeks ago, Magic's Standard format received one of the longest lists of bans in MTG's history. Most of the top archetypes were nerfed, and from the look of the current Standard meta, it's like rotation came early. Standard's “real” rotation won't happen until August 1st, when Edge of Eternities is released, but the last round of bans was so thorough that the MTG meta has changed quite a bit, giving rise to brand-new archetypes.

And among all the new decks that are sprouting, it looks like it may be green's time to shine!

Source: MTGTop8

Golgari aggro and Gruul aggro are still in good health, but now we have a brand-new Mono-Green aggro deck that is kicking butts in the MTGO leagues and the MTGA ranked ladder. With Cori-Steel Cutter and Monstrous Rage gone, many Final Fantasy cards have been allowed to shine, including the one and only Tifa Lockhart, with a little help from a cute chocobo or two!

Mono-Green In Standard: Landfall Tifa And Chocobos Galore

Tifa's Mono-Green aggro deck doesn't look that different from what you can cobble together in MTGA's Jump-In event in Final Fantasy, or if you get lucky on an FIN draft and get to pick one of the best uncommons in the set: Sazh's Chocobo. Looks small and cute, but grows big fast.

Then the deck's game plan is straight as a tree trunk, and pretty much what you imagine: Drop either Bristly Bill, Spine Sower or Tifa Lockhart on turn two, drop as many lands as possible to make things go big, punch face. The main deck is just lands, creatures, and a few nonpermanent spells to protect your key threats – some versions include a bit of proactive interaction with Bushwhack as removal, but other skip removal entirely and just go for “Grow Big, Turn Sideways” plan. 

Most current decklists are very similar, with usually two tweaks:

Many lists don't have anything that costs more than three mana, but some lists make some room in the main deck for Sazh Katzroy, to have an extra bit of gas on the late game. They usually cut one copy of Bill, and one copy of Springbloom Druid.

For protection, pretty much all lists pack a full set of Snakeskin Veil and a copy of Royal Treatment. But then some lists round things up with some copies of Overprotect (which also gives your unit Trample, in case your foe removes Tifa), while others prefer a few copies of Bushwhack, for either extra lands or providing a bit of interaction.

Selesnya Aggro: Yuna, Hope of Spira

If you want something a bit more complex while still aggressive and tapping into green, there's another archetype on the rise with several Final Fantasy cards: Naya aggro.

If Tifa's mono-green brew play nothing over 3-4 mana, here we have a couple of saga creatures that cost… 8 or 9!

Of course, we're never casting them fairly. Yuna's Naya aggro starts the game with some 2-drops and 3-drops (Fear of Missing Out, Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant, Terra, Magical Adept that are all about milling yourself and fattening your graveyard:

You also have an enchantment that can fill your graveyard: Dredger's Insight.

Fear of Missing Out and Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant can start the aggression if your opponent has a low start, but the star of our game is Yuna, Hope of Spira:

Once Yuna comes down, you start bringing your huge enchantment creatures back from the graveyard to win the next turn.

It's Easy Being Green

Standard's recent bans have shook the metagame quite a bit, and many of the brand-new archetypes are either Mono-Green, or lean into green. And Edge of Eternities will bring more green cards that that care about lands.

And with Edge of Eternities reveal going on all this week, there may be even more green toys to play with!