As expected, Oko, Thief of Crowns and the UGx Food archetype dominated the Standard metagame at Mythic Championship VI, making up 63.1% of the field.

There were two Grand Prix ahead of the Mythic Championship, and both events saw extremely high levels of UGx Food decks. In Nagoya, 56.7% of the field was Food decks, while in Lyon, 41.7% of the field was Food decks. Sultai Food was by far the most popular, followed by Simic and Bant.

Those trends held true at Mythic Championship VI, where 312 of the 495 players (63.1%) registered UGx food—37% chose Sultai, 19% Simic, and 7.1% Bant. Unlike Mythic Championship V, where the best deck (Bant Golos) only put one copy in the Top 8, UGx Food decks made up six of the Top 8 decks at Mythic Championship VI—three Sultai and three Simic—with two Simic Food decks meeting in the finals in the hands of Ondřej Stráský and Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa.

Standard Simic Food by Ondřej Stráský

Creatures (17)
Gilded Goose
Hydroid Krasis
Paradise Druid
Brazen Borrower
Wicked Wolf

Planeswalkers (7)
Oko, Thief of Crowns
Nissa, Who Shakes the World

Spells (10)
Aether Gust
Once Upon a Time
Mass Manipulation
Lands (26)
Breeding Pool
Castle Vantress
Fabled Passage
10 Forest
Island
Temple of Mystery

Sideboard (15) (15)
Veil of Summer
Negate
Voracious Hydra
Gadwick, the Wizened
Mystical Dispute
Questing Beast
Wicked Wolf
Nissa, Who Shakes the World

But Oko, Thief of Crowns was played by plenty of decks outside of the UGx Food archetype—69% of the field played Oko, in fact. The dominance of Green is clear as you scan the Standard metagame above—the Top 5 decks all play Green, and the most popular non-Green deck, Jeskai Fires, was only played by 4.2% of the field.

The most-played cards at Mythic Championship VI confirm just how powerful Green is in Standard, with the seven most-played cards being Green: Once Upon a Time, Gilded Goose, Oko, Thief of Crowns, Wicked Wolf, Paradise Druid, Nissa, Who Shakes the World, and Hydroid Krasis.

The dominance of traditional UGx Food decks overshadowed the success of a less-heralded Food archetype, Sultai Sacrifice, which also features Oko, Thief of Crowns and achieved an impressive 68.2% win rate (in 110 matches).

Sultai Sacrifice leverages the engine formed by Cauldron Familiar, Witch’s Oven, and Trail of Crumbs to drain its opponents out and draw cards. That engine proved difficult for other Food decks to disrupt given their lack of maindeck removal, leading to a 59.4% win rate, while preying on the non-Food decks that were built with the Food decks in mind to the tune of an 82.9% win rate.

Sultai Sacrifice by Thomas Ashton

Creatures (16)
Cauldron Familiar
Murderous Rider
Wicked Wolf
Gilded Goose
Massacre Girl

Spells (6)
Once Upon a Time
Noxious Grasp

Artifacts (4)
Witch’s Oven

Enchantments (4)
Trail of Crumbs

Planeswalkers (6)
Vraska, Golgari Queen
Oko, Thief of Crowns
Lands (24)
Forest
Swamp
Overgrown Tomb
Breeding Pool
Watery Grave
Castle Locthwain

Sideboard (15)
Duress
Rotting Regisaur
Vraska, Golgari Queen
Lovestruck Beast
Negate
Veil of Summer
Aether Gust
Thrashing Brontodon

The next Banned and Restricted announcement is scheduled for November 18, 2019, a week after Mythic Championship VI, where Food archetypes continued to dominate after the banning of Field of the Dead. It seems likely that next Monday’s announcement will contain more bannings to address the dominance of the Food archetypes and power level of Green in general.

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