Last updated: 5 May 2026
Today (5 May 2026), with Australian RCQs three days away, Nathan Steuer has just won MTG Pro Tour Secrets of Strixhaven in Las Vegas after a 15–4 run with Selesnya Landfall, beating reigning champion Christoffer Larsen in a Selesnya Landfall mirror across the finals. The Pro Tour ran 1–3 May at MagicCon: Las Vegas with 325 players competing for USD$500,000 (≈AU$775,000) in prizes. The headline number from the metagame breakdown is brutal: Izzet Prowess made up 30.5% of the field — nearly one in three decks — and posted zero copies in the Top 8.
However, that collapse matters because Australian RCQs for the 2026–27 Pro Tour cycle start on 8 May 2026 in Standard, feeding into Pro Tour Marvel Super Heroes at MagicCon Amsterdam (17–19 July). For Australian players, this Pro Tour is the most important meta read of the year so far — and AU stores are still well-stocked at preorder pricing on most of the cards that won. Use the TCG Snoop MTG price compare to track live AU stock, and pair this guide with our Secrets of Strixhaven Australian Guide and the official Magic.gg final standings.
Who Won Pro Tour Secrets of Strixhaven 2026?
Nathan Steuer won the trophy with Selesnya Landfall after qualifying through a PTQ in Richmond and going undefeated on Day One. Steuer is now a two-time Pro Tour champion — he previously won World Championship XXVIII in 2023 — and the result locks him in for the 2027 Limited Championship. The finals matchup against Christoffer Larsen was a Selesnya Landfall mirror; Larsen was attempting to become the first player to win back-to-back Pro Tours after taking Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed earlier in the season.
The full Top 8 featured a heavy landfall presence, with two Selesnya Landfall and two Mono-Green Landfall lists alongside Izzet Lessons, Izzet Spellementals, Selesnya Ouroboroid and Azorius Tempo. Notably absent: Izzet Prowess.
How Did Selesnya Landfall Beat a 30% Izzet Prowess Field?
Furthermore, Selesnya Landfall represented just 3.4% of the metagame at the start of the weekend — only 11 players brought it — but converted at an extraordinary rate. The deck splashes white into Mono-Green Landfall specifically for Erode, an instant-speed removal spell that doubles as a self-targeted Landfall trigger. Frank Karsten's metagame article called it out directly: Erode "justifies the white splash on its own."
Meanwhile, Izzet Prowess crashed to roughly a 50% Day One win rate. The metagame had simply prepared for it — Sage of the Skies, High Noon, sweepers, and the prowess-resistant landfall threats all made the deck's plan miserable. By Sunday it had 0 copies in Top 8 despite 99 pilots starting the event.
What Cards Are in Nathan Steuer's Winning Selesnya Landfall Decklist?
The full 75 from Steuer's championship-winning list, paid for at USD$524 (≈AU$812) at TCG Player paper prices. The deck is built around Badgermole Cub as the prime mythic, with Earthbender Ascension, Sazh's Chocobo and Mightform Harmonizer as the landfall payoffs. Click below to expand the full list:
Nathan Steuer — Selesnya Landfall (1st Place, 15–4)
Maindeck (60)
- Creatures (23): 4 Badgermole Cub, 4 Llanowar Elves, 4 Mightform Harmonizer, 4 Sazh's Chocobo, 2 Dyadrine, Synthesis Amalgam, 2 Icetill Explorer, 1 Keen-Eyed Curator, 1 Mossborn Hydra, 1 Surrak, Elusive Hunter
- Spells (10): 4 Erode, 2 Bushwhack, 4 Earthbender Ascension
- Artifacts (2): 2 Lumbering Worldwagon
- Lands (25): 7 Forest, 4 Fabled Passage, 4 Hushwood Verge, 3 Ba Sing Se, 3 Escape Tunnel, 2 Plains, 2 Temple Garden
Sideboard (15)
- 3 Rest in Peace, 3 Sheltered by Ghosts, 2 Mossborn Hydra, 2 Snakeskin Veil, 2 Surrak, Elusive Hunter, 1 Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar, 1 Restoration Magic, 1 Voice of Victory
How Much Does Steuer's Selesnya Landfall Cost in Australia?
The deck is expensive by AU Standard standards, almost entirely because of the rare-mythic creature suite. Live TCG Snoop AU prices for the most expensive maindeck cards as of 5 May 2026:
- Badgermole Cub (4 copies): cheapest AU$83.70 NM at From The Deep Games, with most stores in the AU$87–110 band. The most expensive non-foil is AU$130 at Games Portal. That's AU$334.80 just for the Cubs.
- Erode (4 copies): cheapest AU$8.99 NM at Ozzie Collectables (8 in stock), mid-range AU$10.80–14.90 across Kastle, The Card House, Shuffled and Fabled Games, with the most expensive standard NM at AU$25.60 at Pro Gamers.
- Mightform Harmonizer (4 copies): cheapest AU$3.90 NM at TCG Singles AU, climbing to AU$8.30 at GUF. Borderless foil is AU$12.50 at The Card House.
- Earthbender Ascension (4 copies): cheapest AU$2.80 NM at Ozzie Collectables (4 in stock), with most stores AU$4–8.
- Sazh's Chocobo (4 copies): cheapest AU$2.00 NM at GUF and Playmantis — the bargain pickup of the deck.
Consequently, that's an AU$370 spread on the headline cards before lands — Hushwood Verge, Temple Garden and Fabled Passage add another AU$80–120. Total realistic build cost in Australia is AU$650–900 at NM, depending on how aggressively you shop. That's roughly 20% above the USD$524 (≈AU$812) TCGPlayer figure once GST and freight clear — tight by AU Standard standards.
What Were the Other Top 8 Decks at Pro Tour Secrets of Strixhaven?
Eight pilots, six archetypes. Click each name to see the build:
Christoffer Larsen — Selesnya Landfall (Runner-up)
Reigning Pro Tour champion off Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed. Brought the same archetype as Steuer with minor list differences. Lost the finals mirror.
Stefan Schütz — Mono-Green Landfall (Top 4)
First Pro Tour Top 8. The Mono-Green build skips the Selesnya splash for a more explosive Sazh's Chocobo curve, leaning on Icetill Explorer to double land drops and Mightform Harmonizer for surprise lethals.
Matthew Stefansson — Mono-Green Landfall (Top 8)
First Pro Tour, qualified through the Vancouver Regional Championship. Same shell as Schütz with slightly different sideboard tech.
Rui Zhang — Izzet Lessons (Top 8)
Sanctum of All teammate. Izzet Lessons is a control deck built around Lesson cards filling the graveyard, with Gran-Gran turning Accumulate Wisdom into Ancestral Recall and Combustion Technique into Swords to Plowshares. Different beast from Izzet Prowess.
Maxx Kominowski — Izzet Spellementals (Top 8)
First Pro Tour Top 8 after qualifying via Magic Spotlight: The Avatar in Atlanta. Izzet Spellementals leans on Eddymurk Crab and Hearth Elemental to enable Sunderflock board resets — the main thing separating it from Izzet Prowess.
Matt Nass — Selesnya Ouroboroid (Top 8)
Pro Tour Aetherdrift champion. Selesnya Ouroboroid is +1/+1 counter midrange built around the Ouroboroid creature. Only 2 of the 325 entrants registered the deck — both made Top 8 on the same archetype.
Zevin Faust — Azorius Tempo (Top 8)
Team Handshake Moxfield. Azorius Tempo went 9–1 in Constructed at Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed and continues to grind out wins, leaning on Sage of the Skies, Springleaf Drum and Skycoach Conductor to blink Aven Interrupter for repeat disruption.
Why Did Izzet Prowess Underperform Despite a 30% Field Share?
Three factors stacked against Izzet Prowess: a hostile metagame, a glass-cannon failure mode, and the structural problem of being everyone's known target. Frank Karsten flagged in his pre-event breakdown that Sage of the Skies and High Noon were natural Izzet Prowess answers, and several archetypes — Azorius Momo and Azorius Tempo most obviously — built around exactly that.
In addition, the new Strixhaven cards Flow State (the most-played new card from the set, in 113 of 325 lists at 34.8% inclusion) and Colorstorm Stallion were supposed to push Prowess over the top. Instead, the deck stalled at a 50% Day One win rate and zero of its 99 pilots converted to Top 8. That's a complete competitive failure for the most-hyped deck of the cycle.
Which Cards Should Australian Players Buy Before RCQs Start 8 May?
If you're heading to a Standard RCQ this month, three buy priorities stand out for the AU market:
For Selesnya Landfall brewers: Erode is the cheapest piece of "win the Pro Tour" tech in the format right now — AU$8.99 at Ozzie Collectables for 8 NM copies in stock. Expect this to spike in the next 5–10 days. Badgermole Cub is already at its competitive ceiling at AU$83.70 cheapest, but if you're set on the deck the Cubs aren't getting cheaper. Cards across the AU market typically follow US movements with a 5–10 day delay, so AU buyers have a small but real window.
For competitive collectors: Flow State is sitting at AU$6.77–17 across AU stores despite being the most-played new Strixhaven card overall. Flow State demand will move with whichever Izzet build emerges from the post-PT meta — we covered the AU spike potential in our Flash Photography spike piece.
For format watchers: Stormchaser's Talent at AU$10.61 is the canary — if it drops, Izzet Prowess is officially in retreat across paper Standard and AU stores will follow with markdowns. If it holds, brewers haven't given up.
Where Should Australian Players Find the Full Pro Tour Decklists?
Three sources cover the full 325-deck dump and Top 8 builds in detail. Magic.gg has the official standings and decklist pages, organised alphabetically by player name. MTGDecks.net hosts every Top 8 list in copy-paste format with archetype tagging. MTGGoldfish aggregates the tournament view with deckcheck price calculations — though the AU buyer should ignore the USD figures and use the TCG Snoop price compare for accurate AUD numbers.
When Will the Pro Tour Standard Meta Reach Australia?
Australian RCQ Round 1 of the 2026–27 cycle starts 8 May 2026 in Standard, feeding qualifications into Pro Tour Marvel Super Heroes at MagicCon Amsterdam on 17–19 July. Hobby Collectors Australia, Good Games stores nationally, and several smaller WPN affiliates host RCQs — check the official WPN store finder for your region. AU competitive players have less than a week to lock in a Selesnya Landfall list, source the cards, and get reps.
Moreover, for Arena players, the same Standard format updates immediately this week, and MTG Arena Zone's Standard metagame page usually reflects the post-Pro Tour shift within 48 hours. Expect Selesnya Landfall and Mono-Green Landfall to dominate the BO3 ladder at Diamond and above by the end of this week.
The Bottom Line on Pro Tour Secrets of Strixhaven for Australian Players
In conclusion, Pro Tour Secrets of Strixhaven this week did exactly what a great Pro Tour does — it broke the format wide open. Izzet Prowess, the deck Australian RCQ players have been jamming for the last three months, just posted a complete Day One failure with zero Top 8 copies. Selesnya Landfall and Mono-Green Landfall converted four of the eight Top 8 seats. That is a fundamentally different Standard than the one we started the week with.
Currently, for Australian players, the timing could not be better — or worse, depending on what's already in your binder. As of today, AU stores still have Erode at AU$8.99, Earthbender Ascension at AU$2.80, and Mightform Harmonizer at AU$3.90. Track every card across all 25+ Australian stores at the TCG Snoop MTG price compare, and we'll update this article as the post-Pro Tour Australian price moves come in.
All card images and references are the property of Wizards of the Coast, LLC. This article is not affiliated with or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast. Tournament results sourced from Magic.gg and MTGDecks.net.
Useful Links
- TCG Snoop MTG Price Compare — Live Australian prices across 25+ stores
- Secrets of Strixhaven Australian Guide — Set overview and prerelease info
- MTG Secrets of Strixhaven Elder Dragons Explained
- Best Commander Precons to Buy in Australia 2026
- Magic.gg — Pro Tour Secrets of Strixhaven Final Standings
- Magic.gg — Standard Metagame Breakdown by Frank Karsten
- MTGDecks.net — Steuer's Winning Selesnya Landfall Decklist
- Scryfall — Secrets of Strixhaven full set