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Hi everyone!
Standard has continued to move quickly, but the key players have risen to the top. I've played all of the top decks and have a list I like, but Mono-Green Food is my current favorite. I went 6-0 in an SCG Satellite and 7-2 in the Kaldheim Qualifier last weekend with Food. It's currently well positioned.
Today I'm going to talk about my Food list and how to sideboard and approach the six most popular matchups.
Here's my current list:
Soylent Green | ZNR Standard | Kyle Boggemes
- Creatures (27)
- 2 Kogla, the Titan Ape
- 2 Thrashing Brontodon
- 3 Feasting Troll King
- 4 Gilded Goose
- 4 Kazandu Mammoth
- 4 Lovestruck Beast
- 4 Tangled Florahedron
- 4 Wicked Wolf
- Planeswalkers (1)
- 1 Vivien, Monsters' Advocate
- Enchantments (4)
- 4 Trail of Crumbs
- Artifacts (5)
- 2 Witch's Oven
- 3 The Great Henge
- Lands (23)
- 15 Forest
- 1 Bonders' Enclave
- 3 Crawling Barrens
- 4 Castle Garenbrig
Like most of my lists the maindeck is fairly stock. It's all about having the right stock cards to come up with sideboard plans that balance. Let's talk about the maindeck choices.
The Core
Mono-Green Food is a deck with plenty of customization, but it also has a solid core. I would not cut the following cards:
4 Gilded Goose -Try not to use the first food for mana on turn two to cast a 3-drop. It serves as a lightning rod for removal and making mana to activate Trail of Crumbs in the early game. The mana becomes more important to ramp out an early Troll-King or Kogla.
4 Lovestruck Beast - There aren't any food synergies here; just one of the best Green cards in Standard. The 5/5 helps you cheat out an early The Great Henge. Remember Tangled Florahedron is a 1/1 to help the beast attack. I have even used Vivien's -2 to find a Florahedron to enable the beasts.
Remember if you suspect your opponent has Negate in hand it's not a requirement to cast Heart's Desire first.
3 Trail of Crumbs - Some players opt for a fourth Trail, but three is required. This is your main card advantage engine that enables broken early starts with Gilded Goose. Every card in my maindeck is a permanent to select with Trail's ability.
4 Kazandu Mammoth - This is an important creature and a primary reason Food is such a misunderstood deck. I frequently hear how Ugin crushes Food, but that's only true in certain games. If your plan is to use mana each turn to draw more cards it's easy to wipe the board and win, but Mammoth allows for proactive games. Food is very dynamic and you need to be ready for both types of draws. This is another one of the best Green cards in Standard and makes the cut on rate alone.
4 Wicked Wolf - Not much to say about this card, but it's what Flametongue Kavu looks like in 2020. If you have Gilded Goose in play be sure to make food when your opponent cannot respond with a removal spell on the Wolf.
Remember, the wolf taps when you sacrifice a food so it's a reasonable play to activate at the end of the opponent's turn. The +1/+1 counters help enable a cheaper Great Henge; you get a discount if the wolf grows up to a 7/7.
The Wolf is another creature that shines in Green matchups. An indestructible creature causes headaches and is another enabler for Gilded Goose. I changed the way I approached sideboarding once I realized the Wolf is versatile enough to leave in the deck for many situations. I want less expensive threats in the board because a good number of the core cards cost at least four mana.
3 Feasting Troll King - I want a total of five 6-drops in the maindeck and many lists opt for a fourth Troll-King. The King shines in many different matchups and is typically big enough to threaten a quick win.
There are many things to remember about the Troll-King, but as long as you remember to attack it won't matter. The three food are only generated when you cast the Troll-King from your hand; this means the food doesn't replace itself when brought back from the graveyard. This also means you don't get the food if you cast the King from the top of your deck with Vivien.
The Troll-King is the primary reason Castle Garenbrig is so powerful in this deck. The King can come down as early as turn three if you have Goose, Garenbrig, and another accelerant.
2 Witch's Oven - I was initially skeptical of this card as it felt too cute. It's the cheapest value engine as there are many ways to convert a food token into a card. The oven protects Feasting Troll King from exile removal such as Elspeth Conquers Death, Ugin, and Extinction Event; this interaction is very important against control.
I was sold on Witch's Oven after I saw it's use against Gruul. A solid maindeck card has use against both control and aggro decks. The oven can sacrifice a creature targeted by Stomp which fizzles the spell and Bonecrusher Giant doesn't go to the Adventure Zone. It also prevents a creature from being stolen by The Akroan War. Combat becomes a headache with Wicked Wolf when you can create a food at instant-speed.
The main plan of attack against Rogues is to make three food to reanimate a milled Feasting Troll King which makes the Oven shine. I don't want to play three maindeck Ovens as they are mediocre in the mirror and get better when the opponent boards in more removal.
Remember, if you sacrifice a creature with at least 4 toughness you generate two food tokens. All of your creatures that cost at least three mana can meet this criteria. The Troll-King can be recurred so easily thanks to the oven because the 6 toughness gets you 2/3s of the way there which ain't bad.
4 Tangled Florahedron - I end up casting a 1/1 less than half of the time, but it's worth the inclusion. The ability to ramp when your hand has a Feasting Troll King can help close out the game quickly. A 1/1 is vulnerable to removal so be careful not to expose your land to interaction if it's too risky.
There's a tension between playing the Florahedron and keeping it in hand in case you draw The Great Henge.
3 The Great Henge - Possibly the best finisher in the format. I've seen lists with four copies, but I think it's too clunky. This deck is very mana hungry and the extra mana can sacrifice food or make more with Gilded Goose.
Against Rogues remember the Henge's draw ability is not optional and it's possible to deck.
The Great Henge is great against Ugin because of the high converted mana cost.
The life gain and mana from the Great Henge does not use the stack because it's a mana ability. This means you don't have to be afraid of getting burned out in response to activation. Sorcerous Spyglass isn't able to stop anything from the Henge either.
When the Henge is in play you can also sacrifice Feasting Troll King to the Oven and reanimate to draw a card each turn. This can be risky as a tapped Oven doesn't save the Troll from exile.
Here are some of the flex cards I chose to include:
2 Thrashing Brontodon - A metagame call due to the popularity of the Great Henge and Embercleave; I've also destroyed plenty of Mazemind Tome against control. I want to kill artifacts and enchantments with a creature because I can find it with Vivien and Trail of Crumbs and draw a card off the Great Henge. It seems like Brontodon would overperform against Esper, but it's mainly there to kill Doom Foretold. That card is a huge headache.
2 Kogla, the Titan Ape - This slot is competing with Feasting Troll King. Kogla is a legend so I don't want more than two. It's very good against Green decks and is able to affect the board faster than the Troll King. This card has been bananas so far.
The attack trigger is another way to destroy artifacts and enchantments. The indestructible ability only works if you have a human token from Heart's Desire in this deck. Your opponent might miss the indestructible ability because it's rarely used.
1 Vivien, Monsters' Advocate - If it was reasonable to play six 6-drops I would play it over the maindeck Vivien. Some versions of Food play more mana acceleration in the form of Ilysian Caryatid to help support the higher curve.
I'm currently down on Vivien and would not maindeck a second because Gruul can overpower the tokens and Ugin can wipe away all of the card advantage generated in the first game. The 3/3 reach creatures do help pressure Rogues.
Vivien gets stronger after sideboard and the opponent has more ways to interact with The Great Henge.
1 Bonders' Enclave - I began testing Food expecting the Enclave to overperform, but was sorely mistaken. The issue is Trail of Crumbs is already a way to convert mana into extra cards which makes the Enclave useful in less situations. I still want one Enclave because there are 27 Green lands; I can afford a slight increase in power for consistency.
3 Crawling Barrens - I have been very impressed with the Barrens. It shines against Ugin decks which is an area that needs to be addressed. If I have a Barrens in play I can comfortably play Feasting Troll King because a -6 activation takes Ugin to one loyalty.
I have found in Game 1 I have too much to do with my mana to waste time attacking with Barrens, but it becomes important after sideboard and the opponent has more interaction. There are aggressive draws where even a 2/2 can help close the door. Combining pressure with card advantage lets you have your cake and eat it, too.
Sideboard
2 Scavenging Ooze, 2 Chainweb Aracnir - This is my anti-Rogues package. I don't need more hate because the Troll-King is also recursive.
If Rakdos makes a return you can swap the Aracnirs for Tormod's Crypt. I saw Rumti stream where he made this swap and it looked solid. You can exile your graveyard to essentially counter a Drown in the Loch or turn off Into the Story. It can also be found withTrail of Crumbs.
Ooze can exile Feasting Troll King in the mirror, but it's a pretty niche scenario. It's hard enough to kill the 7/6 the first time and the ooze would likely have to be already in play since the opponent will recur as soon as possible.
1 Wilt, 1 Thrashing Brontodon - Additional ways to interact against Green decks. I'm playing a Wilt over the fourth Brontodon for mana considerations.
1 Primal Might - This is a good effect against Gruul and the mirror. I used to play two, but there weren't enough cards I wanted to cut against those two decks to justify the slot. I want to save my valuable sideboard slots for matchups where I want to take a more transformative approach like Rogues and Ugin decks. Note you can pump your Goose in the late game and attack for a ton of damage in the air.
I've had multiple games against Gruul so far where Primal Might pumping an early Goose to kill an early creature was relevant. If I had Ram Through I would not have had a play.
1 Witch's Oven, 1 Feasting Troll King - I consider this to be a package against Rogues and decks with Ugin or Extinction Event. I value the oven highly against removal decks and feel favored if it's in my opening hand. The fourth Troll-King gets better after board when I have the third Oven. Note that if you're playing Rogues, Lullmage's Domination is weak given the power of Witch's Oven in the matchup. I already want to accumulate food tokens for the Troll-King.
3 Sorcerous Spyglass, 2 Questing Beast - I think of these cards performing a similar function of pressuring Ugin decks.
Questing Beast is competing for other expensive threats so I didn't like boarding in three copies. The only time I want three copies of Questing Beast in the curve is when I completely cut Wicked Wolf and that only happens against decks with four Ugins and other forms of Dimir Control. Questing Beast is good against Esper and Mardu Yorion, but Wicked Wolf can kill Skyclave Apparition, Yorion, and Archon of Sun's Grace.
Sorcerous Spyglass is typically played in fewer numbers, but I have been very impressed. It's an artifact that can be found with Trail of Crumbs. Toward the end of a game against control I can use Trail to churn through my deck to lock it up with a Spyglass on Ugin. I would play two Spyglass if it only interacted with Ugin, but it also stops Mazemind Tome and Ashiok out of Dimir Control. Control decks lean heavily on Mazemind Tome to generate card advantage.
1 Vivien, Monsters' Advocate - The last anti-control card in the board. Note the 3/3s are even against Extinction Event. There are significantly more powerful even threats than odd thanks to Feasting-Troll King.
Sideboarding
Rogues
In: 1 Feasting Troll King, 1 Witch's Oven, 2 Chainweb Aracnir, 1 Vivien, Monsters' Advocate, 2 Scavenging Ooze
Out: 2 Thrashing Brontodon, 2 The Great Henge, 1 Trail of Crumbs, 2 Kogla, the Titan Ape
As I mentioned above, the key to the matchup is getting enough food to reanimate Feasting Troll King. Since you have inevitability in the mid game it's important to survive the early tempo onslaught. Make sure you don't feed all of your food to the Troll-King only to have it exiled by Cling to Dust. The recursion effect can be played at instant-speed on your turn.
Ooze is an early threat to distract your opponent from killing you. Rogues mills you too fast to consider spending your mana to keep your graveyard small.
If your opponent doesn't play Lurrus watch out for Zareth San. When exiling cards from your graveyard get rid of the scary permanents first. You can sacrifice Chainweb Aracnir to Witch's Oven to escape additional times to kill creatures with flying and shrink your graveyard.
Mirror
In: 1 Wilt, 1 Thrashing Brontodon, 1 Primal Might
Out: 2 Witch's Oven, 1 Trail of Crumbs
The first game can be grindy thanks to both sides having The Great Henge and Troll-King. It requires sacrificing card advantage for damage to steal a quick win, so be sure the aggressive plan is the right line. Kogla, Wicked Wolf, and Lovestruck Beast can stabilize a board quickly.
Ugin has a good chance of impacting Game 1 because the games slow to a halt. The sideboard has more answers for the Great Henge which speed up the post board games. For this reason I would maindeck an Ugin over the Vivien or not play Ugin at all. I was able to beat a version of Food in the Kaldheim Qualifier with three maindeck Ugin because of Troll-King combined with Crawling Barrens.
The matchup has a chance to be about tempo thanks to Wicked Wolf stunting early mana development. Be sure to practice as this mirror match is extremely tricky.
Gruul
In: 1 Wilt, 1 Thrashing Brontodon, 1 Primal Might, 1 Feasting Troll King
Out: 1 The Great Henge, 2 Trail of Crumbs, 1 Vivien, Monsters' Advocate
A fast Embercleave can destabilize your initial defense so I prioritize keeping a Brontodon alive. I don't have a lot of cards to board in because the slowest cards in the matchup make food which help Wicked Wolf.
Temur Ramp
In: 1 Vivien, Monsters' Advocate, 1 Primal Might, 2 Questing Beast
Out: 2 Trail of Crumbs, 1 Tangled Florahedron, 1 Feasting Troll King
Genesis Ultimatum gives Temur inevitability which leaves Food the aggressive role.
The fighting effects are important to contain Terror of the Peaks.
Temur can be a challenging matchup. Their fail rate is what you're truly fighting. It's currently on the decline because the Gruul matchup is becoming closer and Esper Doom is maindecking Negate. This bodes well for Food.
Dimir Control with Ugin
In: 1 Feasting Troll King, 1 Witch's Oven, 1 Vivien, Monsters' Advocate, 2 Questing Beast, 3 Sorcerous Spyglass
Out: 1 The Great Henge, 1 Lovestruck Beast, 4 Wicked Wolf, 2 Kogla, the Titan Ape
The first game against Ugin decks are very difficult. I try to be aggressive and hope the opponent stumbles. Wicked Wolf and the rest of your even-costed beaters are susceptible to Ugin and Extinction Event.
Post sideboard an early Spyglass can stop Mazemind Tome or Fabled Passage to prevent Ugin from being cast. Since the path of least resistance is casting even-costed threats I prioritize the odd-costed creatures.
Vivien is most likely to resolve after an Extinction Event. If Vivien is in my hand, I can threaten the opponent with even-costed creatures since the downside risk is mitigated by slamming a planeswalker on the following turn.
Esper Doom
In: 1 Witch's Oven, 1 Feasting Troll King, 2 Questing Beast, 1 Thrashing Brontodon
Out: 1 Wicked Wolf, 2 Kogla, the Titan Ape, 1 The Great Henge, 1 Lovestruck Beast
This is becoming a closer matchup as Esper Doom now plays four Extinction Event. Doom Foretold is able to disrupt the Witch's Oven engine with the Troll-King. The third Brontodon replaces Lovestruck Beast because the 1/1s being even only slightly plays around Extinction Event and destroys Doom Foretold.
That's all I have for today. Food is a great choice for an upcoming Standard tournament, but make sure to practice. If you know your role you can beat any deck.
Thanks for reading!
-Kyle
