Magic The Gathering: Is Food Good?

Magic: The Gathering has a lot of mechanics, and we'd forgive you for forgetting some of them. It's pretty difficult to memorize seventeen different keywords and then remember all the mechanics of the game you're playing. But, to get to grips with Magic: The Gathering, you need to know all about them.

Several cards in Magic: The Gathering have an effect that creates what is referred to as a 'Token,' which are usually cards that you can't attack; these give you boosts and one that you'll see most frequently while playing the game is a Food Token. But what is the Food Token in MTG?

What Is a Food Token in Magic: The Gathering?

In Magic: The Gathering, there are two primary types of Tokens. There's a Treasure Token and a Food Token, which will always have the following effect: "Tap two mana and this card: sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life."

Food is useful when you're running low on health and have nothing you can summon to your side of the field to help finish off your opponent. Occasionally, it'll interact with cards that will either increase the amount of health you regain from using the effect or increase the number of Tokens made at any given time.

You'll often find Food Token summoners and various cards that will help them splash into a deck. But, sometimes, you'll also see decks specifically built around regaining as much life as possible, and they do this by flooding their field with Food Tokens and mana to sacrifice continually. 

Are Food Tokens Good in Magic: The Gathering?

It depends on your playstyle, truly. If you're the type of person who likes attacking as much as possible, which, as a consequence, makes it a lot harder to block incoming attacks, then Food could be a viable strategy as a way to constantly heal yourself so that you don't die from the pressure of your opponents. 

However, if you'd rather let no attacks in at all, then it's probably not worth focusing on Food Tokens as one of your primary strategies. This is because you won't be taking damage, and you'll just be giving yourself excess health, which can be rather funny but isn't needed. 

Is Food Good in Commander Format in Magic: The Gathering?

In Commander Format, it's always worth having something to create Food tokens. Even though your life is doubled compared to the standard format of the game, you'll also be potentially facing down more opponents and taking a lot more damage, so having a way to get that health back could be really useful.

At the end of the day, though, the answer to this boils down to the same answer as using Food in standard formats: look at the type of deck you're using and decide whether it fits.