Standard: Mono Green Landfall - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

Mono Green Landfall has become one of the top-tier archetypes in Standard this season.

The deck blends Aggro-Combo with Ramp: its core plan involves accelerating mana to drop Sapling Nursery and flood the board with Treefolk, but it backs that up with a bunch of cards that also play off the Landfall mechanic to keep up the pressure—Sazh's Chocobo establishes an early clock, Badgermole Cub doubles up on mana from dorks, and the combination of Earthbender Ascension with Mightform Harmonizer can suddenly end games with a "hit-kill" off a Fetch Land and Icetill Explorer.

Maindeck

We're a deck built around generating mana fast to drop more explosive cards, with Badgermole Cub at the core of that game plan. Landfall is one of the best shells for it, since we can use Earthbending on a land to ramp.

Llanowar Elves enables the most explosive turns with Cub. Even without that specific line, going from one to three mana for Earthbender Ascension into any four-drop the following turn is reason enough to run a one-mana dork.

Icetill Explorer is part of the deck's engine. Pretty much every Landfall payoff benefits from having it on board, and we've got plenty of Fetch Lands to chain multiple triggers in a single turn.

Sazh's Chocobo can steal games if it grows fast enough to dodge damage-based removal. The longer the opponent takes to set up a board, the more a turn-one Chocobo punishes them.

Mightform Harmonizer is the "combo-kill" piece of the deck. We run four copies because we want to capitalize on sudden wins in the mirror or against slower opponents, but it's common to trim two post-board.

Earthbender Ascension nets us up to two ramp triggers if we Earthbend a Fetch Land. Getting enough counters on it to start applying Trample pressure every turn isn't hard.

Sapling Nursery is the card we need to resolve and keep on board in grindier matchups. A wave of removal doesn't do much when we're cranking out one or two Treefolk per turn off our lands. Four copies for consistency, but it's a common side-out when it's too slow—like against Red Aggro—or redundant, like in the mirror or against Ouroboroid / Nature's Rhythm decks.

Leatherhead, Swamp Stalker was TMNT's best addition to Landfall and maybe one of the strongest cards on the list now. Hexproof and Trample is a lethal combo with Mightform Harmonizer and any Fetch Land. The ability to remove counters can be used repeatedly with Earthbender Ascension, making it solid maindeck tech against Lessons.

Archdruid's Charm does a bit of everything we need: it's removal, it pumps a creature, or finds Harmonizer or Leatherhead for a specific spot. It's also why we can trim Harmonizer copies in Games 2 and 3—we can always dig one up with Charm at the right moment.

Meltstrider's Resolve deals with a problematic creature and can help push through blockers. It's a flex slot that could become something else depending on your local Meta.

Ba Sing Se turns every land into a threat and gives us a grind tool and a safe play when we expect heavy interaction from the opponent.

The trio of Fetch Lands—Fabled Passage, Escape Tunnel, and Promising Vein—each have specific roles beyond just finding lands. Passage is the only one that enters untapped later on; Escape Tunnel can combine with a 2/2 creature plus Harmonizer, Explorer, and Ascension for potential lethal attacks; and Promising Vein lets us generate mana the turn it comes down without losing its land-tutoring utility.

Sideboard

Graveyard hate. Soul-Guide Lantern is a cheap one-shot effect for when we need to hit multiple targets like Superior Spider-Man for the lowest mana investment possible or when we need to wipe Izzet Spellementals' graveyard. Keen-Eyed Curator handles those targets one by one but forces us to leave mana up each turn.

Mossborn Hydra comes in for less interactive matchups, being essential in the mirror and good against some Rhythm variants. Bonus: it's an Elemental, so Sunderflock can't bounce it.

Surrak, Elusive Hunter is our way to punish removal and generate extra resources against Midrange and Control. You could split it with Sandman, Shifting Scoundrel if you want another card that works against Sunderflock and isn't dead in grindy games.

The extra copy of Meltstrider's Resolve is crucial against Red Aggro and other creature-heavy matchups where the opponent's clock might outpace yours.

Pawpatch Formation answers problematic enchantments in several matchups, but the main reason we run it is the prevalence of flyers in key parts of the current Meta, like Sunderflock, Doomsday Excruciator, Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, and others.

Scrapshooter rounds out our hate against Monument to Endurance and other artifacts. Its 4/4 body with Reach also makes it a relevant threat alongside Earthbender Ascension and a headache for decks like Azorius Tempo.

Mono Green Landfall

IN

OUT

Izzet Lessons

IN

OUT

Dimir Midrange

IN

OUT

Dimir Excruciator

IN

OUT

Mono Red Aggro

IN

OUT

Izzet Spellementals

IN

OUT

Azorius Tempo

IN

OUT

Rhythm Ouroboroid

IN

OUT

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!