Hello, and welcome back to Metagame Mentor, your weekly guide to the top decks and latest Constructed developments on the path to the Pro Tour. This past weekend marked the start of a round of Regional Championship Qualifiers (RCQs) in Standard, a format that just underwent a massive upheaval with the banned and restricted announcement on August 10. With Badgermole Cub, Stormchaser's Talent, and Gran-Gran all banned, Standard has been cracked wide open, leaving more room for a variety of strategies to find competitive success.

In this article, I'll walk through the results and lessons from the first Standard events after these bans took effect, along with an overview of the most impactful new cards from Magic: The Gathering® | The Hobbit™.

The Standard Metagame After the Bans and the Latest Set

Standard is a rotating 60-card format that currently allows expansion sets from Wilds of Eldraine forward. Standard will not rotate in the fall of 2026. Instead, the next major Standard rotation will take place in early 2027, aligning with the Prerelease of Nauctis: The Sunken Realm.

To determine the shape of the metagame following the bans and the release of Magic: The Gathering | The Hobbit, I analyzed nearly 300 successful tournament decks from August 11 through August 17. That's not a large sample size, but it offers a valuable first glimpse. My dataset was comprised of every published Magic Online Standard Challenge decklist from this time period, along with several dozen top decklists from various RCQs around the globe.

To show which decks are dominating the top tables, I assigned points to each deck based on its rectified number of net wins, calculated as the number of match wins minus losses, with negative values adjusted to zero. By combining these points across all events, each archetype's share of the total rectified net wins blends popularity and performance into a single, comprehensive metric: the winner's metagame share. An overview is provided in the following table, where each archetype name hyperlinks to a top-performing decklist that closely reflects its aggregate build.

In last week's article, I wrote about the impact of the bans and proposed four pillars of the new metagame, none of which lost a card: Mardu Discard, Izzet Spellementals, Dimir Excruciator, and Four-Color Control. I also highlighted Dimir Midrange as a promising new contender with room to breathe now that several previously problematic cards are gone. All of these decks have indeed been prominent at the top tables of Standard tournaments so far, mostly in the expected builds. That article therefore remains a useful introduction to the new Standard landscape, particularly for understanding the strategies that initially appeared best positioned to capitalize on the bans.

But as the first week of tournaments has unfolded, the picture has become considerably more nuanced. The metagame has proved remarkably diverse, with a wide variety of other decks also putting up strong results. In the remainder of this article, I'll add to last week's framework by highlighting the other popular and successful choices that have emerged. These include decks that survived the banning of a key card, established archetypes that are breaking out, and innovative strategies built around cards from Magic: The Gathering | The Hobbit.

Mono-Green Landfall Leads the Way

3 Ba Sing Se 1 Demolition Field 4 Earthbender Ascension 4 Escape Tunnel 4 Esper Origins 4 Fabled Passage 14 Forest 4 Icetill Explorer 2 Keen-Eyed Curator 4 Llanowar Elves 1 Meltstrider's Resolve 3 Mightform Harmonizer 1 Royal Treatment 4 Sapling Nursery 4 Sazh's Chocobo 2 Shared Roots 1 Surrak, Elusive Hunter 1 Keen-Eyed Curator 1 Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker 2 Meltstrider's Resolve 4 Mossborn Hydra 2 Soul-Guide Lantern 2 Surrak, Elusive Hunter 3 Torpor Orb

Mono-Green Landfall may have lost Badgermole Cub, but that was never an essential piece of the deck. This Challenge-winning decklist replaced by the Cub with a combination of Keen-Eyed Curator and Shared Roots. These swaps are fairly typical, and many Selesnya Offense players also replaced Badgermole Cub with Keen-Eyed Curator and/or Great Divide Guide. Another minor tweak in this Mono-Green Landfall list stems from the reduced pressure to answer an opposing Badgermole Cub or Gran-Gran. As a result, the main deck contains fewer Meltstrider's Resolve than before, making room for additional copies of Sapling Nursery.

Mono-Green Landfall emerged from the bans looking good, sporting plenty of tools for the new metagame. It can still use Llanowar Elves to ramp into Icetill Explorer or Mightform Harmonizer—a strategy that retains much of its power even without Badgermole Cub. Meanwhile, one of the best ways to defeat Mono-Green Landfall was with the Nature's Rhythm decks that used Badgermole Cub alongside a plethora of mana-generating creatures to go over the top. Mono-Green Landfall no longer has to worry about that deck. While Mono-Green Aggro used to be slightly weak to Izzet Spellementals, Sunderflock is less devastating when it's not returning earthbent lands.

All in all, Mono-Green Landfall remains a top-tier contender in the new Standard environment, leading the way at 13% of the winner's metagame. Given this, we might even see the reemergence of Selesnya Landfall as the better-positioned competitor in the Landfall mirror.

Jeskai Lessons Survives the Bans

4 Abandon Attachments 4 Accumulate Wisdom 3 Artist's Talent 4 Combustion Technique 1 Emeritus of Ideation 4 Firebending Lesson 1 Flashback 4 Great Hall of the Biblioplex 3 Hallowed Fountain 2 Iroh's Demonstration 3 Island 2 It'll Quench Ya! 4 Jeskai Revelation 1 Mistrise Village 3 Riverpyre Verge 3 Spirebluff Canal 4 Steam Vents 3 Stock Up 2 Sundown Pass 4 Tablet of Discovery 1 Three Steps Ahead 1 Avengers Disassembled 2 Day of Judgment 2 Disdainful Stroke 1 Emeritus of Ideation 1 Flashfreeze 1 Ghost Vacuum 1 Negate 4 Price of Freedom 1 Ral, Crackling Wit 1 Sphinx of the Final Word

Jeskai Lessons lost Gran-Gran, making it more difficult to enable one-mana Lessons or an early Jeskai Revelation. Nevertheless, many Jeskai Lessons players stuck with the archetype, replacing Gran-Gran with Artist's Talent. Monument to Endurance might be too difficult to trigger consistently without Gran-Gran as an additional discard enabler, but Artist's Talent is a perfectly reasonable card for the deck. Sure, it costs more mana than Gran-Gran for its rummaging and cost-reduction effect, but there are clear similarities without being vulnerable to creature removal.

Meanwhile, Accumulate Wisdom and Combustion Technique remain solid interactive spells that provide a worthwhile payoff for focusing on Lessons, while cards like Firebending Lesson and Abandon Attachments are perfectly playable enablers. The deck's overall game plan is similar to Four-Color Control, using Tablet of Discovery to accelerate into a devastating turn-five Jeskai Revelation, but the Lessons package can rival the Four-Color interactive spells, especially when Artist's Talent ties everything together.

Orzhov Life Gain May Become a Contender

4 Amalia Benavides Aguirre 2 Aunt May 3 Bleachbone Verge 4 Case of the Uneaten Feast 4 Concealed Courtyard 2 Dalkovan Encampment 4 Godless Shrine 2 Goldmeadow Nomad 3 Haliya, Guided by Light 4 Hinterland Sanctifier 4 Lunar Convocation 2 Moseo, Vein's New Dean 3 Multiversal Passage 6 Plains 4 Raise the Past 2 Resolute Reinforcements 3 Starscape Cleric 4 Voice of Victory 2 Cathar Commando 2 Dark Confidant 3 Deep-Cavern Bat 2 Erode 2 Ghost Vacuum 2 Kutzil's Flanker 2 Requiting Hex

During the round of Regional Championships a few months ago, Orzhov Life Gain was essentially non-existent. Traditionally, life-gain strategies have trouble succeeding in competitive Best-of-Three Standard. Nevertheless, the deck has emerged as a fringe contender since then, and it came through the bans completely unscathed. With decent finishes across Magic Online and tabletop RCQs, it represented an impressive 8.3% of the winner's metagame over the past week.

The key enablers in the deck are Hinterland Sanctifier and Case of the Uneaten Feast. Whenever a newly entering creature gains you 1 life, Amalia Benavides Aguirre immediately explores; Haliya, Guided by Light can easily draw cards; and Lunar Convocation provides additional value on each of your end steps.

Beyond that core, the lists begin to diverge. The most common build adds interactive cards like Deep-Cavern Bat, Erode, and Emptiness. Yet Traft won a Magic Online Challenge with a different approach featuring Raise the Past and additional two-drops. Opponents will generally destroy your creatures, and Amalia Benavides Aguirre's explore ability can also put creatures into your graveyard. When they all return, the resulting burst of life gain alongside Starscape Cleric can even be lethal on the spot. This looks like a deck worth watching.

Smaug the Magnificent Is the Most-Played New Card

4 Burst Lightning 3 Channeled Dragonfire 4 Hired Claw 4 Magda, the Hoardmaster 4 Magmatic Hellkite 20 Mountain 4 Nova Hellkite 4 Sarkhan, Dragon Ascendant 4 Shock 4 Smaug the Magnificent 3 Soulstone Sanctuary 2 Sunspine Lynx 2 Ghost Vacuum 3 Magebane Lizard 2 Scorching Shot 2 Sear 2 Slagstorm 2 Sunspine Lynx 2 The Legend of Roku

The most-played new card from Magic: The Gathering | The Hobbit is Smaug the Magnificent. Last week, I highlighted its potential in Boros Dragons, and indeed the legendary Dragon has appeared in six Boros Dragons decks in my data set. But Smaug was even more popular in Mono-Red Aggro, where it appeared in seven decks. The build shown above, which reached the Top 8 of a 50-player Magic Online Challenge, does not have a hyper-aggressive curve, instead combining four one-drop creatures with twelve enormous Dragons to ensure a powerful late game.

The dream curve starts with Sarkhan, Dragon Ascendant, then you can play Smaug the Magnificent as early as turn three and attack with two massive fliers. Alternatively, if your two-drop is Magda, the Hoardmaster, Magda will create a Treasure before Smaug's attack trigger resolves, letting you deal damage to an opposing creature. Hired Claw is another excellent enabler for Magda, allowing the deck to rapidly stockpile Treasures or providing another path to a turn-three Smaug.

Azorius Oculus Holds Promise

1 Abandoned Air Temple 4 Abhorrent Oculus 1 Agna Qel'a 4 Cosmogrand Zenith 4 Floodfarm Verge 4 Get Lost 4 Hallowed Fountain 4 Helping Hand 4 Island 2 Kiora, the Rising Tide 4 Leonardo's Technique 4 Meticulous Archive 4 Most Decrepit Old Bird 4 No More Lies 4 Picklock Prankster 4 Plains 4 Practiced Offense 2 Clarion Conqueror 2 Erode 3 Requisition Raid 4 Spell Pierce 2 Spell Snare 2 The Eagles Are Coming!

Beyond Smaug the Magnificent, a bunch of other cards from Magic: The Gathering | The Hobbit saw play. For example, I encountered Plunder the Trollshaws in Dimir Control; Gandalf, Goblins' Bane in Izzet Fling; Most Decrepit Old Bird in Azorius Oculus; The Queen of Dale in Five-Color Humans; and Dwarven Mauler in Boros Equipment. Those last three, in particular, are especially promising.

Most Decrepit Old Bird effectively lets you run eight copies of Picklock Prankster, offering a powerful Adventure spell that can set up your game plan. This deck wants to mill Abhorrent Oculus and return it for a single white mana with Helping Hand. Going from four to eight self-mill effects on turn two considerably improves the consistency of the deck's game plan. Moreover, in a deck that rapidly mills itself, Most Decrepit Old Bird is also a reasonable turn-one play, quickly becoming a 2/2 flier or helping to pay the sneak cost on Leonardo's Technique. Thief_Of_Crowns took this list to a Top 8 at a Magic Online Challenge, and it has serious potential.

Five-Color Humans Charges Into the Metagame

1 Practiced Offense 2 Key to the Side-Door 3 Celestial Reunion 1 Elektra, Daughter of the Hand 1 King T'Challa 1 Karai, Future of the Foot 1 Honest Rutstein 1 Captain America, Super-Soldier 1 Miles Morales 1 Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. 1 Bruce Banner 2 The Wondrous Wasp 2 Spectacular Spider-Man 2 Jennifer Walters 2 Cloak and Dagger, Entwined 2 Serah Farron 2 Zack Fair 2 The Queen of Dale 3 Cecil, Dark Knight 3 Aang, Swift Savior 3 Arachne, Psionic Weaver 1 Plains 1 Forest 2 Overgrown Tomb 2 Hallowed Fountain 2 Godless Shrine 3 Temple Garden 4 Starting Town 4 Secluded Courtyard 4 Cavern of Souls 3 Winnowing 1 Soul-Guide Lantern 2 Dawn's Truce 2 Mai, Scornful Striker 1 Rest in Peace 2 Torpor Orb 1 Chomping Changeling 1 Monica Rambeau 1 Settle the Wreckage 1 The Sentry, Golden Guardian

Five-Color Humans is another existing fringe strategy that might have the right tools to compete now that the bans have opened the format. Thanks to Cavern of Souls and Secluded Courtyard, the deck can play all the best Humans across all five colors. Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. is another excellent fit for such a deck. Every creature in the deck is legendary, and the payoff is Serah Farron, who easily transforms and boosts all your legends. The list shown above reached the Top 4 of an RCQ.

With a deck full of legends, there's always a risk of getting stuck with multiple copies of the same card in your hand. Luckily, Magic: The Gathering | The Hobbit brought two valuable additions that help solve the problem. The Queen of Dale lets you discard redundant legendary cards, turning them into a fresh card and a 1/1 Human Soldier token. Key to the Side-Door is arguably even better in that role, turning excess legends into straightforward card advantage. While it may take some work to perfect all the card choices and find the right number of legendary creatures, these additions could elevate an already viable strategy into a genuine competitive contender.

Boros Dwarves Is Equipped for Battle

1 Bofur, Reliable Guardian 3 Burst Lightning 4 Cavern of Souls 2 Dáin Ironfoot 4 Dáin's Company 3 Dwarven Mattock 4 Dwarven Mauler 1 Erode 4 Inspiring Vantage 4 Kíli the Resourceful 4 Leyline Axe 1 Mabel, Heir to Cragflame 2 Mountain 2 Plains 4 Sacred Foundry 2 Samurai's Katana 2 Skateboard 4 Sunbillow Verge 3 The Lonely Mountain 2 Thorin Oakenshield 3 Thorin, Mountain-king 1 Zack Fair 1 Boros Charm 2 Chandra, Spark Hunter 2 Dawn's Truce 1 Erode 1 Fíli the Pathfinder 2 High Noon 1 Monica Rambeau 2 Rest in Peace 2 Sear 1 The Super Hero Civil War

The deck that gained the largest number of cards from Magic: The Gathering | The Hobbit is Boros Dwarves. The dream draw starts with Leyline Axe in your opening hand; Bofur, Reliable Guardian on turn one; and Kíli the Resourceful on turn two. This immediately gives you an enduring story, letting you equip the Axe for free. As the 2/2 double striker deals 4 damage and gains 4 life, you get an 8-point life swing on turn two!

Bofur, Reliable Guardian
Dwarven Mauler
Kíli the Resourceful
Thorin Oakenshield
Dáin's Company
Dáin Ironfoot
Thorin, Mountain-king
Dwarven Mattock
The Lonely Mountain

Alternatively, Dwarven Mauler into Dwarven Mattock lets you attack for four on turn two. Later on, Thorin, Mountain-king can re-equip the Axe while dealing free damage, while The Lonely Mountain helps trigger Kíli to draw a card on your opponent's turn. This deck is packed with these kinds of delightful synergies, and Zompatanfo took it to a 5-0 finish in a Magic Online League. While it may take some work to perfect all the card choices, any deck that generates an 8-point life swing on turn two while setting up an efficient card-draw engine deserves attention.

What's Next for Standard?

The current round of Regional Championship Qualifiers features Standard as the designated format for in-store Constructed events. Based on the first results since the bans and the release of Magic: The Gathering | The Hobbit, Mono-Green Landfall, Dimir Midrange, Mardu Discard, and Izzet Spellementals have emerged as the leading decks in the winner's metagame. Yet it's also a deck builder's paradise where almost anything seems possible, and the format will no doubt continue to evolve rapidly over the coming weeks.

If you'd like to put your Standard skills to the test, you can find an RCQ event near you through your local game store or your regional organizer's website. And if your aspirations extend beyond becoming the hero of your local shop, be sure to check out Magic Spotlight: Fracture, a massive open-field Standard tournament held at the end of October in Hartford and Beijing. With a fresh metagame and so much high-level Standard competition on the horizon, the coming months promise to be an excellent time to dive into the format.