The top 8 players have now been decided for Mythic Championship VI and Standard is not looking pretty. Oko, Thief of Crowns is a busted card, and it is expected to be banned on November 18. Its associated decks represented a staggering 69% of the field of 494 players. Among the sea of Food decks there were still a variety of decks that did not use Oko and hence will be viable going forward after the potential banning. In this article we will explore the potential decks in a post-Oko ban world, and some powerful strategies highlighted in the tournament.

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Decklists

Here are the curated decklists for the tournament, including the top 8, and the top performers of each deck archetype. Note that the final ranking of the players also take into account their draft record, which consists of 6 rounds total (Standard is 10 rounds).

View all Mythic Championship VI decklists and metagame analysis here

All 494 decklists are now published.

Our Standard Metagame Tier List – updated regularly

Food Decks

As in the above table, the Food decks have also dominated the top 8. Sultai Food and Simic Food are clearly the best versions of the Oko decks and there is not much to say other than the deck is not likely to be safe from next week’s banned and restricted announcement. However, the core Simic deck without Oko is still strong with the powerful green cards such as Nissa, Who Shakes the World, Hydroid Krasis, Risen Reef, Once Upon a Time and more. It will be interesting to see if anything else from these gets the axe.

Sultai Aristocrats

One of the stand out decks of the tournament is the Sultai Aristocrats / Sacrifice deck, that combines the sacrifice synergy of Cauldron Familiar / Witch’s Oven, and the typical Food package of Gilded Goose / Oko, Thief of Crowns / Wicked Wolf and putting all of that together with Trail of Crumbs for insane card advantage. With 13 pilots, the deck had a 73% (43-16) win rate – 56% (20-16) against Food decks, and 100% (23-0) record against non-Food decks. The deck after Oko’s ban will definitely hurt the deck, but the core looks powerful enough to give it a go.

Temur Superfriends

This deck only had 2 pilots, and both finished a strong in the tournament. This deck is quite aggressive in nature and aims to power out a second turn planeswalker with the help of Arboreal Grazer and Gilded Goose. It combines the power of the Food package and has Sarkhan, the Masterless as its other win condition. Whether this can be replaced with something else like Narset, Parter of Veils will be interesting to try out.

Golgari Adventures

The Adventure mechanic has cemented its place in the metagame thanks to the power of Edgewall Innkeeper that allows you to draw a stream of cards. Lucky Clover is another powerful card that sees play in Adventure decks from time to time as well. Eli Kassis has been on a roll in this tournament, which he was able to convert to a top 8 finish. After the banning, this deck will even have more room as Noxious Grasp can be relegated back to the sideboard.

Selesnya Adventures

Andrew Cuneo stuck to his gun and made top 8 with Selesnya Adventures, putting the deck back on radar. It pulled through Sultai Food decks that have Massacre Girl maindeck. Going wide is a good plan in a metagame without too much board wipes, which makes sense here.

Gruul Adventures / Aggro

The Gruul Adventures is a twist on the traditional Gruul Aggro, which is a mixture with the Edgewall Innkeeper package but keeps the Questing Beast + Embercleave combo intact. This version had a total record of 12-3 in the tournament with only 3 pilots (one of them being World Champion and previous Mythic Championship winner Javier Dominguez) and 10-3 against Oko decks. As soon as the decklist was posted, I personally took the list to Mythic with a 15-4 record and is perfectly viable post-Oko ban. Brian Kibler also took the traditional approach of the deck that has Pelt Collector and Skarrgan Hellkite to a respectable finish.

Jeskai Fires

Fires of Invention decks are still very much part of the metagame, and with the absence of true aggro decks (like Mono Red) it can perform well outside of Oko. Grzegorz Kowalski’s deck has a combination of the Fae of Wishes and its wishboard, as well as the Cavalier duo. There are numerous other viable versions of the deck (e.g. Jeskai Planeswalkers, Grixis, four-color) which leaves more room for experimentation once Oko leaves Standard.

Rakdos / Jund Aristocrats

The other two viable sacrifice synergy decks that do not involve Food or Oko. The Jund version features Korvold, Fae-Cursed King to have a better advantage in longer games, where as the Rakdos version leans towards a more aggressive stance. The core cards include the Cauldron Familiar / Witch’s Oven package and Mayhem Devil. This deck is great at dealing damage and generating value outside of combat, thanks to Witch’s Oven – the best card in the deck. Angrath’s Rampage in the maindeck is great for mirror matches to deal with the opposing Witch’s Oven. Artifact hate such as a Embereth Shieldbreaker will be a staple sideboard card going forward, as these sacrifice decks are likely to be contenders as a tier one deck once Oko gets the ban.

Azorius Control

Teferi is a great card for invalidating Veil of Summer, which traditional Esper control decks are weak to. The deck has shown some strong finishes in recent tournaments, but without strong finishers like Teferi, Hero of Dominaria it is harder to close out games and they games also become very long and grindy. It probably shows the skill of the player more than the strength of the deck.

Temur Reclamation

Another slower deck similar to Azorius Control above that relies on generating a lot of mana with Wilderness Reclamation at the end of your turn and casting a huge Expansion // Explosion. The deck relies of counterspells to stall the game and with less Teferi, Time Raveler in the current metagame, Temur Reclamation has shown some strong finishes in recent events.

Rakdos Knights

One of the rare aggressive deck archetypes that showed a decent record in the tournament other than Gruul Aggro, which shows the power of Embercleave that can end games out of nowhere. Without Oko to make it into a 3/3 elk, the card is poised to become better post-banning and other versions such as Boros and Mardu has a lot of potential.

Simic Flash

Robert Smith brought with him an unique version of Simic Flash that includes 3 copies of Nissa, Who Shakes the World. It is a good inclusion as it can untap a Breeding Pool to have two mana available for a counterspell. Aether Gust and Mystical Dispute are great cards that helps the deck fight the green / blue dominating the metagame. This deck is always on people’s watch list, as its strength depends on the level of Teferi played.

Esper Stax

Esper Stax is a decent deck that shows up in small numbers, but the weakness of the deck lies on its predictability. We also know that a traditional Esper control or midrange deck has been powerful in the past – can it still be a contender without Teferi, Hero of Dominaria?

Wrapping Up

What do you think will happen in the next ban announcement? Will it just be Oko, or will it be the other powerful green cards also? What other decks do you feel will be top tier going forward? Let us know in the comments below or reach out on our Twitter or Discord server!