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Main » Articles » The Many Flavors of the Standard Buffet

The Many Flavors of the Standard Buffet

CovertGoBlue
Posted on October 1, 2019
 Reddit

Food tokens have wasted no time making an impact in Standard. From the Early Access event to Fandom Legends to The Fandom Caster Cup we have seen Food tokens all over the battlefield. Let's take a look at some of the options for Food decks in Throne of Eldraine Standard.

Oko Tokens | Eldraine Standard | Magic Aids 09.19.2019

With about a week to go before the release of Throne of Eldraine, this deck blew up on YouTube. The deck is based on Modern Golgari Midrange, and it applies steady pressure by playing undercosted threats like Woodland Champion and Lovestruck Beast while gaining card advantage with Dreadhorde Invasion and Oko, Thief of Crowns. This combo creates a 4/4 Elk token every turn since Dreadhorde Invasion no longer amasses onto the Elk created by Oko, Thief of Crowns [+1] ability.

Oko, Thief of Crowns
Dreadhorde Invasion

In the current Standard format this deck takes the position of an aggressive leaning midrange deck. It can grind and it gets on the battlefield quickly. Individual larger threats get hit by Assassin's Trophy, Murderous Rider, and Oko, Thief of Crowns. Going over the top of this deck requires a powerful late game that doesn't involve large creatures and lot of removal to keep Oko, Thief of Crowns in check. If I have a criticism of the deck, it is that it needs Oko, Thief of Crowns too much. Lovestruck Beast is a decent card that can't carry the team by himself. Dreadhorde Invasion is slow without great payoffs if you don't have your planeswalker making 4/4 Elk tokens. I think this deck would do great in an aggressive meta with decks from the last format like Mono-White Aggro, Mono-Blue Tempo, and Mono-Red Aggro. Let's check out a Food deck that goes bigger.

Trolgaak 2.0 | Eldraine Standard | Frank Moon 09.27.2019

A popular time sink in the new format has been getting Feasting Troll King into play as early as possible. If you have three Food tokens on the battlefield and a Feasting Troll King in the graveyard then you can make a "free" 7/6 vigilence trample creature. I use air quotes around the word free because clearly there is a deck-building cost to pay. You don't start the game with three Food tokens, you have to create them by playing Food related cards. Oko, Thief of Crowns is great and Gilded Goose is very good, but what else are we using to make food for our Feasting Troll King?

Feasting Troll King
Emry, Lurker of the Loch

This version of Trolgaak avoids cards like Merfolk Secretkeeper, Giant Opportunity, and Wall of Lost Thoughts that don't accomplish much on their own. Instead it uses Emry, Lurker of the Loch and Witch's Oven to keep the Food coming. The big question facing this deck is how much work should you do for a seven-mana 7/6 creature? After all, you can cast Rotting Regisaur for the low cost of three mana. This is a fun deck that would be knocking on the door of the metagame in previous Standard formats, but I don't see this deck contending in this meta without further innovation.

Foodie Midrange | Eldraine Standard | CovertGoBlue 09.25.2019

This was my first shot at Food in Standard. I wanted a midrange deck that could toss around the Mono-Red Aggro and Knight Tribal decks that were floating around while keeping up with the midrange lists making 7/6 monsters. I was torn on what to use to keep up on card advantage, and in hindsight I feel Trail of Crumbs and Bolas's Citadel are too clunky while Hydroid Krasis is the place to be. This list did help me identify the real stars of the Food deck. While Oko, Thief of Crowns is obviously a slam dunk, the other payoff for the deck has been Wicked Wolf.

Wicked Wolf

This card is amazing! If you keep this puppy fed you will have a serious threat that is really hard to kill. Vraska's Contempt is gone and Murderous Rider is widely played. An indestructible creature is stronger than it used to be. Forget about Feasting Troll King in your competitive midrange Food strategies. Wicked Wolf is the card you need.

Simic Midrange | Eldraine Standard | Brad Nelson 09.26.2019

Brad Nelson cut the Food package down to the bare necessities for Fandom Legends, the first tournament held with Throne of Eldraine legal on MTG Arena. While this might not have all the spice certain players are looking for, you can't argue with the effectiveness. Nelson posted the best record in the event, losing only one match in the semifinals of the event.

For those of you looking for something less spiky and more combo-riffic, we'll turn to one of my YouTube rivals.

Troll King Golgari | Eldraine Standard | MegaMogwai 09.26.2019

You can put a cat in the oven, and that may not make it a biscuit, but it does make for a fun interaction that can add up over the course of a game.

Cauldron Familiar
Witch's Oven

Once you have Witch's Oven and Cauldron Familiar, you can chump block the largest attacker your opponent has every turn, then sacrifice the Cauldron Familiar with Witch's Oven to make a Food token. At the end of your opponent's turn, sacrifice the Food token to return the Cauldron Familiar to the battlefield and get a drain for 1 in the process from the cat's enters-the-battlefield ability. You can repeat the combo every turn! If you have multiple Witch's Ovens, you can sacrifice the cat again and again. I have seen lists using Manifold Key to function as more copies of Witch's Oven!

With all this sacrificing of cats to make Food tokens going on, I was sure we could push the strategy further.

My Dragon Ate My Cat | Eldraine Standard | CovertGoBlue 09.27.2019

Priest of the Forgotten Gods and Mayhem Devil are known for causing trouble when you have fodder to sacrifice. This deck keeps the Wicked Wolf fed so it is often a four-mana removal spell that becomes an indestructible threat. The real juice in this pile is Korvold, Fae-Cursed King.

Korvold, Fae-Cursed King

Korvold, Fae-Cursed King is a card from the new Brawl decks that doesn't come in packs on MTG Arena. You will have to go into your Collection, filter for Not Collected cards, and craft this bad boy if you want to play this deck. In my opinion he is worth it. This legendary dragon noble reminds me of one of my favorite cards, Smothering Abomination, but much better. A fun tip in MTG Arena with Witch's Oven, Cauldron Familiar and Korvold, Fae-Cursed King is to turn on full control mode (hit the Ctrl key), cast Korvold, Fae-Cursed King, and after he has entered the battlefield and put the sacrifice trigger on the stack you sacrifice Cauldron Familiar to Witch's Oven, sacrifice the Food token to Cauldron Familiar, then sacrifice the returned Cauldron Familiar to Korvold, Fae-Cursed King's enters-the-battlefield trigger. This creates three sacrifices that draw three cards and make Korvold, Fae-Cursed King a 7/7 flier.

When it comes to food-based strategies there is a buffet of delicious options available. What decks will we see next in MTG Arena's food court? Leave me a comment and tell me what Food strategies you have seen or played with in the early days of Throne of Eldraine Standard.

TAGS articles, standard, constructed, analysis, decklist, #mtgeld, covertgoblue, eldraine standard, 10012019

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