Nathan Steuer Won Pro Tour Strixhaven on Selesnya Landfall

Nathan Steuer won Pro Tour Secrets of Strixhaven, held May 1-3, 2026, with the deck almost nobody was planning around.

Going into the event, Izzet Prowess was the deck to beat. Wizards reports it claimed 30.5% of the field on Day One, then posted a non-mirror win rate slightly below 50% and missed the Top 8 entirely. Steuer instead registered Selesnya Landfall, built around Badgermole Cub, and met Christoffer Larsen in the final. Larsen was also on Selesnya Landfall, so the trophy match was a Landfall mirror.

Status check, November 1, 2026: this exact list is no longer legal in Standard. Wizards banned Badgermole Cub, Stormchaser's Talent and Gran-Gran on August 10, 2026. Badgermole Cub is a four-of in Steuer's main deck, so treat the list below as a record of what won, not something you can sleeve up. The sections after the list cover how to adapt.

The decklist at a glance

This is Steuer's Standard list. The card counts match both the unattributed Badgermole Cub Landfall list in Wizards of the Coast's May 18, 2026 banned and restricted announcement and the Nathan Steuer deck page on MTGGoldfish. It is 60 cards main and 15 sideboard.

By my count that is 25 land cards in the 60. Fabled Passage and Escape Tunnel search the library for lands, which is where extra landfall triggers come from.

The 15-card sideboard: Surrak, Elusive Hunter (2), Sheltered by Ghosts (3), Restoration Magic (1), Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar (1), Mossborn Hydra (2), Rest in Peace (3), Snakeskin Veil (2), Voice of Victory (1).

For the finishing order, MTGGoldfish's tournament page lists Steuer first and Larsen second, both on Selesnya Landfall. It priced Steuer's list at about $490 in paper when I checked on November 1, 2026. That price includes the now-banned cards, and card prices move.

Why Landfall beat Izzet at the Pro Tour

Wizards' own write-up of the event is the best source here. Three points from it:

1. Izzet Prowess was the pre-tournament favorite at 30.5% of Day One, but it finished with a win rate slightly under 50% in non-mirror matches and no Top 8 berth.
2. Badgermole Cub-powered Landfall decks were the winners. Both Mono-Green and Selesnya Landfall posted high win rates and strong finishes, and the final was a Selesnya Landfall mirror.
3. Wizards noted that the green decks had evolved from Nature's Rhythm shells into Landfall builds, after Nature's Rhythm Badgermole Cub decks had a poor showing at the earlier Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed.

Wizards also cautioned that the metagame would keep moving. The following weekend, a London Magic Spotlight and the Champions Cup Finals in Japan showed a more diverse field, with only one Landfall deck reaching a Top 8 across the two events.

A note on Cori-Steel Cutter: it was not a factor in this Pro Tour. Cutter was already banned in Standard before May 18, and the Izzet Prowess list Wizards published from the event does not play it. The May 18 announcement made no changes to Standard. Cutter's ban that day was in Pioneer.

The core engine

Landfall decks get value every time a land enters the battlefield under your control. In Steuer's list the mana-development pieces (Llanowar Elves, Sazh's Chocobo, Icetill Explorer) and the land package (Fabled Passage, Escape Tunnel and others) feed Badgermole Cub and the other payoffs.

Wizards described Badgermole Cub in its August 10 ban announcement as a cheap threat that demands an immediate answer and lets its controller build an insurmountable mana advantage. That is why the deck was built around four copies, and why its removal changes what the deck can do.

The Scute Swarm image above and the Felidar Retreat image below are illustrations of the landfall theme only. Scryfall lists Scute Swarm as not legal in Standard, and neither card is in Steuer's main deck or sideboard.

What changed after the Pro Tour

Here is the timeline from Wizards' announcements:

In the August 10 announcement, Wizards said a Badgermole Cub deck it called Selesnya Offense, a build around Practiced Offense with utility lands and Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker, had become the strongest green variant, with a win rate above 57% in its MTG Arena data. It banned Badgermole Cub as the clear choice from that deck, and also banned a card each from Izzet Prowess (Stormchaser's Talent) and Jeskai Lessons (Gran-Gran) so those decks would not simply take over.

In the October 12 announcement, Wizards said Mono-Green Landfall was the early winner of the post-ban metagame but had fallen in popularity and win rate over time. Without Badgermole Cub it is among the best decks in the format but does not have an uncontested claim to be the best.

Standard-legal sets as of November 1, 2026, per Wizards' Standard page, run through Reality Fracture. A Star Trek set is listed as coming soon on that page and is not on the legal-sets list today, so do not plan around it for Standard yet.

Sideboarding plan

Steuer's actual 15 gives the best read on how the deck was meant to be tuned:

1. Graveyard hate: three Rest in Peace.
2. Protection and resilience: two Snakeskin Veil and three Sheltered by Ghosts.
3. Extra threats and flex: two more Mossborn Hydra, two more Surrak, Elusive Hunter, plus Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar, Voice of Victory and Restoration Magic as one-ofs.

I have not found a published matchup guide from Steuer, so this post does not claim specific sideboard swaps per matchup. Treat the list as a starting point and check current results for your own local meta.

How to build it now

Because Badgermole Cub and Gran-Gran are banned, you cannot run the 75 as written. Here is what I can say with a source:

• Cut Badgermole Cub. It is banned in Standard as of August 10, 2026. The other cards in the main deck were not named in that announcement.
• The closest legal relative is Mono-Green Landfall. Wizards' October 12 note calls it among the best decks in the format without Badgermole Cub. Look at a current Mono-Green Landfall list from MTGGoldfish or Wizards rather than patching Steuer's list by hand.
• Check the rest of the list against the banned list. Wizards' current Standard banned list is Abuelo's Awakening, Badgermole Cub, Cori-Steel Cutter, Gran-Gran, Heartfire Hero, Hopeless Nightmare, Monstrous Rage, Proft's Eiditic Memory, Screaming Nemesis, Stormchaser's Talent, This Town Ain't Big Enough, Up the Beanstalk and Vivi Ornitier. Leyline of Resonance is also banned, but only in MTG Arena Best-of-One.
• Keep your sideboard thinking. Graveyard hate and protection spells carry over to any green-based Landfall build.

For the wider format picture, the standard post-ban meta for May 2026 page covers the May update and its context, and the Secrets of Strixhaven tier list covers the set's cards. Both were written before the August 10 ban, so check their meta claims against the timeline above.

Budget notes

I do not have a sourced budget build for the current, post-ban version of this deck, so this section sticks to general advice rather than prices.

• Price-check before you buy. Steuer's list was about $490 on MTGGoldfish on November 1, 2026, and that included banned cards. A current Mono-Green Landfall list will price differently, so look it up the day you buy.
• Mana base last. Fabled Passage, Hushwood Verge, Escape Tunnel and Ba Sing Se are the land package. Substitute basics where a dual is too expensive and accept the slower start.
• Build the sideboard last. Start with a few flexible cards, such as graveyard hate and protection, and add more as you learn your meta.

For the color-staple background, see the best green cards in Magic: The Gathering and best white cards in Magic: The Gathering guides.

Quick Action Checklist

• Remember the 75 above is a historical record. Badgermole Cub and Gran-Gran are banned in Standard as of August 10, 2026.
• Check Wizards' banned and restricted list before you buy any card. The next announcement is November 30, 2026.
• Pull a current Mono-Green Landfall list rather than patching the Pro Tour list.
• Keep graveyard hate and protection spells in your sideboard plan.
• Read the Secrets of Strixhaven tier list for set cards that may fit, and verify each against the banned list.