Last weekend, Magic: The Gathering players descended on Richmond, Virginia for Magic Spotlight: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at SCG CON Richmond — one of the most anticipated Standard events of the season. When the dust settled and the final match was played, it was John Puglisi Clark who hoisted the trophy, piloting a razor-sharp Mono-Green Landfall deck all the way to first place. And if you’ve been sleeping on green in the current Standard format, this might just be your wake-up call.
The Field and the Meta
The Top 8 was a showcase of what’s dominating Standard right now: Landfall variants and Izzet lists ruled the day. Puglisi Clark’s finals opponent, Jacob Durish, came in on Izzet Prowess — one of the flashiest and most punishing decks in the format. That the Mono-Green deck was able to fight through both mirror matches and the Izzet menace speaks volumes about just how well-tuned this 75 is.
The Top 8 finishers were: Jacob Durish, John Puglisi Clark, Anthony Pepe, Simon Byrne, Michael Paluta, Brian Zeng, Jesse Piland, and Ross Merriam. A strong representation of what the format has to offer — but green was the one that went the distance.
Why Mono-Green Landfall? Why Now?
With the Avatar: The Last Airbender set bringing the Earthbend mechanic into Standard, Mono-Green has quietly become one of the most synergistic and resilient strategies in the format. The deck runs a land-dense, creature-heavy plan that leverages landfall triggers to apply constant pressure while building a board that’s incredibly difficult to answer cleanly.
This isn’t a “fair” green deck that just plays big creatures and swings. It’s an engine — every land drop matters, every trigger stacks, and by the time your opponent thinks they’ve stabilised, your creatures are already out of range.
The Key Cards
Badgermole Cub (4x) — Your two-drop powerhouse. When it enters, it earthbends a land (turning it into a creature with a +1/+1 counter), and every time you tap a creature for mana, you get an extra {G}. This card accelerates your mana and grows your board at the same time. Early turns with this in play feel completely unfair.
Earthbender Ascension (4x) — The engine of the whole deck. This three-mana enchantment searches up a land when it enters, then turns every subsequent land drop into a quest counter. Hit four counters and start pumping your creatures with trample. It’s a landfall payoff, a ramp piece, and a win condition all in one card — and it curves perfectly off your two-drops.
Icetill Explorer (4x) — A four-mana Insect Scout that lets you play an additional land each turn and replay lands from your graveyard. Combined with Fabled Passage and Escape Tunnel, this card effectively gives you an endless stream of landfall triggers. It mills you slightly, but in this deck that’s fine — you’re not running out of gas.
Mightform Harmonizer (4x) — Every landfall trigger doubles the power of a creature until end of turn. Pair this with a 4/4 already on board and suddenly you’re presenting 8 power out of nowhere. It also has Warp, letting you exile it and replay it from exile for {2}{G} — great for keeping up pressure across multiple turns without getting blown out by removal.
Ba Sing Se (4x) — One of the most interesting lands in the format. It enters untapped if you already control a basic, taps for {G}, and can activate for {2}{G} to earthbend two of your lands. In a deck this focused on landfall and earthbending synergies, having four copies of this in your mana base is practically free value every turn.
The Winning Decklist
Here’s the exact 75 that John Puglisi Clark used to take down SCG CON Richmond:
Creatures (22)
- 4x Llanowar Elves
- 2x Surrak, Elusive Hunter
- 4x Sazh’s Chocobo
- 4x Mightform Harmonizer
- 4x Icetill Explorer
- 4x Badgermole Cub
Enchantments (6)
- 4x Earthbender Ascension
- 2x Meltstrider’s Resolve
Other Spells (6)
- 2x Royal Treatment
- 4x Esper Origins
Lands (26)
- 14x Forest
- 4x Fabled Passage
- 4x Ba Sing Se
- 3x Escape Tunnel
- 1x Promising Vein
Sideboard (15)
- 4x Mossborn Hydra
- 2x Eumidian Terrabotanist
- 2x Meltstrider’s Resolve
- 2x Pawpatch Formation
- 1x Surrak, Elusive Hunter
- 1x Scrapshooter
- 3x Soul-Guide Lantern
How Does It Play?
The game plan is elegantly simple: ramp early, land Earthbender Ascension or Icetill Explorer in the mid-game, and then snowball your landfall triggers into an army of pumped, trampling creatures that your opponent simply can’t race. Llanowar Elves on turn one leads into Badgermole Cub on turn two, which in turn powers out a turn-three Earthbender Ascension — and at that point, you’re already ahead of most decks on both board presence and mana.
The Izzet matchups, which dominated the top tables, come down to whether green can build a board wide enough and fast enough before Izzet Prowess hits critical mass on spells. Puglisi Clark’s answer? Esper Origins and Royal Treatment to protect key threats, and a sideboard loaded with Mossborn Hydra and Soul-Guide Lantern for the grinder games.
This deck paced the field on Day 1 of SCG CON Richmond as the most-played archetype — and with a trophy to show for it, expect to see it all over your local game store tables in the coming weeks.
Should You Build It?
If you enjoy straightforward, proactive game plans that reward tight play and punish opponents who stumble, Mono-Green Landfall is an excellent choice right now. It’s not the cheapest deck to build in paper, but it’s powerful, well-positioned in the current meta, and a blast to pilot once it gets rolling.
And if you’re looking to pick up the cards you need — from Earthbender Ascension to Ba Sing Se — stop by Mana Riot Games and see what we have in stock. Whether you’re building from scratch or just hunting down those last few pieces, we’re here to help you get to the table ready to win.
What do you think of the Mono-Green Landfall build? Are you running it, playing against it, or have a spicy tech choice we haven’t seen yet? Let us know in the comments!