Cracked Secrets of Strixhaven Card Enables New Meta Breaking Deck

Last updated on May 4, 2026

Icetill Explorer | Illustration by Warren Mahy

The Secrets of Strixhaven Pro Tour was this past weekend, and it was exciting as ever. However, among all of the decks that made an appearance, there was one archetype that punched well above its weight class and eventually won the whole thing. But what was it up against, and what made it so good?

Shape of the Top 8

source: reddit.com

Going in on day one, it looked like there was going to be a lot of the same things we've seen at recent Pro Tours. Izzet Prowess accounted for about 30% of the field, with Izzet Lessons and Izzet Spellementals combining for another 15%. I don't think that this was necessarily a surprise to anyone, but it was a bit disappointing to see that these Izzet decks that have been at the top of the standard meta game for what seems like an eternity are still dominant. However, only two Izzet decks made it to the top 8, with Izzet Lessons being piloted by Rui Zhang, and Izzet Spellementals piloted by Maxx Kominowski.

Aside from the Izzet decks, a sizable chunk of the field was comprised of landfall decks, with mono-green versions comprising about 19% and Selesnya versions for about 3.5%. If you play Standard on Arena, you're likely no stranger to green landfall strategies, but their high representation here shows that players at the highest level really do believe in this as being something competitive. These landfall decks were perhaps the most well performing overall, with a whopping four making it into the top 8, two versions of mono green with Steffan Shütz and Matthew Stefansson at their helms, and two green white versions of the deck piloted by Christoffer Larsen and Nathan Steuer.

The rest of the field was a mix of decks, some more familiar and some less so, but I'll just mention the two decks that made it into the top 8 that weren't some version of landfall or Izzet. Selesnya Ouroboroid, piloted by Matt Nass, and Azorius Tempo, piloted by Zevin Faust. The Ouroboroid decklist is fairly straightforward, just playing efficient green and white creatures and leveraging the namesake card to quickly make an unbeatable board of huge creatures. As for Azorius Tempo, its gameplay focuses on playing evasive creatures with flash or good enter the battlefield triggers, and flickering them with new cards like Skycoach Conductor, as well as stopping your opponents gameplan with High Noon.

Selesnya Landfall is King

Pro Tour Winner Nathan Steuer | source: x.com

The final match of the Pro Tour ended up being a mirror-match, with both Selesnya Landfall players pitted against each other, and Nathan Steuer ended up taking home the trophy. The fact that a deck that comprised only about 3.5% of the overall field on day one ended up with the top two decks is very impressive, and certainly was not what anyone expected. Obviously the players who piloted these decks had to have the talent to get it to that point, but exceptional talent is expected at this level of play, and even the best player won't succeed without a competent deck. But what makes this Selesnya Landfall deck so compelling?

The secret sauce is a new card from Secrets of Strixhaven, Erode. Not only is it efficient removal, but you can also use it on your own creatures, for example a land you've made into a creature with Earthbender Ascension or Badgermole Cub to get multiple landfall triggers; one from the Erode itself, and one from the earthbent land coming back into play. When combined with any of your landfall payoffs on board like Mightform Harmonizer or Mossborn Hydra, you're suddenly quadrupling your creature's power. That efficiency and flexibility makes a deck like Selesnya Landfall more robust than its mono green counterpart.

Also in the list was a card that stood out, Dyadrine, Synthesis Amalgam. It's able to take advantage of all the +1/+1 counters that stack up to function as a midrange value piece in games that don't end as quickly, and it also serves as a mana sink after you've gotten out a bunch of lands for your landfall cards.

Only Four Colors?

Doomsday Excruciator | Illustration by Denys Tsiperko

For those of you that have been playing Magic for any length of time, you may know that there are in fact five colors. white, blue, black, red, and green. However, if you were only watching the top 8 of this Pro Tour, you would not know that black existed. In fact, barely any decks with black cards in them were in the Pro Tour at all, with Dimir Excruciator and Golgari Midrange combining to represent 4.3% of the metagame. There were a handful of one-off decks that had some black cards in them, but it was essentially nonexistent. One player, Rick Hup Beng Lee, narrowly missed the top eight after finishing with a 9-1 record playing Dimir Excrutiator, a deck that wins by casting Doomsday Excruciator and then milling the opponent out with Restless Reef, but it was not enough to qualify.

The State of Standard

Gran-Gran | Illustration by Arou

While it was encouraging to see something that wasn't Izzet win, the overall state of the meta is not a promising reflection of Standard. It seems like there is a very narrow band of what is viable, and an entire color being almost absent is evidence that this format is not a healthy one. Hopefully Wizards of the Coast will take notice and do something about it, but don't hold your breath. In the meantime, congratulations to Nathan Steuer as well as all the other players who competed in this Pro Tour, and for those of your playing standard, watch out for Selesnya Landfall, because it's going to be everywhere.