Ondrej Stráský won Mythic Championship VI on Sunday, defeating Hall of Famer Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa in the finals three games to two in a Simic Food mirror match.
Stráský entered his third Mythic Championship/Pro Tour Top 8 as the seventh seed and defeated two Sultai Food decks in the hands of Louis Deltour and Oscar Christensen to reach the finals. Damo da Rosa finished as the fifth seed for his 13th Mythic Championship/Pro Tour Top 8 and defeated Andrew Cuneo on Selesnya Adventure and Sebastian Pozzo in a Simic Food mirror to join Stráský in the finals.
The Top 8 bracket at Mythic Championship VI.
Damo da Rosa jumped out to a 2-1 lead and looked to be in the driver’s seat in Game 4 with an early Nissa, Who Shakes the World into a giant Hydroid Krasis while preventing Stráský from keeping a threat—a Hydroid Krasis of his own—on the board.
Stráský began to turn the corner with a Gadwick the Wizened into an Aether Gust to bounce Damo da Rosa’s Nissa and tap down the Krasis, buying him enough time to play his own Nissa and dump a Gilded Goose, Oko, Thief of Crowns, and a third Paradise Druid onto the battlefield, while using Nissa to turn a land into a 3/3. Damo da Rosa untapped and tried to use Mass Manipulation to steal Stráský’s Nissa, but Stráský had a Veil of Summer to counter it and effectively stabilize the board.
Stráský untapped and played a huge Hydroid Krasis to pull ahead. Damo da Rosa played his own (smaller) Hydroid Krasis but Stráský found a Mass Manipulation to steal Damo da Rosa’s entire board and even up the match at two games apiece.
In the decisive Game 5, Damo da Rosa mulliganed to five cards and both players had Turn 1 Gilded Goose. Stráský had a Turn 2 Oko, Thief of Crowns, while Damo da Rosa played a Questing Beast that was able to kill Oko over the course of two turns.
Stráský bounced the the Questing Beast with Aether Gust and played a huge Hydroid Krasis, which Damo da Rosa killed with a Wicked Wolf that ate three Food tokens. Stráský found another Hydroid Krasis while Damo da Rosa emptied his hand of the Questing Beast and a Gilded Goose, allowing Stráský to safely play another giant Mass Manipulation and win the game, match, and Mythic Championship VI.
A Victory to Cap off an Amazing Year and a Half of Magic
In addition to being a great character, Ondrej Stráský has taken one of the most memorable paths in professional Magic over the last few years.
Strasky Top 8’d back-to-back Pro Tours (PT Khans of Tarkir in 2014 and PT Dragons of Tarkir in 2015) but struggled to find that kind of success afterwards. He announced his retirement from competitive Magic in August 2018, saying GP Prague would be his last tournament unless he won, an event which he promptly Top 8’d—putting him back on the Pro Tour. That led him to GP Stockholm three weeks later, which he proceeded to win.
He qualified for Mythic Invitational last March by being in the Top 8 Mythic Constructed on MTG Arena and noted that he would be in a very tough group at the Invitation, then again joked that he would retire unless he won the tournament. He went on to make the Top 4 of the Mythic Invitational the hard way—by losing is first match of both the Day 1 and Day 2 double-elimination brackets and then sweeping the losers bracket both days.
Strasky was invited to Mythic Championship III Las Vegas as a discretionary invite, as well, and qualified for Mythic Championship V by making the Top 16 of the Mythic Championship Qualifier Weekend. His victory at Mythic Championship VI catapulted him to second place in the Challenger Standings at 83 points with one more Mythic Championship to go in 2019, putting him in excellent position to join the Magic Pro League next year—or the Magic Rivals League.
Ondrej Stráský’s Winning Deck List at Mythic Championship VI
Mythic Championship VI was dominated by UGx Food decks featuring Oko, Thief of Crowns, so it’s no surprise that six of players the Top 8 played a Food archetype and two Simic Food decks met in the finals. Stráský’s winning list is below.
Standard Simic Food by Ondrej Stráský
| Creatures (17) 4 Gilded Goose 4 Hydroid Krasis 4 Paradise Druid 2 Brazen Borrower 3 Wicked Wolf Planeswalkers (7) 4 Oko, Thief of Crowns 3 Nissa, Who Shakes the World Spells (10) 4 Aether Gust 4 Once Upon a Time 2 Mass Manipulation | Lands (26) 4 Breeding Pool 2 Castle Vantress 1 Fabled Passage 10 Forest 7 Island 2 Temple of Mystery Sideboard (15) (15) 4 Veil of Summer 2 Negate 2 Voracious Hydra 1 Gadwick, the Wizened 2 Mystical Dispute 2 Questing Beast 1 Wicked Wolf 1 Nissa, Who Shakes the World |