The latest Magic: The Gathering expansion Throne of Eldraine features incredibly powerful cards and one of them is already dominating the Standard format. Wizards of the Coast's recent Standard banning of "Field of the Dead" just opened up the field for a powerful Throne of Eldraine card to dominate the format even more, "Oko, Thief of Crowns", and it's causing a huge price spike for the card.
Now that meta-dominant Golos decks that played "Field of the Dead" are gone, decks that run Oko is expected to rise in power, and its paper version has already risen in value. The blue/green Planeswalker card from Throne of Eldraine already saw a lot of play at the Mythic Championship V this past weekend, with some MTG pros even calling to ban or restrict the card in Standard because of its insane power level.
The current price for a regular paper version of "Oko, Thief of Crowns" is $61.55, according to MTGGoldfish. That's about a $20 price jump since the ban announcement, and that's pretty huge for a Standard legal card.
At TCGPlayer, many sellers are listing the regular paper version of Oko for $80, and only a few cards came close to that price while in Standard.
The foil and borderless versions of Oko are about $200, but it will likely come down a bit as the Standard metagame settles to a new norm.
It's easy to see why Oko is a damn powerful card as the planeswalker can be played by Turn-2 with the help of "Gilded Goose", and it's hard to deal with especially if it's on the play. Being able to create a Food token, turn your own Food token or any other Artifact or Creature card on the field into a 3/3 Elk is insanely good. And let's not forget its ultimate that helped MTG Italian pro Andrea Mengucci win his epic game at the Mythic Championship V.
The next MTG Ban and Restricted announcement is scheduled on November 18, so if decks that run Oko continue to dominate Standard so much, it's likely that the card will get a ban hammer as well. Until then, with "Field of the Dead" gone, it's likely that other Standard archetypes will rise but it's clear right now that Simic, Bant, or any other decks that use Oko will be the decks-to-beat.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By the way, if you're excited to play the new Pioneer format, we invite you to join our Pioneer Facebook group:
Related: Someone Bought Up MTG Pioneer Staples Before It Was Announced
Explore new topics and discover content that's right for you!
Magic: the Gathering