Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed Standard Metagame

Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed, the first major Magic: The Gathering tournament of 2026, begins this Friday (January 30th) and runs until February 1st, with 306 players and a Standard Metagame dominated by various Nature's Rhythm decks. Analysis presented by mathematician Frank Karsten shows that the Ramp, popularized in recent weeks, are the favorites among competitors.

Simic Rhythm is the most popular deck, with 48 competitors (15.7%). It is closely followed by Bant Rhythm, with 46 players (15%). Along with the Five-Color Rhythm variant (2.7%), strategies revolving around Badgermole Cub and Nature's Rhythm are the most prevalent in the Metagame, representing 33.4% of all decks in the event.

In third place, with 31 players (10.1%), is Sultai Reanimator, a combo deck that received Formidable Speaker in Lorwyn Eclipsed. Other strategies with major representation include Bant Airbending (20 players), Izzet Spellementals (15), and the surprising decline of Izzet Lesson, a deck that shone at the last World Championship but now has only 13 representatives (4.2%).

Below these, the field fragments into more than 20 different archetypes, each with small groups of adherents. Decks like Dimir Midrange, Five-Color Rhythm, Jeskai Control, and Esper Pixie have between 7 and 11 players, while strategies like Mono-Green Landfall and Izzet Blink appear with 6. The complete list includes everything from aggressive decks like Boros Aggro and Mono-Red Aggro to more obscure control decks, highlighting a diverse format, but with a clear predominance of green and blue in separate color combinations.

The hegemony of Simic Rhythm is far from a surprise. The archetype won Magic Spotlight: The Avatar in Lyon, with Simon Nielsen, and has continued to evolve rapidly. Last weekend, Tristan Wylde-Larue won the US Regional Championship with his own version of the strategy, defeating a more traditional Simic build by Mason Buonadonna in the finals.

The tournament, which takes place from January 30th to February 1st in Richmond, will distribute US$500,000 in prizes and invitations to the World Championship. The competition begins with Lorwyn Eclipsed drafts on Friday and Saturday mornings, followed by five rounds of Standard in the afternoon. The Top 8, on Sunday, will decide the champion in a Standard elimination round.

Source: Magic.gg