Gathering standard decks are broken by this avatar card

Although Universes Beyond as a whole had a mixed reception among fans, especially after Magic: The GatheringThe Spider-Man set, various cards dedicated to Avatar: The Last Airbender, seem to fit right into the game's world and loop. Lesson cards take the best part of their Strixhaven counterparts without the Learn gimmick, and Ally as a subtype comes back with a vengeance on powerful cards like Great Divide Guide, making all allied creatures mana dorks. Now, Magic: The Gathering he'll soon see his meta completely shifted by two major events: the post of Banned and Restricted by Wizards of the Coast tomorrow, November 10th, and the release of the Avatar set.

Currently, most game formats have a distinct meta, with some decks significantly better than most and accounting for the largest share of the meta. This is especially true for Standard, which has two dominant decks in the form of Izzet Cauldron and mono-Red aggro. Share for the top 10 MTG the decks, based on tournament rosters and participation as seen on mtgdecks.net, are as follows:

Izzet Cauldron (around 22% meta share)
Mono-Red aggro (around 19% meta share)
Mid-range Dimir (around 11% meta share)
Simic aggro (around 6% meta share)
Sultai Reanimator (around 5% meta share)
Azorius control (around 3% meta share)
4 suit control (around 3% meta share)
Jeskai control (around 3% meta share)
Orzhov Pixie (around 2% meta share)
Boros Burn (around 2% meta share)

This represents approximately 76% of the meta, and almost 4% are rogue decks.

However, things are about to change as the Avatar set introduces a card called Zhao, Moon Slayer. This is a 2-CMC (1 generic, 1 Red) 2/2 creature with Menace that allows tapped non-basic lands, basically destroying the curve of any non-monocolor deck in MTG.

This Magic: The Gathering Avatar card makes standard decks virtually unplayable

The problem with Zhao, Moon Slayer isn't even that players can spend 7 mana of any color to put a conqueror token on it, which then turns all non-basic lands into mountains. This is a very powerful effect and fits perfectly with Avatar's fire mechanic MTGbut what breaks Zhao, the moon assassin, is the fact that all the non-basic lands enter the land.

Most of the standard packs in the game, incl MTGStill dominating the format, the Izzet Cauldron deck features some form of dual land, meaning lands that can be tapped for one of two colors (or both). This is because they make it easier to manipulate the mana curve for multi-color decks, even decks that only run two colors, and provide a lot of utility and flexibility. Additionally, utility lands like Rockface Village and Soulstone Sanctuary are also seeing play to have more options for action.

All of these lands are mostly useless to Zhao, Moon Slayer, as they enter the game tapped regardless. This alone slows down any non-mono-colored deck, and then Zhao also has the option to spend 7 mana to make most non-mono-red decks unplayable.

How Mono-Red Aggro Deck MTG May Change After Standard Bans

Magic: The GatheringStandard bans may limit the options for mono-Red, which is not guaranteed, but there are a few candidates:

Screaming Nemesis could be banned in Standard because it's a very strong, problematic creature that kills decks of life one-handed and makes mono-Red's curve much more consistent and aggressive.
Sunspine Lynx is normally a sideboard, but it's incredibly strong at 4-CMC for a 5/4 that blocks lifegain and makes it impossible to prevent damage, while also dealing damage to players based on the non-basic lands they control and further punishing opponents when used with Zhao.

If these cards are banned, mono-Red might be less consistent even with the upcoming Zhao, Moon Slayer, but the Avatar deck also has incredible mono-Red cards like Fire Nation Cadets and Firebending Student that could prove incredible in the meta. Bans will inevitably change Standard, but Zhao is going to make quite a splash if mono-colored decks don't start popping up.