Three weeks ago, Wizards of the Coast looked to shakeup a homogenized Standard metagame by banning the powerful Field of the Dead in Magic: The Gathering’s premiere constructed format. Unfortunately, the Field of the Dead ban appears to have only made matters worse, as decks built around Oko, Thief of Crowns have now completely taken over the Standard metagame, which was perfectly demonstrated by the 69% metagame share that Oko decks took at the recent Mythic Championship 6.
Indeed, this exact outcome was something that many players predicted at the time of the Field of the Dead ban, and some fans are curious as to why Wizards of the Coast would not have simply banned the Thief of Crowns alongside Field in order to avoid it. Fortunately, Wizards’ Vice President of Design Aaron Forsythe has offered some insight on the matter for those Magic: The Gathering players that are interested.
Specifically, Forsythe indicates that Wizards of the Coast did anticipate the potential for Oko-based decks to completely dominate following the ban of Field of the Dead in Magic: The Gathering’s Standard format, but the developer was not interested in “pre-banning” the card due to the playerbase’s negative response to past “pre-bannings.” The previous “pre-banning” that Forsythe calls out in particular is that of Reflector Mage, which was banned from Standard in January 2017, and he indicates that “people did not like that approach.”
While the suggestion that the banning of Reflector Mage was preemptive may not be exactly aligned with how some players remember the situation, Forsythe’s point is clear: WotC does not want to ban a card before it has clearly proven itself to have a net negative impact on a format. Certainly, many fans would state that the Mythic Championship 6 metagame definitively confirms that Oko, Thief of Crowns is unhealthy for Standard, and it is only a matter of time before Wizards’ official position is known.
That is because the next Magic: The Gathering banned and restricted announcement is scheduled for Monday, November 18, and many players believe that Oko, Thief of Crowns will be on the chopping block. If ultimately Wizards of the Coast decides not to ban Oko from Standard next Monday, the developer will most certainly provide an explanation, but that simply might not be enough for fans that are currently sick of seeing this extremely powerful Planeswalker.
The Magic: The Gathering Throne of Eldraine expansion set is available now.
