Many Magic Standard players expected the latest Banned and Restricted announcement to bring some changes to the devastating suite of cards that make Mono-Green such a contender. In a moderately surprising decision, nothing in Standard was touched and Mono-Green and its offshoots continue to be one of the most dominant archetypes in the Magic: The Gathering Standard format.

What does Mono-Green do in Standard?

What does Mono-Green do and why is it so dangerous? The core of any Mono-Green deck is going to lean into two things, Landfall triggers and an overabundance of mana. The first is going to utilize Creatures like Icetill Explorer to recur sacrificial Lands from the graveyard and continuing rapidly filling your battlefield with Lands.

While this does create a lot of mana to cast huge spells, the real damage is dealt through Earthbending (placing +1/+1 counters onto a land and turning it into a Creature) and mana dorks. Badgermole Cub allows any Creature that can tap for mana to tap for an additional . This means Llanowar Elves, an Earthbended Land, or any other option immediately doubles the value it offers.

Adding in Earthbender Ascension into the mix means that playing against this is a deadly game of Whack-A-Mole that eventually will end with a huge Mightform Harmonizer, Mossborn Hydra or Craterhoof Behemoth swinging directly at you.

The core pain-point of Mono-Green as an opponent is that there are a lot of small threats and protective cantrips or recursion options that create a lose-lose situation. This deck wins with direct combat damage, but also works to punish you if you run interaction.

If you have made it to turn five, you have absolutely done a fantastic job of slowing this archetype down. Either that, or you are about to face the inevitable loss on your opponent's next turn. So how do you beat this deck?

How do you beat Mono-Green in Standard?

There are a few ways to deal with Mono-Green, fortunately. Unfortunately, many of them will need to make use of the Sideboard. For many decks, it'll take some unique preparation in order to the find the right solution for your archetype.

Mono-Green's plan is to set up and send one or more attackers that will end the game if they connect. The deck has options to counteract a lot of potential answers you could have. Cards like Pawpatch Formation can stop Enchantments like Rest in Peace or High Noon, or remove Flying threats, like Slickshot Show-Off.

Surrak, Elusive Hunter gives Mono-Green card draw if you attempt to slow down or eliminate large threats. That means many of the options available to you end up putting a lot of additional cards into their hand they can use to turn the corner and win the game.

White Sideboard Options

Avatar's Wrath - Putting a hard stop on Mono-Green's effort to build a hefty and deadly board state is the best way to win here. Avatar's Wrath doesn't kill your opponent's Creatures, but it does send all Creatures into Airbending exile and keeps them out of play for a full turn. This gives you two turns to end a game on your terms.

Erode or Get Lost - Stop an attacking threat at Instant speed. There is a drawback, either in the form of Map tokens or granting an extra Land, but well placed removal can send them right back to the drawing board. Having enough options allows you to work around protection too.

Rest in Peace - Exiling Lands from the graveyard makes Icetill Explorer absolutely useless. This also keeps Esper Origins out of play after the initial cast and its ability to Surveil Lands for recursion out of the picture. This slows down Mono-Green enough to set up your own wincon.

Ultima - This is an exceptional option, specifically for dealing with Earthbent Lands. Normally, killing an Earthbent Land just causes it to go back into play as a normal Land, so killing them can feel like a waste of time. Ultima puts the brakes on everything by immediately ending the turn after resolving. Everything dies, Earthbending doesn't trigger for the Land to return to the battlefield, and you can aim for victory while Mono-Green picks up the pieces.

Blue Sideboard Options

Annul, Get Out, Spell Pierce - This trio of or less Counterspells are ideal options against Mono-Green decks. Stopping those nasty Badgermole Cubs or Icetill Explorers is certainly a start. Keeping Earthbender Ascension from hitting the table is a fantastic option too. These should be auto-includes.

Exhibition Tidecaller and Kitsune's Technique - Mono-Green doesn't typically include many options to remove threats on your board, so a handful of small spells can be devastating. This is especially true if you have a few Exhibition Tidecallers out. If you get to cast a five-mana Instant or Sorcery spell, you may be ending the game pre-emptively. Using Sneak to get off a Kitsune's Technique makes this a win by decking.

Flow State, Sleight of Hand, or Stock Up - Card advantage wins games, plain and simple. These three cards are the premiere options for keeping your hand stocked with cards. If you are planning to sling any amount of spells, [Flow State] will be putting in a ton of work. Gotta make sure you have those Counterspells, right?

Procrastinate - This one is the best kind of mean. Procrastinate will have you tapping and putting stun counters on target Creature. A Creature like Mightform Harmonizer is likely to take a turn to prepare for the kill-shot. You can keep Harmonizer tapped for an incredible amount of time. The best part is the Creature you hit this with will become dead weight. However, I wouldn't advise hitting Badgermole Cub or Icetill Explorer with this spell as their abilities will still function as needed.

Black Sideboard Options

Ancient Vendetta, Deadly Cover-Up and The End - I like to call this the "No" suite of cards. Essentially the game plan here is deciding which cards are the biggest threat and then completely removing them from the game. Use these to remove the big beaters, or for the most fun, hit an Earthbent Forest to significantly reduce Land options.

Malicious Eclipse, Ruinous Waterbending, Sandman's Quicksand, Withering Curse - I wasn't lying when I said kill everything. If played smart, these spells can obliterate the board state for Mono-Green. With a decently low mana cost and options for kickbacks on things dying, these are all amazing options. At the same time, cards like Massacre Wurm or Harvester of Misery work well too, but you will want to probably pull them out of the graveyard instead of an expensive hard cast.

Vicious Rivalry - Being a card, Vicious Rivalry is absolutely positioned to stop threats as your opponent is preparing their board. With four mana and a few points of life, you can excise any or all threats without having to target anything. As an added bonus, you can also keep your important Creatures alive.

Red Sideboard Options

Fire Magic, Sear or Slagstorm - In most cases four damage will be the magic number for getting pests off the board. A two mana Fire Magic will kill most mana dorks or Badgermole Cub. Sear will kill the bigger Creatures when they enter the battlefield. Slagstorm offers a fantastic set up to remove any pumped-up Creatures. These all synergize well with Improvisation Capstone too.

Improvisation Capstone - It'll make sense, promise. If you can gather the mana necessary to cast this card, you are going to get four mana of spells every upkeep. With the right spells, this can set you up to remove your opponent's biggest threats. It also offers the option to pump any Creatures with Prowess or similar abilities.

Spinerock Tyrant - Once again, not the cheapest option, but an absolutely devastating one. Spinerock Tyrant can undo all the little Landfall triggers that Mono-Green uses to pump their Creatures, while also taking advantage of casting spells for free with Improvisation Capstone, if you chose to. Doing Wither damage with copied spells to a Mono-Green player's biggest threats is like hitting the e-brake on the highway.

Green Sideboard Options

Keen-Eyed Curator - If Icetill Explorer is on the battlefield, it's going to play Lands from the graveyard. You can use the first ability of the Keen-Eyed Curator to remove those Lands on demand, meaning that you can stop recursion on the spot. You can also target other cards to get the +4/+4 and Trample ability active for a nice big attacker.

Ouroboroid - If you are running Green and aren't in a mirror match against Mono-Green, it's important to play to your strengths. Ouroboroid is going to pump up anything and everything you have on the board during your combat phase, allowing you to set up the potential to hit just a little bit harder.

Professor Dellian Fel - Another card that offers a ton of benefit. Professor Dellian Fel can give you card draw, removal options, or life gain. If you can get six or more loyalty, you can potentially take a few turns to ravage your opponent's life total without worrying about them continuing to build up their board state.

Wrapping Up

Mono-Green is one of the few decks that doesn't appear to have changed much with Secrets of Strixhaven. That being the case, we did get several new options for throwing a wrench in the plans of Green's mission to swing in for lethal damage.

Hopefully you now have the tools you need for your decks and sideboards to handle the Mono-Green menace!