There’s no denying that the Standard format has been undergoing a major renaissance recently. Not only has Wizards of the Coast been giving the format more major events, but it’s even getting a lot more sets too. In 2025 alone, Standard is getting six major sets, three in-universe, and three Universes Beyond.
While 2025 still has four more sets to give, this year has already been hugely exciting. Aetherdrift gave many decks some fun new toys, and then Tarkir: Dragonstorm has come along to really shake up the meta. One card in particular has given rise to a whole new archetype and is seeing an impressive amount of play.
While it hardly needs an introduction, Cori-Steel Cutter is the new Standard staple in question. For a time, players were more than happy about the increased variety this card brought to the format. Now, however, it seems that opinions may be starting to sour. Now that Izzet Prowess is the most popular deck in Standard, players are starting to wonder if Cori-Steel Cutter is a little too good.
A Perceived Problem
There’s no denying that Cori-Steel Cutter is a very strong Magic: The Gathering card. At the very least, Cori-Steel Cutter can make any bomb an instant threat, thanks to providing Haste and Trample. While this effect is somewhat expensive, it’s hard to ignore the potential for this coming in clutch and closing out games. All of that said, this is not what Cori-Steel Cutter is known for.
Beyond just being a decent piece of equipment, Cori-Steel Cutter also obviously has a Flurry ability. This is what really pushes the card over the edge. When building around this card, decks have no trouble activating Flurry every turn, giving you a steady stream of 1/1 Monk tokens with Prowess. The Cutter even equips itself onto your new tokens, allowing them to attack immediately.
As you’re likely well away at this point, Izzet Prowess is built around doing exactly this, and it has proven incredibly effective. Not only is this deck all over the Standard ladder on MTG Arena, but it’s consistently winning major events too. Plenty of Leagues, Challenges, and even larger events are all being taken down by this deck.
As OceanusDracul succinctly put in a recent Reddit thread, “Izzet Cutter Aggro has thrown a massive brick through the window of the standard metagame.” Prior to Tarkir: Dragonstorm, this deck didn’t exist, and now it’s absolutely everywhere thanks to its meteoric rise. Unsurprisingly, this has made Cori-Steel Cutter look like a problem, perhaps more than it actually is.
A Cut Above?
Right now, there’s obviously no doubt that Izzet Prowess is a powerful and popular deck. According to MTGDecks, it currently makes up just over 24% of the Standard metagame in the past two weeks. For comparison, the next most popular deck is Jeskai Oculus, and that’s only managing a 10% meta share right now.
Despite this significant meta share, Izzet Priowess is definitely beatable. Looking at the results of recent major tournaments, we can see Jeskai Control, Mono Black Demons, and Azorius Omniscience all taking the top spot. Just behind these winning lists, there’s plenty more variety in the top four and eight.
With this variety in mind, it’s hard to say that Cori-Steel Cutter and Izzet Prowess are particularly overpowered or broken. This sentiment was echoed in the recent Reddit thread from Vegetable-Reward-137, which asked, “Will CSC be banned in Standard?” Responding to this thread, many players noted that while problematic, banning this card isn’t a done deal.
For starters, the ceiling to ban cards in Standard is incredibly high, and Wizards is reluctant to make changes. We saw this recently during the latest ban announcement, as everyone through Monstrous Rage or Up the Beanstalk would be banned. Despite this, Wizards elected for no changes in the format, leaving us where we are today.
On top of this, as OceanusDracul commented earlier, “We’ll have to see. […] We need to see if people can adapt to it first.” We’ve already begun to see this happen somewhat, as High Noon has become a common hate piece to try and defend against Izzet Prowess decks. Since the Standard metagame is still evolving, there’s a chance that this deck may only turn out to be a temporary problem.
Times Are Changing
For now, there’s absolutely no chance that Wizards of the Coast is going to emergency ban Cori-Steel Cutter. Even if the card is good, emergency bans are basically entirely off the table until Wizards accidentally prints Oko 2: Electric Boogaloo. If anything is going to be banned in Standard, it’ll happen during the next predetermined announcement on June 30th.
Technically, there is a higher chance that Wizards will ban some cards in Standard during this announcement. As the pre-rotation ban announcement, this is Wizards’ opportunity to remove any problem cards that aren’t rotating out. At the same time, however, rotation obviously provides a massive shakeup to Standard and will likely result in a substantial metagame shift.
For this reason, Wizards of the Coast may want to let rotation happen as normal, to wait and see if any changes are required. Doing this, however, could potentially be a mistake, given that Temporary Lockdown is one of the many cards rotating out. Without this low-to-the-ground board wipe, Izzet Prowess may end up steamrolling over even more of the Standard meta.
Ultimately, there’s no telling exactly what will happen in the coming weeks and months. Even before rotation, we’ve got the release of Final Fantasy to look forward to, and that could equally shift up the meta. Even Edge of Eternities, which ushers in rotation, could include plenty of meta-breaking bombs.
As always, we’re just going to have to wait and see what the future holds. Thankfully, we won’t have to wait too long, at least, as rotation is only 11 weeks away.
