The Rock — Pioneer Strategy Guide

Archetype Overview

The Rock is Golgari midrange: take their best card, kill their best creature, and win with a handful of threats that each demand a different answer. This 60 took 1st place at a 40-player MTGO Challenge 32 on 2026-10-12, piloted by Arianne. The list has 17 dedicated interaction spells, 14 threat creatures and planeswalkers, and 6 lands that attack. Every game you play with it is a fight over resources, and the deck is built to have more of them left at the end.

The Plan

The deck's turns play out in three phases.

• Early: break up their hand and board. Four Thoughtseize and a Duress let you see their hand on turn one and take the piece their plan depends on. Four Fatal Push handle cheap threats for a single black mana.
• Middle: land threats ahead of the curve. Badgermole Cub turns one of your lands into a hasty creature. Whenever you tap a creature for mana, the Cub adds an extra {G}. That turns a normal turn-three land drop into four mana, which means a turn-three Sheoldred, the Apocalypse or Professor Dellian Fel.
• Late: win the attrition war. Draw engines, recursion and creature lands keep producing value after both players have traded off their hands.

Why It Works

The removal covers almost everything.

• Fatal Push kills anything with mana value 2 or less. It reaches mana value 4 once revolt is on, and this deck turns revolt on by itself: a land animated by the Cub's earthbend that dies has left the battlefield under your control.
• Abrupt Decay answers any nonland permanent with mana value 3 or less and can't be countered.
• Bitter Triumph destroys any creature or planeswalker for two mana. You pay for it with a card or 3 life.
• Tear Asunder answers artifacts and enchantments cheaply, or exiles any nonland permanent when kicked.
• Culling Ritual is the standout. It destroys every nonland permanent with mana value 2 or less. Your Graveyard Trespasser, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and Professor Dellian Fel are all above that line, and your creature lands are lands, so most of your board survives. You also get mana back for each permanent destroyed, which you can spend on a follow-up play.

The threats demand different answers.

• Graveyard Trespasser has ward that costs a discard. Every attempt to target it costs your opponent a card, on top of the card they spend answering it.
• Sheoldred, the Apocalypse is a 4/5 deathtouch body. It drains your opponent 2 every time they draw.
• Professor Dellian Fel enters with 5 loyalty. It can remove a creature with its −3 and still stay on the board, or simply draw cards with its 0.
• Mutavault and Restless Cottage are lands until you activate them. Sorcery-speed creature removal and sweepers have nothing to hit until you choose to attack.
• A land animated by the Cub returns to the battlefield when it dies. Trading with it costs you nothing permanent.

An opponent built to answer one of these threats usually has the wrong tools for the next one.

The engines stack.

• With Sheoldred, the Apocalypse in play, you gain 2 life every time you draw. That includes the draw from Dellian's 0 ability and from Castle Locthwain. Sheoldred pays for the life those draws cost you.
• Dellian's −6 emblem makes your opponent lose life whenever you gain life. After that, Sheoldred's draw triggers, the +2 ability, and Graveyard Trespasser's exile triggers all damage your opponent.
• Takenuma, Abandoned Mire costs one less for each legendary creature you control and returns a creature or planeswalker card from your graveyard. Use it to rebuy a Sheoldred or a Dellian that got answered.
• Boseiju, Who Endures also costs one less per legendary creature. It gives you another answer to artifacts and enchantments that costs no spell slot.

Graveyard hate comes for free. Graveyard Trespasser exiles a card from a graveyard whenever it enters or attacks, and two cards once it transforms at night. Restless Cottage exiles a card each time it attacks. You disrupt graveyard strategies without spending maindeck slots on dedicated hate.

Mana. The 25 lands cast spells with heavy color requirements, such as Sheoldred's {B}{B}. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth makes every land a Swamp, so Castle Locthwain enters untapped. Unholy Annex/Ritual Chamber fills the last four proactive slots, keeping the deck's threat count high enough that discard and removal aren't asked to win alone.

Who Should Pick It Up

Play The Rock if you like games that turn on decisions rather than draws. The deck rewards three skills:

• Reading an opposing hand. Every Thoughtseize asks you to identify which card actually beats you, not just the most powerful one.
• Treating life as a resource. Thoughtseize, Overgrown Tomb, Llanowar Wastes, Bitter Triumph and Castle Locthwain all cost life. You need to know when you can afford to pay and when you can't.
• Assigning removal by value. Twelve removal spells only work if each one hits the right target. That depends on knowing what your opponent's deck needs to function.

This is the wrong deck if you want a linear plan that wins without knowing the opposing decklist. It also isn't for you if you're short on time. The games are long and full of decisions, so you need to play quickly to avoid draws on the clock.

At roughly $712, it's a real investment. In return, you get a deck that is never cold to any one strategy. It has an answer for nearly everything and enough threats to close once those answers have done their work.

Core Strategy & Game Plan

How the Deck Wins

The Rock is a disruption-first midrange deck. You strip the opponent's best cards with discard, trade removal for their threats, then win with a handful of threats they can't answer cleanly. The win conditions are Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Professor Dellian Fel, Graveyard Trespasser, and a manland package of Mutavault, Restless Cottage, and Castle Locthwain. That package keeps threatening damage after your spells are traded off. You don't race. You make every card the opponent draws worse than every card you draw, and you let Sheoldred, the Apocalypse turn that gap into life swings.

Posture: Reactive Early, Proactive Once Stabilized

Your first two turns are about information and answers. Thoughtseize and Duress show you the opponent's hand and take the card that beats you. Fatal Push, Abrupt Decay, and Bitter Triumph handle whatever reaches the board. Who your opponent is decides when you switch to threats:

• Against fast creature decks, every early turn goes to removal. You become the aggressor only once their board is empty. UR Aggro took more Top 8 slots than any other archetype in the recent sample (source: MTGTop8, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-15), so expect plenty of rounds where you hold up Fatal Push instead of tapping out.
• Against slower decks, discard comes first and threats come early. A turn-three Graveyard Trespasser backed by a full grip is pressure they have to answer. Its ward makes that answer cost them a card.

The Engine: Badgermole Cub

Badgermole Cub is the card that lets this deck go over the top. When it enters, earthbend 1 turns one of your lands into a 1/1 hasty creature that's still a land. The Cub's second ability adds an extra {G} whenever you tap a creature for mana. Tapping that animated land produces two mana. A turn-two Cub therefore usually means four mana on turn three. That is Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Professor Dellian Fel, or Culling Ritual a full turn early.

The bonus also applies to Mutavault and Restless Cottage while they're animated, so a manland you've activated can still pay for spells at a premium. If the earthbent land dies or is exiled, it comes back to the battlefield tapped. You lose the body but keep the land drop. That death also counts as a permanent leaving the battlefield under your control, which turns on revolt for Fatal Push that turn.

One trap to remember: Culling Ritual destroys your own Cub along with every other nonland permanent with mana value 2 or less. The earthbent land survives because it's a land. Ritual also adds {B} or {G} for each permanent it destroys, Cub included. Fire it when the board trade favors you, and spend the refund on Graveyard Trespasser or held-up interaction in the same turn.

The Closers and How They Stack

• Sheoldred, the Apocalypse drains 2 every time the opponent draws and gains you 2 every time you draw. That pays back the life you spent on Thoughtseize, Overgrown Tomb, Llanowar Wastes, and Bitter Triumph. Deathtouch on a 4/5 also stalls ground attackers.
• Professor Dellian Fel enters at 5 loyalty and can −3 immediately to remove a creature, leaving a planeswalker behind. If you protect it instead, +2 now and −6 next turn gives you an emblem: whenever you gain life, the opponent loses that much. With that emblem, each of your Sheoldred draw triggers costs the opponent 2. Each +2 on a later Fel drains 3, and each creature card Graveyard Trespasser exiles drains an extra point. With Sheoldred out, Fel's 0 nets you a card and a point of life.
• Graveyard Trespasser exiles graveyard cards when it enters and when it attacks, draining whenever it hits a creature card. If you deliberately cast no spells on your own turn, it transforms into the 4/4 side, which exiles two cards per trigger.
• Manlands let you hold up instants while still threatening damage. Restless Cottage makes a Food token and exiles a graveyard card each time it attacks. Castle Locthwain keeps drawing cards once the game goes long. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth makes every land a Swamp, so Castle enters untapped.
• Takenuma, Abandoned Mire can be channeled to return a creature or planeswalker card from your graveyard to hand. It costs {1} less for each legendary creature you control, so it's cheaper with Sheoldred on the board. If your first Sheoldred or Fel is answered, Takenuma gets it back.

The deck also runs four copies of Unholy Annex/Ritual Chamber. Plan your curve around it as a core slot, not a flex card.

The Ideal Game, Turn by Turn

1. Turn 1: Play Blooming Marsh untapped and cast Thoughtseize. Take the card that most threatens your plan, usually their best threat or their answer to a four-drop. Against a one-drop creature deck, hold Fatal Push instead.
2. Turn 2: Cast Badgermole Cub and earthbend a land. Against creature decks, Abrupt Decay or Push plus Duress is often better than adding to the board.
3. Turn 3: Tap the earthbent land for two mana and deploy a four-drop. Without the Cub, play Graveyard Trespasser and keep removal ready.
4. Turn 4: Add a second threat, or deploy one and hold up an instant. Start animating manlands once their side of the board is clear.
5. Turn 5 and later: Get Fel's emblem online, grind with Castle Locthwain, and keep the board clean. The game ends when the Sheoldred drain and your manlands outpace their topdecks.

Card Choices & Breakdown

The Mana Base: 25 Lands, 10 That Do More

Twenty-five lands is a lot for a deck that tops out at four mana, but ten of them are utility lands. That is your flood insurance. Late-game draws that would be blanks in another list become threats, card draw, or removal here.

• Overgrown Tomb, Blooming Marsh, Llanowar Wastes (4 each): These are your twelve two-color sources. Blooming Marsh comes in untapped through your third land drop, when Thoughtseize, Fatal Push and Badgermole Cub need it. Llanowar Wastes costs you a point of damage per colored tap. Count that pain when you're facing aggro.
• Mutavault (4): The full set strains your colors, since it only makes {C}. The payoff is a 2/2 for {1} that you can keep in reserve on your land drop. With Badgermole Cub out, tapping an animated Mutavault for mana also adds an extra {G}.
• Restless Cottage (2): A 4/4 attacker that makes a Food and exiles a graveyard card every swing. It doubles as graveyard hate. It enters tapped, which is why you run two and not more.
• Castle Locthwain (1): Repeatable card draw for the long game. It enters untapped alongside Overgrown Tomb, either Swamp, or Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, which makes every land a Swamp. With Sheoldred, the Apocalypse out, each Castle draw gains you 2 life, which offsets the life you lose for cards in hand.
• Boseiju, Who Endures and Takenuma, Abandoned Mire (1 each): Both channel abilities cost {1} less for each legendary creature you control, so Sheoldred, the Apocalypse discounts them. Boseiju, Who Endures answers artifacts, enchantments and nonbasic lands. Takenuma, Abandoned Mire gets back a dead Sheoldred, the Apocalypse or Professor Dellian Fel.
• Swamp (2), Forest (1): These are your basics. They keep the Castle live and leave you something to fetch if an opponent's land destruction lets you search.

Discard: Thoughtseize (4), Duress (1)

Thoughtseize takes any nonland card. Run all four, because seeing the opponent's hand on turn one shapes every removal decision after it. Duress can't take creatures, so the main deck runs only one. Three more wait in the sideboard for spell-heavy opponents.

Removal: Twelve Answers at Every Mana Value

• Fatal Push (4): One mana to kill a cheap creature. The list turns on revolt naturally:
  • An earthbent land that dies leaves the battlefield and comes back.
  • A Badgermole Cub that trades counts.
  • A resolved Culling Ritual destroys your own cheap permanents.
  Any of these lets Push reach mana value 4.
• Abrupt Decay (3): Hits any nonland permanent at mana value 3 or less, including artifacts and enchantments, and it can't be countered. That matters against permission decks like Izzet Control, which won the 2026-10-08 Challenge (source: MTGTop8, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-15).
• Bitter Triumph (2): Kills any creature or planeswalker for two mana. The additional cost is the reason it stops at two copies. Paying 3 life hurts against aggro, and discarding cuts into your resources. Late in the game, pitching an extra land makes it close to free.
• Tear Asunder (1): Exiles an artifact or enchantment for two. Kicked for four, it exiles any nonland permanent. Exile gets around death triggers and recursion that Abrupt Decay can't handle.
• Culling Ritual (2): Destroys every nonland permanent at mana value 2 or less and refunds a mana for each one. Your own Badgermole Cub dies too. Your earthbent land, Graveyard Trespasser and every four-drop survive. It sits in the main deck because UR Aggro took 15 of 48 Top 8 slots (source: MTGTop8, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-15). It stays at two because it kills your Cubs, and the third copy sits in the sideboard.

Threats

• Badgermole Cub (4): This is your ramp. Play it on turn two and earthbend a land into a hasty creature. Tapping that land for mana now adds an extra {G}. The usual result is four mana on turn three, which means an early Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Professor Dellian Fel or Culling Ritual. If the earthbent land dies, it comes back tapped, so the ramp holds up against removal.
• Graveyard Trespasser (4): A 3/3 for three that makes opponents discard a card to target it. It exiles a graveyard card whenever it enters or attacks, and exiling a creature drains 1. It's main-deck hate against Dredge, which reached the Top 8 of two Challenges in the sample (source: MTGTop8, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-15). At night it becomes a 4/4 that exiles two cards.
• Sheoldred, the Apocalypse (3): A 4/5 deathtouch blocker that stops ground aggro and drains 2 every time the opponent draws. You run three because it's legendary, so a second copy is a dead card while the first is alive. Takenuma, Abandoned Mire works as a partial fourth copy.
• Professor Dellian Fel (3): Enters at 5 loyalty with three useful modes.
  • −3: Kills a creature and leaves it at 2.
  • +2: Gains you 3 life to stabilize against aggro.
  • 0: Draws a card. With Sheoldred, the Apocalypse out, you lose 1 and gain 2 on each draw.
  Its −6 emblem turns every life gain from Sheoldred and the +2 into direct loss for the opponent. It stops at three because the four-mana slot is crowded: six four-drop threats, two Culling Ritual, plus kicked Tear Asunder and Restless Cottage activations. The fourth copy is in the sideboard for grindy matchups.

Unholy Annex/Ritual Chamber (4)

No card text is listed for it here, so this section covers only its place in the list. It's a full playset, which puts it in the same core tier as Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Badgermole Cub and Graveyard Trespasser. Read the card yourself before you plan sequencing around it. Treat it as a fixed slot, not a flex one.

The Decklist

This is the exact 75 that took 1st place at the 40-player MTGO Challenge 32 on 2026-10-12, piloted by Arianne. It runs about $712 at TCGplayer market prices. The main deck is grouped by role below. Notes flag the slots you can reasonably move.

Main Deck (60)

Sideboard (15)

Two reads on this 75:

• The removal suite is built to go low. Twelve main-deck removal spells, plus a fourth Culling Ritual in the sideboard, fit a field where UR Aggro took 15 of 48 Top 8 slots (source: MTGTop8, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-15).
• Watch your life total. Thoughtseize, Overgrown Tomb, Llanowar Wastes and Bitter Triumph all cost life. Against aggro, decide how much of it you can afford to spend.

Mulligan Guide

What Makes a Keep

With 25 lands you rarely need to gamble on draws, so don't keep hands that depend on them. A keepable seven has three things:

• Two or more lands, with at least two that make colored mana. Mutavault only taps for {C}. It counts toward your land total but not toward your colors. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse needs {B}{B}, while Professor Dellian Fel and Culling Ritual need both black and green.
• Early interaction. That means Thoughtseize, Duress, Fatal Push, Bitter Triumph or Abrupt Decay.
• Something to do on turns three and four. Badgermole Cub is the best card for this. Earthbend a land, and while the Cub stays on the battlefield, tapping that land-creature for mana adds an extra {G}. Three lands then cast a four-drop on turn three.

A hand that is all removal and no threat is fine in Game 1. It gets weaker the slower your opponent is.

Example Hands

1. Overgrown Tomb, Blooming Marsh, Llanowar Wastes, Thoughtseize, Badgermole Cub, Fatal Push, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse: snap keep. Play Thoughtseize on turn one and Badgermole Cub on turn two, earthbending Llanowar Wastes. On turn three, Overgrown Tomb and Blooming Marsh give you {B}{B}, and the Wastes gives a mana plus the Cub's extra {G}. That casts Sheoldred, the Apocalypse a turn early, with Fatal Push held for whatever gets past the discard.
2. Overgrown Tomb, Llanowar Wastes, Fatal Push, Fatal Push, Bitter Triumph, Abrupt Decay, Graveyard Trespasser: keep. It has two lands, but both make both colors, and every spell costs three or less. On the draw, against an unknown opponent, this is a clear keep. Your 25 lands will find the third.
3. Mutavault, Mutavault, Swamp, Thoughtseize, Duress, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Professor Dellian Fel: ship. It looks like three lands and two discard spells. In practice you have one black source, no green source, and two four-drops you can't cast without drawing exactly the right lands.
4. Restless Cottage, Mutavault, Castle Locthwain, Swamp, Forest, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Culling Ritual: keep in Game 1, ship against aggro after sideboarding. The flood still does something here: two creature lands, a card-drawing land and two strong four-drops. It is slow, though. You do nothing relevant on turns one and two, which is fine against control and a disaster against a fast red deck on the draw.
5. Blooming Marsh, Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Badgermole Cub, Abrupt Decay, Graveyard Trespasser, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse: ship. These are great spells on one land. Badgermole Cub adds mana but needs a second land to cast, so it doesn't fix this hand.

Play vs. Draw

On the play, discard is at its best. A turn-one Thoughtseize takes their best card before it hits the table. Keep slower hands with lots of discard more freely.

On the draw, your opponent may have already played their best one-drop before your discard resolves. Value cheap removal and early creatures more. The two-lander with lots of interaction (hand 2) gets better on the draw because of the extra card.

Count your life costs in either case. Thoughtseize, Overgrown Tomb entering untapped, Llanowar Wastes and Bitter Triumph's optional 3 life all add up. A hand that needs all of them to function is a liability against burn.

Against Known Matchups

UR Aggro. This is the archetype you will see most. It took 15 of 48 Top 8 slots across six 32+ player events (source: MTGTop8, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-15). Keep hands with at least two cheap removal spells or an early body like Graveyard Trespasser or Badgermole Cub. Hands built on discard with little removal get worse here, because each Thoughtseize trades 2 life for one card from a deck with many cheap threats. Culling Ritual is a good keep against this deck: it destroys every nonland permanent with mana value 2 or less. Remember it also kills your own Badgermole Cub.

Jund Sacrifice and Dredge. Both decks use their graveyard, so Graveyard Trespasser and Restless Cottage get much better. Each exiles cards from a graveyard when it enters or attacks. Look for at least one of them alongside removal. After sideboarding, add Unlicensed Hearse and Strategic Betrayal to the list of cards that make a hand keepable.

Control (Izzet Control, Dimir variants). Keep hands with lots of lands. Mutavault, Restless Cottage and Castle Locthwain are threats and card draw against these decks, not flood. Ship hands that are all removal and have no threat after sideboarding. A hand with three Fatal Push does nothing against a deck with few creatures.

Combo (such as Lotus Field). Discard is your priority. A hand with Thoughtseize or Duress plus a quick threat is ideal. Boseiju, Who Endures can destroy a nonbasic land an opponent controls, which includes their namesake land. Value it highly in this matchup.

Sequencing & Key Lines

Land Sequencing: Spend Your Tapped Lands Early

Your mana base has tension between untapped duals, painlands and tapped utility lands. Default priority:

• Blooming Marsh in the first three land drops. After that it enters tapped, so a Marsh on turn 5 is a mistake you made on turn 2.
• Restless Cottage on a turn where you don't need every mana. On the draw against a slow hand, that is turn 1. On the play with Thoughtseize in hand, cast the discard spell first and play the Cottage turn 2 only if you aren't casting Badgermole Cub.
• Overgrown Tomb tapped whenever possible. Pay 2 life only when the mana changes what you can cast this turn.
• Castle Locthwain after a Swamp. Overgrown Tomb, basic Swamp and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth all let it enter untapped. Don't strand it as your first land.
• Save Llanowar Wastes damage against aggro. Tap a Wastes for colorless when colored mana isn't needed. Every point matters when you're also paying for Thoughtseize and Bitter Triumph.

Turns 1–3: The Standard Line

The highest-impact curve is turn 2 Badgermole Cub into a turn 3 four-drop.

• The earthbend makes a land a creature.
• Cub's second ability adds an extra {G} whenever you tap a creature for mana.
• So on turn 3, that land taps for two. With three lands, that is four mana: enough for Sheoldred, the Apocalypse or Professor Dellian Fel.
• Earthbend a dual that makes both your colors, such as Overgrown Tomb or Blooming Marsh. That keeps the ramp mana flexible.
• Avoid earthbending Llanowar Wastes if it will be your colored source. You'll take damage on every tap.

Turn 1 depends on the opponent:

• Against slower decks: lead with Thoughtseize or Duress. You see their hand before committing your curve.
• Against aggro: a turn 1 discard spell is weaker than holding Fatal Push. That matters most against UR Aggro, which took 15 of 48 Top 8 slots (source: MTGTop8 event pages, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-15).
• On the play against aggro, Duress is the better turn 1 discard spell because it costs no life. Otherwise, pass with Push mana up.

Branch Point: Which Four-Drop First

• They have a creature you need gone: cast Professor Dellian Fel and use −3. You get a removal spell that leaves a planeswalker behind.
• The board is clear or under control: lead with Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. It is your fastest clock, and it makes Castle Locthwain and Fel's 0 ability gain you life instead of cost you life.
• Both are in hand and you're stable: Sheoldred first, Fel the turn after. Then +2 Fel twice toward the −6 emblem. With the emblem, every Sheoldred draw trigger also drains the opponent for 2, and Graveyard Trespasser lifegain drains as well.

Branch Point: Culling Ritual Turns

Culling Ritual destroys only nonland permanents. Your earthbended land, animated Mutavault and animated Restless Cottage all survive it. Your own Badgermole Cub does not, and that is often an upside:

1. Cast Ritual.
2. The Cub's death adds one more {B} or {G} and turns on revolt.
3. Spend that mana on Fatal Push to destroy a creature with mana value 4 or less in the same turn.

Count the mana Ritual returns before casting it. Sweeping three cheap permanents often refunds enough to cast a second spell.

Branch Point: Day and Night

• Graveyard Trespasser flips when a player casts no spells during their own turn.
• Land drops, Mutavault activations, channel abilities, Castle activations and planeswalker loyalty abilities are not spells. A turn spent only on those flips it to night, which doubles its graveyard exile.
• Against spell-heavy decks that cast two spells a turn, expect it to return to day. Don't sandbag spells just to keep Glutton.
• Its ward taxes any targeted removal by a discard, so deploy it into opponents who are low on cards.

Playing Around Interaction

• Turn on revolt on their turn. If they kill your earthbended land, it leaves the battlefield (then returns tapped), and revolt is live for an instant-speed Fatal Push that turn. Chump-blocking with Mutavault does the same.
• Use Abrupt Decay against counterspells. It can't be countered. Against blue decks holding mana up, it is the removal spell to fire into open mana.
• Prefer Sheoldred against cheap creature removal. Against aggro decks pointing cheap removal at your board, Sheoldred's 5 toughness and Trespasser's ward-plus-flip make them better targets to deploy than Cub. Treat Cub as a ramp spell, not a threat you're protecting.
• Pay for Bitter Triumph with the resource you can spare. Against aggro, discard an excess land. Against control, pay 3 life instead.

Small Edges

• Legendary land channels get cheaper with Sheoldred. With Sheoldred, the Apocalypse in play, Boseiju, Who Endures channels for {G} and Takenuma, Abandoned Mire for {2}{B}. Fel is a planeswalker, so it doesn't reduce either cost.
• Takenuma is a rebuy. Hold it in hand as a land you don't play when you have spare drops. Its channel returns a dead Sheoldred or Fel.
• Kicker on Tear Asunder. Kick it unless the target is an artifact or enchantment. Unkicked, it can't touch anything else.
• Attack with Restless Cottage for its graveyard exile. Its attack trigger exiles a card from a graveyard, which helps against recursion even when the damage barely matters.
• Use Castle Locthwain late in your turn. Activate it after spending your cards, while your hand is small. The life loss scales with hand size.

Matchup Matrix

The field this deck has to beat is lopsided. UR Aggro took 15 of 48 Top 8 slots and won 3 of 6 counted events (source: MTGTop8 event pages, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-15). Jund Sacrifice and The Rock each took 5 slots in that same window (source: MTGTop8 event pages, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-15). Build your testing around the red decks first and the grindy decks second.

UR Aggro — Even

Two builds share this label: a Swiftspear shell and a Vivi shell (source: MTGTop8 deck exports, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-15). Your plan is the same against both. Trade one-for-one early, then land a threat they can't race.

Your life total is the real resource here. Thoughtseize, Llanowar Wastes, Overgrown Tomb paid untapped, and Bitter Triumph's life option all cost you points.

• Use Bitter Triumph's discard option whenever you have a spare land.
• Tap Llanowar Wastes for colorless when you can.
• Prefer Duress-style discard only when it actually strips their interaction.

Culling Ritual is your best card when they commit several cheap permanents. It does kill your own Badgermole Cub, but that also enables revolt for a follow-up Fatal Push in the same turn.

Sheoldred, the Apocalypse is the card that closes this matchup. It walls the ground as a 4/5 deathtouch and drains them for every extra card they draw. Choose Professor Dellian Fel's +2 over the 0 when you are under pressure.

Jund Sacrifice — Favored

This matchup is decided in the graveyard. Graveyard Trespasser exiles on entering and on every attack, and it drains whenever the exiled card is a creature. Restless Cottage exiles a card every time it attacks.

Use those triggers on their recursive pieces rather than on random cards. Save Culling Ritual until it kills at least two of their permanents. Nothing in Ritual touches Graveyard Trespasser, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, or your lands, so you can build a board that survives your own sweeper.

The Rock (mirror) — Even

Both decks run the same removal, so the four-drops decide it. Spend Thoughtseize on their Sheoldred, the Apocalypse or Professor Dellian Fel before you spend it on removal. Kill an opposing Dellian with creature-land attacks, not by trading cards.

Mutavault and Restless Cottage dodge sorcery-speed answers and Culling Ritual, which makes them the long-game damage. Boseiju, Who Endures answers an opposing Restless Cottage or Castle Locthwain. In a stalled game, Castle Locthwain activations are how you pull ahead.

Izzet Control — Even

Lead with discard on the turn before you commit threats. Abrupt Decay can't be countered, so hold it for their key permanent rather than an early body.

Your creature-lands are the pressure that gets around counters. Graveyard Trespasser's ward makes every targeted answer cost them an extra card. Don't overextend into a single answer. One threat at a time, backed by discard, is enough.

Burn and low-curve aggro — Even

The life-total rules from UR Aggro apply here, only stricter. Cut Thoughtseize usage to targets that would otherwise deal heavy damage. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and Professor Dellian Fel's +2 are your only meaningful life gain, so protect them.

Graveyard decks — Unfavored

Graveyard Trespasser and Restless Cottage exile one or two cards at a time, which is too slow against a deck that fills its yard in bulk. In game one, kill enablers on sight with Fatal Push and Abrupt Decay, and race with creature-lands. Your sideboard is what turns this matchup around.

Big mana and combo — Even

Discard is your best tool here. You run five main-deck copies, and the first one should take the piece their plan can't replace. Boseiju, Who Endures answers a key nonbasic land. Kicked Tear Asunder exiles any nonland permanent. After that, pressure fast with Badgermole Cub, an earthbent land, and Mutavault.

Blue-black midrange/control — Favored

Your threat density and card advantage outclass decks built to trade one-for-one. Professor Dellian Fel's 0 ability and Castle Locthwain keep your hand full. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse punishes any card draw they rely on. Spend your removal only on threats that actually pressure you, and let your lands win the long game.

Sideboard / Tech Guide

The 15 cover three jobs: lower your curve against aggro, add discard and card advantage against control, and exile graveyards when they matter. One interaction runs through several plans. Culling Ritual destroys every nonland permanent with mana value 2 or less, including your own Badgermole Cub and Unlicensed Hearse. Lands survive it, so Mutavault, Restless Cottage and earthbent lands are safe. Cast the Ritual first, then deploy your two-drops.

UR Aggro and Red Deck Wins

Plan for this matchup first. UR Aggro took 15 of 48 Top 8 slots across the counted events (source: MTGTop8 event pages, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-15).

• Thoughtseize: paying 2 life per copy is the cost you can least afford here, so two copies come out.
• Duress: it misses their creatures entirely, so it comes out too.
• Culling Ritual: it punishes a board of cheap threats and refunds mana for each permanent it destroys.
• Nowhere to Run: it has flash and gives a creature −3/−3. While it stays on the battlefield, their creatures can be targeted as though they lacked hexproof and their ward abilities don't trigger.
• The fourth Professor Dellian Fel: she gives you two modes that matter in this matchup. Her +2 gains 3 life, and her −3 kills a creature.

Their sideboards matter too. Spell Pierce and It'll Quench Ya! each appear in 13 of the 15 UR Aggro Top 8 sideboards (source: MTGTop8 deck exports, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-15). In post-board games, lean on Abrupt Decay, which can't be countered, for your most important answer.

The label covers two builds: a Swiftspear version and a Vivi Ornitier version. The plan above works against both. Keep Tear Asunder in either way, because kicked it exiles any nonland permanent.

Jund Sacrifice

Discard trades one card for one card, which is a poor deal against a deck of interchangeable pieces, so trim it.

• Unlicensed Hearse: it taps to exile up to two cards from a graveyard each turn. It grows with every card it exiles and becomes a real attacker.
• Crewing Hearse: crew 2 is easy, since Badgermole Cub crews it alone.
• Strategic Betrayal: leave it in the sideboard. The opponent chooses which creature to exile, so against a wide board they give up their worst one.

Izzet and Dimir Control

Cut cheap creature removal and bring in cards that win long games.

• Invoke Despair: this is your best card here. For each type among creature, enchantment and planeswalker they can't sacrifice, they lose 2 life and you draw a card. Against an empty board, that's 6 life and three cards.
• Go Blank: it strips two cards from their hand, which matters more against a hand full of instants than against a board.
• Card advantage: Castle Locthwain and the 0 ability on Professor Dellian Fel keep refilling your hand.

Dimir builds that play more creatures need a lighter version of this plan:

• Keep two Fatal Push and both Bitter Triumph.
• Bring in Invoke Despair, Duress and one Go Blank.

Dredge and Graveyard Decks

• Strategic Betrayal: its value is the second half of its text, which exiles their entire graveyard. It's a sorcery, so cast it on your own turn once their graveyard is loaded, not the moment you draw it.
• Unlicensed Hearse: it handles ongoing graveyard pressure.
• Your main-deck exile: Graveyard Trespasser and Restless Cottage already exile graveyard cards with every trigger. Keep attacking with both.
• Your own cards in the yard: exiling their graveyard doesn't touch yours, so Takenuma, Abandoned Mire still returns your creatures.
• Go Blank: if you need a sixth graveyard card, it also exiles the target's graveyard after the discard.

Lotus Field and Creature-Light Combo

• Discard: go up to the full set of discard. Duress takes any noncreature, nonland card, and Go Blank takes two.
• Fatal Push: it has nothing to target, so it comes out.
• Abrupt Decay and Tear Asunder: keep both for the key permanents.
• Clock: pressure from Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and Mutavault matters more than any single answer.

Devotion to Green

This plan depends on what you see in game 1.

• If their early turns are cheap mana permanents: bring in the third Culling Ritual for a Duress.
• If they win with one large threat: Strategic Betrayal gets around targeting restrictions because it targets the player, not the creature.

Flexing the 15 for Your Field

• Aggro-heavy room: Invoke Despair is the weakest slot. A second Nowhere to Run is the natural swap.
• Fewer graveyard decks: the third Strategic Betrayal is the first card to cut.
• Every change: stick to swaps between existing slots and keep the total at exactly 15.

Tech Choices & Variations

Most of this 60 is locked. The four-ofs (Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Graveyard Trespasser, Badgermole Cub, Unholy Annex/Ritual Chamber) and the dual lands are the deck's structure. The real flex lives in the one-to-three-copy slots and in a few land choices. Every swap below uses cards already in the 75, so you can retune without buying anything.

The Main-Deck Duress

The single Duress is the first slot to move. Next to four Thoughtseize, it gives you a fifth discard spell for decks built on noncreature spells. That pays off against control and combo. Against creature aggro it whiffs entirely, because it can't take creatures.

• Expecting creature decks: swap it for a third Culling Ritual or for Nowhere to Run. You trade a cheap early disruption spell for one that actually affects the board.
• Expecting spell-heavy or combo decks: keep it. Consider Go Blank as a sixth discard effect. It costs more, but it strips two cards and exiles the graveyard.

The Removal Split

Bitter Triumph is your unconditional answer. It kills any creature or planeswalker at instant speed. The cost is a discard or 3 life, which you feel against aggro.

Nowhere to Run is the closest swap at the same mana. It has flash, gives -3/-3, and turns off hexproof and ward on opposing creatures for the rest of the game. The trade-off is clear: it only kills toughness 3 or less, and it never touches planeswalkers. It's the better card when you're racing small threats and your life total matters. It's worse when the threats are big.

Tear Asunder is a single copy for a reason. Unkicked, it exiles an artifact or enchantment for two. Kicked, it exiles any nonland permanent for four. Before you cut it, remember it's your cleanest answer to a permanent that Abrupt Decay can't reach (mana value 4 or more) and that Fatal Push can't target. If your field has few relevant artifacts or enchantments, a fourth removal spell from the board is a fair trade. You lose the flexibility and gain efficiency.

Culling Ritual Count

Two main is a hedge. Culling Ritual destroys every nonland permanent with mana value 2 or less, and that includes your own Badgermole Cub. A land animated by earthbend survives, because the Ritual only hits nonland permanents.

• Going to three helps against wide, cheap boards.
• Going to one or zero helps against decks whose threats sit at mana value 3 or more. Against those, the card is close to blank.

When you cast it, the mana it refunds lets you follow up the same turn. That softens the cost of losing your Cubs.

Top-End Count

Three Sheoldred, the Apocalypse avoids drawing dead duplicates under the legend rule. A fourth makes sense only in grindy fields where you expect her to die repeatedly. Each legendary creature you control also makes Boseiju, Who Endures and Takenuma, Abandoned Mire cheaper to channel.

Professor Dellian Fel sits at three main and one in the board. Bring in the fourth against control and midrange, where its draw ability and repeatable removal take over long games.

Invoke Despair is the heavier grind option. Its {B}{B}{B}{B} cost leans on Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Llanowar Wastes and your black duals. Colorless Mutavault works against it.

The Manabase Levers

• Mutavault count: Four Mutavaults give you a cheap creature land. An animated Mutavault tapped for mana also triggers Badgermole Cub's extra {G}. The cost is color consistency. If you board into Invoke Despair or want more double-black turns, a Swamp in place of one Mutavault is a reasonable shave.
• Restless Cottage vs. Mutavault: Cottage enters tapped and costs four to animate. In return it makes colored mana, attacks as a 4/4, and exiles a graveyard card every swing. A third Cottage helps against graveyard decks. Against fast aggro, the tapped land hurts.
• Castle Locthwain: This is safe as a single copy. Overgrown Tomb, the basics and Urborg all count as a Swamp, so it rarely enters tapped.

Tuning for Your Local Field

Online, UR Aggro was the clear leader, taking 15 of 48 Top 8 slots (source: MTGTop8, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-15). Jund Sacrifice and The Rock held 5 slots each (source: MTGTop8, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-15). That sample is small, so treat it as a direction, not gospel. The 2026-10-12 announcement made no Pioneer changes, and the next one is scheduled for 2026-11-30 (source: Wizards of the Coast, 2026-10-12), so the card pool should stay stable through then.

Adjust one or two slots at a time. Every card you add should answer the specific decks you expect to sit across from. Don't fill slots with generically strong cards that don't.

Budget Options

The list runs about $712 at TCGplayer market prices. That is a paper estimate. The result came from MTGO, where pricing works differently, so check whichever platform you'll actually play on. No per-card prices are given here, but you can tell where the money likely sits from what each card is. Look up current prices before you buy anything.

Where the Money Likely Sits

• The mana base. 4 Overgrown Tomb, 4 Blooming Marsh, 4 Mutavault and the legendary utility lands (Boseiju, Who Endures, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth) are probably the largest share of the total.
• Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. This is a legendary threat that ends games, and it is the card you can least afford to replace.
• Thoughtseize and Fatal Push. Both are four-ofs and format staples. Four copies of each add up fast.

The rest of the 60 is where you should spend last, because cutting corners there costs you the least.

Acceptable Swaps and What They Cost You

Every swap below uses cards already in the 75 or basic lands. That way you know exactly what each replacement does.

Don't strip the dual lands for basics. Your spells need both colors early. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse wants BB, while Abrupt Decay, Professor Dellian Fel and Culling Ritual each need both colors. Badgermole Cub wants green on turn two. Replacing Overgrown Tomb and Blooming Marsh with basics makes you stumble on colors in the exact games you need to curve out. If you have to cut lands, take out Mutavault and the utility legends first. Treat the dual lands as fixed.

Keep Tear Asunder in. Kicked, it is a four-mana answer to any nonland permanent. That makes it a fine stopgap, but not a replacement for Abrupt Decay as a two-mana instant.

The sideboard can wait. Build the 60 first. The 3 Duress in the sideboard double as your Thoughtseize stand-ins, so buy those early. Graveyard hate (Unlicensed Hearse, Strategic Betrayal, Go Blank) only matters if graveyard decks show up at your events. The metagame brief records 2 Dredge Top 8 slots across 48 (source: MTGTop8, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-15). On that sample, you can add these slots later.

Upgrade Path

1. Cheap core first. Get 4 Badgermole Cub, 4 Graveyard Trespasser, 3 Abrupt Decay, 4 Unholy Annex/Ritual Chamber, Culling Ritual, Bitter Triumph, Llanowar Wastes, Restless Cottage and basics. These have no good substitutes, so lock them in before anything else.
2. Overgrown Tomb and Blooming Marsh. Fixing the mana improves every game you play, not just the games where you draw a particular card.
3. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. This is your biggest single power upgrade. It also unlocks the cost reduction on the channel lands, since both channel costs drop by 1 for each legendary creature you control.
4. Fatal Push. One-mana removal is what lets you deal with a threat and still develop in the same turn, especially against aggro.
5. Thoughtseize. Duress covers most of what it does against noncreature-heavy decks. The upgrade matters most against creature decks.
6. Mutavault, then the utility legends. These are the last few points of power. Each copy only matters in a small set of games.

Bottom line: a version with basics in place of Mutavault and the utility legends, plus Duress in place of Thoughtseize, still plays like The Rock. A version without Sheoldred, the Apocalypse or the dual lands doesn't. Spend accordingly.

Common Mistakes

1. Casting Culling Ritual into Your Own Board

Culling Ritual destroys each nonland permanent with mana value 2 or less, and that includes your Badgermole Cub. Players often cast it on autopilot against a wide board and lose their own Cubs, or they cast it with nothing else to do and waste the mana it produces.

The fix: Count both sides before you cast it. Your lands are safe, including a land animated by earthbend and an active Mutavault, because the spell only hits nonland permanents. If you have to lose a Cub, at least spend the mana. Each destroyed permanent adds {B} or {G}, so a Ritual that kills three or four permanents can pay for Sheoldred, the Apocalypse or Professor Dellian Fel in the same main phase. Plan the follow-up before you tap out.

2. Treating Fatal Push as Unconditional Removal

Without revolt, Fatal Push only kills creatures with mana value 2 or less. Players hold it for a three- or four-drop and then find they have no way to turn revolt on.

The fix: Set up revolt on purpose. Revolt only needs a permanent to leave the battlefield under your control that turn. Good ways to do that:

• Block with Mutavault and let it trade.
• Let a land animated by earthbend die. It comes back tapped, but it still left the battlefield.
• Cast Culling Ritual when it kills one of your own permanents.

Once a permanent has left, cast Push after combat damage, not before.

3. Paying Life You Can't Afford Against Aggro

This deck has many ways to cost you life:

• Thoughtseize costs 2 life.
• Overgrown Tomb asks for 2 life to enter untapped.
• Llanowar Wastes deals 1 damage each time you tap it for colored mana.
• Bitter Triumph can cost 3 life.
• Castle Locthwain makes you lose life for every card left in your hand.

Against the format's most common aggro deck, UR Aggro (15 of 48 Top 8 slots, source: MTGTop8, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-15), paying all of that unnecessarily loses games on its own.

The fix:

• Pay generic costs with the colorless mana from Llanowar Wastes.
• Play Overgrown Tomb tapped on turns when you don't need the mana.
• Pay for Bitter Triumph by discarding an extra land instead of paying 3 life.
• Remember that Duress can't take creatures. Against a creature-heavy hand it may miss entirely, so don't fire it just because it's cheap.

4. Sloppy Land Sequencing

Blooming Marsh enters tapped once you control three or more other lands. Restless Cottage always enters tapped. Castle Locthwain enters tapped unless you control a Swamp. Playing these in the wrong order costs you tempo that a midrange deck can't spare.

The fix:

• Play Blooming Marsh early.
• Play Restless Cottage on a turn when you won't use all your mana.
• Make sure you control a Swamp before you play the Castle. Overgrown Tomb, the basic Swamp, or Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth all count, since Urborg makes every land a Swamp.
• Don't play Takenuma, Abandoned Mire or Boseiju, Who Endures as an ordinary land drop when you already have enough lands. Their channel abilities are late-game card advantage, so keep them in hand.

5. Misreading Channel Discounts

Both channel lands cost {1} less for each legendary creature you control. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse counts. Professor Dellian Fel does not, because it's a planeswalker, not a creature. Players miscount this and come up a mana short.

The fix: Once Sheoldred is in play, channeling Boseiju, Who Endures costs just {G}. Use that to clear an artifact, enchantment, or nonbasic land while still holding up interaction. Remember that Boseiju lets your opponent search for a basic-typed land, so don't use it to "ramp them back" when the land itself barely matters. Takenuma, Abandoned Mire can return either Sheoldred or Dellian Fel, so if one of them dies, recover it.

6. Wasting Graveyard Trespasser

Two mistakes are common here:

• Firing the exile trigger at nothing in particular. Every time Graveyard Trespasser enters or attacks, it can exile a card from a graveyard. Exiling a creature card drains your opponent for 1 and gains you 1.
• Ignoring day and night. If a player casts no spells during their own turn, it becomes night and Trespasser transforms into a 4/4 that exiles two cards.

The fix:

• Aim the exile trigger at what matters. Against graveyard decks, exile their best recursion target. Otherwise, exile creature cards for the drain.
• Your removal is mostly instants. Leave it up and cast nothing on your own turn to flip to night.
• Don't cast a second spell on a night turn unless it's worth flipping back to day.
• Trespasser's ward makes opponents discard to target it, which makes it a strong threat to deploy into a removal-heavy hand.

7. Underusing Badgermole Cub's Mana

Earthbend turns one of your lands into a creature with haste. With Badgermole Cub in play, any creature you tap for mana adds an extra {G}. Players often forget to tap the animated land for mana, or they earthbend a land that makes the wrong color.

The fix: Earthbend a land that produces the color you'll need next turn, then tap it for mana alongside the Cub's bonus. Because of haste, you can do this on the same turn you cast the Cub. This is how you deploy Sheoldred, the Apocalypse or Professor Dellian Fel a turn early. The animated land is also a creature, so decide each turn whether it attacks or makes mana. It can't do both.

8. Putting Dellian Fel on Autopilot

Professor Dellian Fel can use its −3 once to kill a creature and still survive. Using it reflexively, or using +2 every turn while the opponent's board grows, both throw away its value.

The fix:

• Use −3 only on a creature that threatens your board or your life total.
• Use 0 alongside Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. Each draw gains you 2 life, so you come out ahead on life while also drawing a card.
• On a stable board, use +2 to work toward the −6 emblem. With Sheoldred in play, every life gain then drains your opponent, and that closes games quickly.

Tournament Prep & Final Notes

What to Practice Before You Register

• Discard targeting against both UR Aggro builds. The brief splits that label into a Swiftspear build and a Vivi build, with 10 and 5 lists respectively among its Top 8 appearances (source: MTGTop8 deck exports, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-15). They punish different Thoughtseize choices, so drill both until you know your first take on sight. Remember Duress can't touch creatures.
• Turn-three acceleration with Badgermole Cub. Earthbend makes a land a hasty creature, and tapping that creature for mana adds an extra {G} from the Cub. Practice the turn-two Cub into a turn-three four-drop until you never miscount. The extra mana is green, so it pays the generic part of Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, never the {B}{B}.
• Life totals in the aggro mirror-of-pressure games. Thoughtseize, Llanowar Wastes, Overgrown Tomb, the pay-3-life mode of Bitter Triumph and Castle Locthwain all cost life. Rehearse games against fast red decks where you deliberately take the slower, cheaper line.
• Sideboard swaps under the clock. Write your plans down beforehand so you aren't building them between games.

Rules Interactions to Know Cold

• Revolt enablers. Fatal Push upgrades to mana value 4 if any permanent left the battlefield under your control this turn. An earthbended land that dies counts, and it still returns tapped. A Culling Ritual that kills your own Badgermole Cub also counts, so Push afterward on the same turn hits the bigger target.
• Culling Ritual mana. It adds one mana for every permanent it destroys, including yours. Count your own two-drops into the total before you cast it. Lands are spared, so earthbended lands, Mutavault and Restless Cottage survive it.
• Channel discounts. Boseiju, Who Endures and Takenuma, Abandoned Mire get cheaper per legendary creature. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse counts. Professor Dellian Fel is a planeswalker and does not. Takenuma, Abandoned Mire can return either one.
• Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and card draw. Each Castle Locthwain draw and each 0 from Professor Dellian Fel gains you 2 life first. With Sheoldred out, the Professor's 0 nets you life, and Castle becomes far safer to activate.
• The Professor's emblem. After the −6, every life gain becomes a drain. Her +2 hits for 3, and each Sheoldred draw trigger hits for 2. Once the emblem is down, plan to close the game with these drains.
• Graveyard Trespasser day/night. If a player casts no spells during their own turn, it becomes night next turn and the card flips. Two spells in one turn by a player flips it back. Against spell-dense decks, expect it to stay day. Its ward forces a discard, which taxes cheap removal hard.
• Answer coverage. Abrupt Decay can't be countered but caps at mana value 3. Kicked Tear Asunder exiles any nonland permanent. In sideboard games, Nowhere to Run switches off ward and hexproof on opposing creatures.
• Land entry conditions. Blooming Marsh comes in untapped only while you control two or fewer other lands. Castle Locthwain needs a Swamp, and Overgrown Tomb or Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth satisfy it.

Time Management

This is a grindy midrange deck, and long games are where you lose clock. Make your discard decision during your opponent's turn by planning your take before you untap. Once the board stabilizes, activate Castle Locthwain and attack with lands on a fixed rhythm instead of re-deriving the math every turn. Restless Cottage and Graveyard Trespasser attack triggers each target a graveyard, so pick targets quickly. Exile creatures when a drain is on the line, and exile recursion threats otherwise.

Reading the Field

The brief's sample is small and indicative only. In it, UR Aggro took 15 of 48 Top 8 slots, Jund Sacrifice took 5 and The Rock took 5 with 2 event wins (source: MTGTop8, 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-15). Prepare for a red-blue tempo opponent first and a sacrifice deck second.

Two more facts help your planning:

• The 2026-10-12 announcement made no Pioneer changes, and the next one is set for 2026-11-30 (source: Wizards of the Coast B&R announcement, 2026-10-12). Your list is stable until then.
• Reality Fracture released on 2026-10-02 (source: Wizards of the Coast, 2026-10-02). Some opponents may still be testing new cards, so don't assume every list matches the ones above.

Final Assessment

This list won a 40-player MTGO Challenge 32 on 2026-10-12. The reasons show in the build:

• Cheap interaction at every point on the curve.
• Two four-mana threats that take over a game on their own.
• A mana base whose creature-lands keep attacking through sweepers and spot removal.
• Graveyard hate stitched into the main deck creatures and lands.

The weakness is self-inflicted damage against fast aggro. It is the main thing that turns favorable games into losses. If you manage your life total as carefully as your cards, sequence Badgermole Cub for the turn-three jump, and know your revolt triggers cold, this deck is a strong pick for the current field.

Metagame Context

Built from Arianne's 1st Place list at MTGO Challenge 32 (40 players, 2026-10-12), via MTGTop8. Metagame context comes from a research brief dated 2026-10-19 covering 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-19, drawn from MTGTop8; Wizards of the Coast. Card text and prices: Scryfall.

Source: tournament results. Decklist and placements as reported by the event organizer.