Planar Standard: the Monthly Championship Wrap-Up (June 2026)

The latest Monthly Championship for Planar Standard saw 20 players compete in what was the second major tournament since the release of Secrets of Strixhaven. 

After a gruelling five rounds of swiss and a top 8 playoff, a control did in the end claim the top spot… but maybe not the control deck you were expecting. While 4c Control, using Tablet of Discovery to ramp into game-winning spells such as Jeskai Revelation and Together as One, was the control deck of choice in May, LordSnuggles instead went a different direction and piloted Esper Control to victory this month instead. Snuggles’ Esper Control list was one of the latest in the evolution of UBx control decks, which have been popular in the format but haven’t necessarily been considered top tier. Like a typical control deck, their build features a mixture of disruption (Deceit), card advantage (Stock Up, Consult the Star Charts), removal (Erode, Requiting Hex, End of the Hunt) and counter magic (Divert Disaster, Essence Scatter). Interestingly, this is clearly a list built with creature decks in mind – note the presence of two main deck Essence Scatter and the three Day of Judgement – with not as many main deck weapons against control. However, the sideboard packs a lot of cards for the matchup, namely Duress, Negate and Oildeep Gearhulk.

Regardless, a creature deck was exactly what Snuggles would face in the final, taking on Oseoros on Mardu Discard. In fact, both 4c Control and Mardu/Jeskai Discard Aggro were considered the two strongest decks in the format heading into the monthly, but only accounted for four of the 20 decks entered, with one copy of 4c Control and two copies of Mardu Discard making it into the top 8. An extremely fast aggro deck which is both resilient and difficult to disrupt, Oseoros’ goal was to combine discard outlets in Iron Shield Elf and Hardened Academic, with Bloodghast and flashback spells like Practiced Offense and Dig Site Inventory. Interestingly, Monument of Endurance wasn’t included in his build, which instead sported a full playset of Ancestral Anger to try and maximise OTK potential.

Snuggles’ four sideboard Strategic Betrayal were clearly there for this matchup, while Oseros had some tools of his own in Duress and Hexing Squelcher. In the end, Snuggles would come out on top 2-1, proving once again that the power of blue should never be underestimated in the format.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about the other top 8 lists, and boy were there some spicy ones:

Boxxy dominated the swiss, going 5-0 with an iteration of the Golgari Power>3 list, this time opting to replace black with blue for the card draw and flexibility offered by Quantum Riddler and Wistfulness. The game plan remained the same, spam creatures with 4 power or more (Slumbering Trudge, Surrak the Hunt Caller) and use their stats to get advantage from Gurrak’s Uprising, Sylvan Scavenging and Lumbering Worldwagon, before slamming Ghalta, Primal Hunger. While Boxxy would fall to Snuggles in the semi-finals, the >3 archetype is proving its no flash in the pan with some fantastic results in recent tournaments.

Breadwave would finish in the top 4 after going 4-1 in swiss with a burn deck that they have been slowly developing into an absolute beast, and is one of the most interesting decks in the format. Rather than trying to simply go face with a bunch of Burst Lightning and Lightning Strike, his deck uses the incidental burn on strong control cards such as Inevitable Defeat and Silverquill Charm.They combine these spells with the engine of Ketramose, the New Dawn, Rubble Rouser and Ark of Hunger to gain life while burning the opponent over the course of multiple turns.

Beamden rounded out the 4-1 lists in Swiss with 4c Control, continuing the trend of the build forgoing Resonating Lute in favor of Tablet of Discovery. We’ve already mentioned what this deck does, though it is worth pointing out that their list runs two main-deck Abrade, most likely a hedge against other 4c Control lists and Monument-oriented Discard decks.

MBI turned the clock back, proving you don’t need to teach an old dog new tricks, with his UW Friends build leaving out any SOS cards to focus on the winning combo of walkers, potent creatures and interaction. The friends list pairs Voice of Victory and Haliya, Guided by Light with Elspeth, Storm Slayer and Kaito, Cunning Infiltrator with devastating effect.

Twinfox played a more traditional version of Mardu Discard featuring four Monument alongside three Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate and two main board Duress for the control matchup.

Lastly Rackhaml proved you can make Selesnya work despite its mana base issues, piloting GW aggro to a top 8 berth. This is a deck I’m really keen to try out as a personal Ouroboroid lover, it's great to see Dyadrine, Synthesis Amalgam getting some love along with Brightglass Gearhulk.

Alright, that about does it, well played to everyone who turned up for the monthly, congrats to Snuggles again and thank you to Eduardo for TO’ing and Rasone for streaming top 8. I’ve included the top 8 lists below, while the full results can be found on Challonge: https://challonge.com/m70wyoce 

Top 8:

Boxxy - Simic Power
Oseros - Mardu Discard
Czelt - Mardu Burn Control
Beamden - 4c Control
Lord Snuggles - Esper Control
MBI - UW Friends
Twinfox - Mardu Discard
Rackhaml - GW Aggro

Top 8 Vods (courtesy Rasone)

Quarterfinals https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2790494720
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2790494741
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2790494728
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2790494725

Semi Finals
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2790494730
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2790494717
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2790494724

Grand Finals
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2790494721