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Magic: The Gathering Players React to Oko's Dominance in Multiple Formats


Now that "Field of the Dead" is banned in Magic: The Gathering's Standard format, decks that "Oko, Thief of Crowns" are dominating the meta, but Standard is not the only format it's affecting. The overpowered Throne of Eldraine Planeswalker card also won the Pioneer, Legacy, and Vintage trials on Magic Online this past weekend, and it's also becoming problematic in Modern and Brawl, and now fans are sharing their reactions on social media with their rants, memes, and calls to ban the Planeswalker from Standard.

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First of all, let's take a look at the complaints on how Wizards of the Coast is making powerful Planeswalker cards for the Standard format, and I'm sure many of you would be able to relate to these.

Redditor Encendi sums up what many of us feel about Standard's unfun environment thanks to "pushed" Planeswalker cards like Oko."It feels like for years everything in Standard just keeps getting stronger and stronger," Encedni wrote. "I remember back when you actually had to make a decision whether to tick your Planeswalker just above Bolt range or actually risk your Planeswalker by using the more powerful ability/removal."

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Another Redditor explains the oppressive power of Oko, and gave a perfect example of how it's busted in the Standard format, saying that "something has fundamentally failed in the balancing department". You can read his post below:

T2 Oko feels so oppressive on the play that even when you draw the perfect counter cards, you're out of luck. Will definitely be the deck to beat if it doesn't catch a ban.
from
r/magicTCG

Then, we have the Top 16 results from the recent Mythic Championship Qualifiers (MCQ) for MCVII, and most of the decks are Oko variants:

[Tournament Report] MCQW Day 2 Top 16 Decklists
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r/spikes

Many MCQ players who made Day 2 even main-decked multiple copies of "Noxious Grasp" to take down Oko because they expected the meta to be filled with them, and they were right:

Top 10 most played cards in Standard are *ALL* green
from
r/magicTCG

MTG Hall of Famer Eric Froehlich pointed out how competitive Magic this year has been awful with the Hogaak ban, and Standard's problems with "Field of the Dead" and Oko. Many would agree that last year saw a more diversified Standard and Modern meta but it looks like there's a lot of unbalanced issues in various MTG formats this year.

Even the $5,000 NRG Series Standard event in Madison, Wisconsin has been cancelled because only two people preregistered for the event, and MTG pro Sam Black pointed out how dominant green is in Standard.

Even Magic Pro League pro Brian Braun-Duin (BBD) pointed out how sideboard cards like "Veil of Summer" and "Noxious Grasp" are being used in the first game of recent matches.

He even wrote a piece on TCGPlayer titled Why Standard Sucks and How to Prevent It.

You can check out more elk jokes and Oko complaints in the other Twitter reactions below:

Of course, the overpowered planeswalker even inspired some Oko and 3/3 Elk memes. Check them out below:

Pioneers! It's time to... Spin! That! Marvel! But wait, Jim! What's this?
from
r/magicthecirclejerking
I only run vanilla 1/1s to flex on Daddy Oko
from
r/magicthecirclejerking
Oko
from
r/magicthecirclejerking
Daddy Oko makes me all tingly.
from
r/magicthecirclejerking
Because Oko’s the planeswalker MTCJ deserves, but not the one it needs right now
from
r/magicthecirclejerking
I spent way too long on this
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r/magicthecirclejerking
The best tee for your next FNM
from
r/magicthecirclejerking
They're the same picture
from
r/magicthecirclejerking
dae play elk tribal
from
r/magicthecirclejerking
Such is life.
from
r/magicthecirclejerking
How big is a 3/3 elk?
from
r/magicthecirclejerking

I'm sure we're going to see more complaints on the Standard format and memes until Oko gets banned, and hopefully they will ban it before Mythic Championship VI: Richmond next month.

Related: Kvartek Makes It to Top 16 of MTG Arena Mythic Championship VII Qualifiers

For more articles like this, take a look at our Magic: the Gathering page.