Food
(Redirected from Food token)
| Food | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artifact Type | |
| (Subtype for artifact cards) | |
| Introduced | Throne of Eldraine |
| Last used | Avatar: The Last Airbender |
| Rules |
 ,  , Sacrifice this token: You gain 3 life. |
| Storm Scale | 2[1] |
| Scryfall Statistics | |
Food is a predefined token and artifact type introduced in Throne of Eldraine.[2][3]
Description
Although it does appear in the type line of some cards, the type mostly appears on tokens. Food tokens have “, , Sacrifice this token: You gain 3 life.”
Since the Food type does not inherently grant the ability possessed by the predefined Food token, it is possible for cards with the Food type to not have that ability. However, for thematic reasons, all of these artifacts also have some form of ", , Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life." Notable deviations from the standard ability include the following:
- Candy Trail's ability also draws a card, as it is meant to represent a combination of the standard Food and Clue abilities.
- Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender's ability gains life equal to her power, which is 3 by default but may change.
- Three Bowls of Porridge has a modal ability where the standard Food ability is one option among three. As a consequence of the templating, the sacrificing occurs during the resolution of the ability when this mode is chosen, not as a cost of activation like with the standard Food ability.
- Vegetation Abomination makes one roll a six-sided die to determine how much life they will gain.
History
R&D made food tokens because they realized fairy tales were overrun with food references and it would allow them to design a lot of fun cards.[4][5]
Food tokens returned as a one-off in Commander 2021 (Gyome, Master Chef), and got six new producers in Modern Horizons 2. Food was not considered deciduous, until Streets of New Capenna.[6][7]
In The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth and Wilds of Eldraine, Food tokens are a larger mechanical draft theme.[8] R&D noted the problematic gameplay issue in original Throne that the payoffs for making Food tended toward shrinking the board and bogging down the game. Hence, the secondary uses of Food in these newer sets tended towards more proactive play.
Bloomburrow introduced Forage, a mechanical cost that includes the sacrifice of a food. Food also served as the backbone of the Squirrels archetype.
Rules
From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (July 25, 2025—Edge of Eternities)
- Food Token
- A Food token is a colorless artifact token with “{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: You gain 3 life.” For more information about predefined tokens, see rule 111.10.
From the Comprehensive Rules (July 25, 2025—Edge of Eternities)
- 111.10. Some effects instruct a player to create a predefined token. These effects use the definition below to determine the characteristics the token is created with. The effect that creates a predefined token may also modify or add to the predefined characteristics.
- 111.10a A Treasure token is a colorless Treasure artifact token with “{T}, Sacrifice this token: Add one mana of any color.”
- 111.10b A Food token is a colorless Food artifact token with “{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: You gain 3 life.”
- 111.10c A Gold token is a colorless Gold artifact token with “Sacrifice this token: Add one mana of any color.”
- 111.10d A Walker token is a 2/2 black Zombie creature token named Walker.
- 111.10e A Shard token is a colorless Shard enchantment token with “{2}, Sacrifice this token: Scry 1, then draw a card.”
- 111.10f A Clue token is a colorless Clue artifact token with “{2}, Sacrifice this token: Draw a card.”
- 111.10g A Blood token is a colorless Blood artifact token with “{1}, {T}, Discard a card, Sacrifice this token: Draw a card.”
- 111.10h A Powerstone token is a colorless Powerstone artifact token with “{T}: Add {C}. This mana can’t be spent to cast a nonartifact spell.”
- 111.10i An Incubator token is a transforming double-faced token. Its front face is a colorless Incubator artifact with “{2}: Transform this token.” Its back face is a 0/0 colorless Phyrexian artifact creature named Phyrexian Token.
- 111.10j A Cursed Role token is a colorless Aura Role enchantment token named Cursed with enchant creature and “Enchanted creature has base power and toughness 1/1.”
- 111.10k A Monster Role token is a colorless Aura Role enchantment token named Monster with enchant creature and “Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has trample.”
- 111.10m A Royal Role token is a colorless Aura Role enchantment token named Royal with enchant creature and “Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has ward {1}.”
- 111.10n A Sorcerer Role token is a colorless Aura Role enchantment token named Sorcerer with enchant creature and “Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has ‘Whenever this creature attacks, scry 1.’”
- 111.10p A Virtuous Role token is a colorless Aura Role enchantment token named Virtuous with enchant creature and “Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 for each enchantment you control.”
- 111.10q A Wicked Role token is a colorless Aura Role enchantment token named Wicked with enchant creature, “Enchanted creature gets +1/+1,” and “When this token is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, each opponent loses 1 life.”
- 111.10r A Young Hero Role token is a colorless Aura Role enchantment token named Young Hero with enchant creature and “Enchanted creature has ‘Whenever this creature attacks, if its toughness is 3 or less, put a +1/+1 counter on it.’”
- 111.10s A Map token is a colorless Map artifact token with “{1}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: Target creature you control explores. Activate only as a sorcery.” See rule 701.44, “Explore.”
- 111.10t A Junk token is a colorless Junk artifact token with “{T}, Sacrifice this token: Exile the top card of your library. You may play that card this turn. Activate only as a sorcery.”
- 111.10u A Lander token is a colorless Lander artifact token with “{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: Search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.”
Rulings
- Food is an artifact type. Even though it appears on some creatures (such as Gingerbrute), it is never a creature type.[9]
- If an effect refers to a Food, it means any Food artifact, not just a Food artifact token. For example, you can sacrifice Gingerbrute to activate the last ability of Tempting Witch.
- You can't sacrifice a Food token to pay multiple costs. For example, you can't sacrifice a Food token to activate its own ability and also to activate the ability of Tempting Witch.
- Some spells that instruct you to create a Food token have targets. You can't cast these spells without choosing all required targets, and if all of those targets become illegal targets, the spell won't resolve and you won't create any Food. If some but not all of those targets become illegal, you'll do as much as possible, including creating Food.
- Whatever you do, don't eat the delicious cards.
Notable Food
- Unknown
- Li'l Giri
Food tokens
Tokens marked with 
are created by Acorn cards.
| Token name | Color | Type line | P/T | Text box | Source | Printings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bread | 
|
Artifact — Food | , , Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life
|
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| Deep Dish Pizza |
|
Artifact — Food |  , , Sacrifice this token: You gain 3 life and draw a card.
|
|||
| Food |
|
Artifact — Food | , , Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life.
|
|||
| Hot Dog |
|
Artifact — Food | , , Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life.
|
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| Syr Acha | 
|
Legendary Artifact Creature — Food Knight | 1/1 | , : Sacrifice this token: You gain 3 life. Until end of turn, if you would draw a card, draw two cards instead.
|
||
| Gingerbrute |
|
Artifact Creature — Food Golem | Haste : This creature can’t be blocked this turn except by creatures with haste., , Sacrifice this creature: You gain 3 life.
|
Trivia
- Unlike Clues (Investigate), Food creation was designed without an associated keyword. If R&D had decided that Food would have needed a keyword, they would have wanted it to be generic to allow as many flavor interpretations as possible, so something like “prepare Food" - though Rosewater wishes to avoid "cook".[10]
- Icing Manipulator makes +1/+1 counters into Food tokens.
- Candy Trail is the first card printed with multiple predefined token subtypes.
- For Ygra, Eater of All, all other creatures are Food.
- Vegetable was a planned creature type for Unglued 2: The Obligatory Sequel.
References
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (December 19, 2022). "Storm Scale: Throne of Eldraine through Strixhaven, Part 1". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (September 16, 2019). "Singing in the Eldraine". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Matt Tabak (September 4, 2019). "Throne of Eldraine Mechanics". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (September 04, 2019). "Is Wizards concerned that adding something so 'everyday' to the game hurts flavor a bit?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (October 21, 2019). "More Odds & Ends: Throne of Eldraine". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (April 19, 2021). "The return of food if or when is it deciduous...". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (March 28, 2022). "Deciduous". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (June 5, 2023). "Crafting the Ring, Part 2". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Wizards of the Coast (September 20, 2019). "Throne of Eldraine Release Notes". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (September 27, 2021). "If rd had decided that treasure and food...". Blogatog. Tumblr.
External links
- Mechanic Spotlight: Food (Video). YouTube.
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