Food in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards

Chris Reay June 19, 2023 MTG Cards, MTG Rules

Last updated on December 14, 2023

Food Token (Commander 2021) - Illustration by Steve Prescott

Food (Commander 2021) | Illustration by Steve Prescott

“Resource tokens” have been a recent trend in Magic, and Food was one of the first. Food and others resources like Clues and Powerstones have been used as mechanical game pieces and as a method to enhance the flavor (no pun intended) and cool factor on some cards. Food has proved popular, and it's shown up in a number of sets over the last few years.

There are some quirks with how Food tokens work, so let’s take a bite (pun intended) into their history and rules!

Table of Contents show

What Is a Food Token in MTG?

Savvy Hunter - Illustration by Dan Dos Santos

Savvy Hunter | Illustration Dan Dos Santos

Food tokens are tokens with the artifact subtype of “food” in MTG. They have the text “pay 2 mana, tap and sacrifice. Gain 3 life.” It’s probably worth noting that although most of the time you see Food, it’s not just restricted to the tokens!

How Do Food Tokens Work?

Food tokens allow you to pay two mana, tap it, and sac it to gain three life. They can be created by a variety of cards, and they can be used as resources for other cards and effects like sacrificing to Cauldron Familiar to bring it back from the graveyard.

“Food” is an artifact subtype and isn’t just limited to tokens, but this is where you’ll find it most often. If a permanent is an artifact then there’s no reason why it can’t also be food. So far we’ve had one food card that doesn’t cost two to sac and gain three life, and that’s Vegetation Abomination from Unfinity.

The History of Food in MTG

Food first appeared in Throne of Eldraine in 2019 on 27 cards in that set. While it's not evergreen, MaRo noted in a 2022 article that it’s considered “deciduous,” so it can occasionally appear in sets without being a large feature of the set.

Since then we’ve seen food in Modern Horizons 2, Commander decks, Unfinity, and finally it's back in a big way in Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth. Reprints of some key Food cards have also come in the usual places for occasional reprints, like Secret Lairs and The List.

When Can You Sacrifice a Food Token?

There are no time restrictions on when you can sacrifice a Food token. Unless something else says otherwise, you can sacrifice a token at any time you could cast an instant.

Are Food Tokens Permanents?

Yes, Food tokens are artifact permanents.

Is Food an Artifact?

Yes. So far all instances of food in MTG have been artifacts. “Food” is an artifact subtype, so it can only appear on artifacts.

Can Food Be a Creature Type?

No, food can only be a subtype of artifacts. Sometimes creatures can have the subtype of food, like Gingerbrute, but they’re also artifacts. The subtype applies to the artifact part of its typing, not the creature part, so food isn’t a creature type.

It’s a similar situation that applies to the shrine subtype for enchantments that exists for the Neon Dynasty shrines, like Go-Shintai of Life's Origin.

What Are the Ways to Get Food Tokens?

A lot of cards can create Food tokens. Some of the better examples are Oko, Thief of Crowns, Witch's Cauldron, and Gilded Goose. Some cards, like Gingerbrute and Golden Egg, are food themselves, which can be useful in some instances.

There are plenty of ways to make Food, and more are being printed in pretty much every set!

Gallery and List of Food Cards

Giant Mana Cake

Best Food Cards

You can’t really talk about Food in MTG without at least mentioning one of the most powerful cards ever printed, Oko, Thief of Crowns. This card could make anything into an elk, but it could also generate Food tokens.

Apparently the original design for Oko involved its main power swapping Food tokens for your opponent’s stuff, but a late change in its abilities broke multiple formats wide open instead!

Other notable Food cards are the cat/Oven combo with Cauldron Familiar and Witch's Oven. These were enough to see a ban in Standard (though not strictly due to power level) and still see play in Pioneer.

In Modern, the newer additions of The Underworld Cookbook, Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar, and Academy Manufactor make the Esper () Food deck tick.

With the release of Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth we also have Rosie Cotton of South Lane, which has the potential to do some silly things with Scurry Oak in Heliod Company decks in Modern, too. Time will tell whether this will become a thing, but it has fans of that deck excited!

Decklist: Esper Food in Modern

Ovalchase Daredevil | Illustration by Winona Nelson

This deck by Aspiring Spike was particularly popular when Yorion, Sky Nomad was legal in Modern. Despite the ban last year it’s still a popular and powerful deck, allowing you to go infinite without much difficulty.

Just make five artifact tokens a turn with some combination of The Underworld Cookbook and Academy Manufactor, and you can use Time Sieve to take infinite turns!

Final Bite

Turn into a Pumpkin | Illustration by Vincent Proce

These extra resource tokens like Food, Blood, and Treasure are proving popular in both Limited and Constructed formats, so I definitely expect to see Food pop up again fairly regularly. It seems like there’s still plenty of design space available with Food, and it’s a handy resource that can be used for anything.

What do you think? Do you enjoy Food’s flavor? Do you have any ideas how it could be used in the future, or do you think it’s already overused? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below, or over in the official Draftsim Discord.

Until next time, may your Food be the tastiest!

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Chris Reay

Chris is a passionate drafter who loves limited formats both online and (particularly) in person. He started his YouTube Channel, Pass Left Drafts MTG as a lockdown project and still loves putting out content for Magic players of all varieties.