State of Play - June 28, 2025
Jaeger Kolstad
Following a less than ideal pro tour meta analysis, we could expect some changes to Standard on June 30th, 2025.
The Final Fantasy Pro Tour Breakdown
The Final Fantasy Pro Tour highlighted just how oppressive Mono Red and Izzet Prowess has been in the recent Standard Meta - making up a combined 53.2% of all decks played in the tournament. To make things even more apparent, the top 8 finalists all played variations of Mono Red or Izzet Prowess.
What Cards Could Go?
- Monstrous Rage is an obvious target for this ban cycle. Rage has proven to be absurdly strong since its release in Wilds of Eldraine in September, 2023, and enables both Izzet Prowes and Mono red. The main ire with this card is the permanent Trample effect it gives. Overall it is incredibly strong both early and mid game.
- Cori-Steel Cutter was released in the most recent set - Tarkir: Dragonstorm. WOTC often shies away from banning recently released cards, however, Steel Cutter gained immediate popularity for its resilience to targeted removal and board wipes, as well as being able to repeatedly make tokens.
- Stock Up is also a newer card, and admittedly the least likely on this list to be banned. That said, it is seeing play in pretty much every deck that runs blue. Being able to dig five and keep two is very strong - both in aggro styles as well as combo decks like Azorious Omniscience.
What Could Take Their Place?
- Dreadmaw's Ire is also a one drop pump spell that grants trample, however only until end of turn. This fixes the "broken" aspect of Monstrous Rage, and trading what is effectively +3+1 for +2+2 is not horrible.
- Red Mage's Rapier is similar to Steel Cutter, but does not give Trample and the token generation effect is not repeatable. This is a huge downside, but may prove to be more balanced. This just goes to show how innovative and "pushed" Steel Cutter is as a card.
- Opera Love Song is a promising card from Final Fantasy. While it does not support Omniscience, being able to cast as a combat trick or on your oppnents end step to effectively draw three for your turn is huge. Regardless of any bans we expect this might see play in many brews going forward.
Final Thoughts
WOTC is nutoriously restrained when it comes to ban announcements for Standard. Truthfully, we would not be shocked if there's NO ban updates this week. However, if there is an update, the most likely target is Monstrous Rage. We predict that their statement on Cori-Steel Cutter or Stock Up is that the cards are too new to make a final call on, and that the new rotation may bring enough change to the meta as is.
Do you think any of these will get banned? Are there any cards we missed that you think will get chopped? Let us know!
