Avatar’s Best Commander Card is a Green Smothering Tithe

Last updated on November 26, 2025

Unlucky Cabbage Merchant | art by Thanh Tuan

Any regular MTG player already knows that, barely a week since Avatar: The Last Airbender released, Badgermole Cub has become a multi-format powerhouse. As we reported yesterday, the green two-drop has slotted some of the best MTG decks in Magic's Modern, Pioneer, Standard, and cEDH.

And yet… if you're looking specifically at cEDH, Avatar‘s biggest hit is probably a different green creature: The Cabbage Merchant

Yes, it looks like a joke. But, no, not joking: The Cabbage Merchant, seemingly a meme reference to one of Avatar‘s running gags, has become one of the most successful new engines in cEDH, even as casual Commander players have thus far mostly treated him as a flavor win and moved on.

Let’s walk through what he does, why competitive players were calling this “green Smothering Tithe” months ago, and how he just helped put three different decks into the Top 4 of a top-tier, 168-player cEDH championship.

How The Cabbage Merchant Works, and Why It's Excellent in Commander

Arcane Signet | Illustration by Dan Scott

Found in Avatar Jumpstart, The Cabbage Merchant is a 2/2 legendary Human for with three lines of text:

• Whenever an opponent casts a noncreature spell, you create a Food token.
  
• Whenever a creature deals combat damage to you, you sacrifice a Food.
  
• If you tap two untapped Foods you control: Add one mana of any color (you don't need to sacrifice the Food for this; just tap it!)

Flavor-wise, this is peak Avatar: In the series, there's a running gag about this poor guy getting his merchandise smashed every time there's a big fight. So, opponents attack you? There goes another cart. But if he survives long enough, all those carts turn into profit: tap the cabbages for mana and keep the stall open another day.

Mechanically, though, what could look like a meme reference, The Cabbage Merchant is no joke.

In Commander, and above all against opponents that play lots of noncreature spells, our Merchant:

• Is a sort of reverse Smothering Tithe/Rhystic Study: You don’t tax your foes, but you just quietly accumulate artifacts just for your opponents playing the game.
  
• Spews five-color mana rocks that, unlike treasures, you don't need to sac to get the mana. In other words, your opponents basically give you an Arcane Signet per two noncreature spells they cast.
  
• Provides a small life buffer (because those Foods still work as intended and gain 3 life when you need them). And, of course, lifegain synergy if your deck wants it.

Competitive Players Saw the Merchant Cabbage Coming

As soon as The Cabbage Merchant was previewed for Avatar: The Last Airbender Jumpstart, cEDH folks were calling it “Green Smothering Tithe,” comparing it to Rhystic Study, and generally being very hyped about our salesman… 

… even though casual players largely ignored it, and are still doing so.

But they definitely shouldn't.

Just as a small sample of what Cabbage Man can do, two different decks with The Cabbage Merchant in the 99 topped the cEDH 5K at SCG CON Las Vegas last Saturday, where:

• Bryan Li took down the event with a Sisay, Weatherlight Captain deck that featured The Cabbage Merchant as part of its value engine,
  
• Renowned deckbuilder Sam Black finished second piloting a Rograkh + Thrasios shell that also ran our favorite produce salesman.

That would have been impressive enough, but it kinda became small cabbages potatoes the very next day.

At the Redemption Event – European cEDH Championship 2025, a 168-player event, only the #2 deck was not a Merchant deck. Johannes Ramm took the first spot with a Esika, God of the Tree deck, and two other Cabbage sellers made it to top 4: A Halana, Kessig Ranger + Tymna deck, and a Rograkh + Thrasios deck.

That’s three Merchant decks in the Top 4 of a major cEDH championship, across three different commander shells. Different decks, same cabbage!

Interestingly, only three of these five green decks play Badgermole Cub… and the ones that claimed the #1 spot are the two that don't!

Should You Start Cooking with Cabbage?

Esika, God of the Tree – Illustration by Johannes Voss

If your pod prefers low-power Commander, you probably don’t need to jump into the coleslaw cart and panic-buy a copy of The Cabbage Merchant tomorrow morning. The card is noticeably worse in metas where people cast fewer spells per turn, and above all when everybody leans more on creatures going face rather than ending games with stack wars.

But if you regularly play green at high-power brackets, you may want to pay attention. Competitive players saw this one coming, and it's even exceeding the pre-release hype by topping top-tier cEDH tournaments.

Just ask yourself, “Do I want my opponents’m noncreature spells to gift me five-color mana rocks?” If the answer is yes, you might want to clear a slot for The Cabbage Merchant.