Food Chain

Enchantment

Exile a creature you control: Add X mana of any one colour, where X is the exiled creature's converted mana cost/mana value plus one. Spend this mana only to cast creature spells.

Combos

• Eternal Scourge + Food Chain
• Food Chain + Misthollow Griffin
• Food Chain + Prossh, Skyraider of Kher + Sarkhan Vol

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Big Apple Highlander	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Freeform	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
PreDH	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (42)

capwner on One-card wins

1 week ago

So here's an idea you may be familiar with...a one-card win: That is, a card that wins the game or initiates a winning line by itself without needing any other pieces. Just cast that one card and boom, you're in a position to win. This seems very OP because a 1 card combo is of course easier to assemble than 2-or-more card combos, and besides being easy to assemble I think it improves your resilience because it's easy to recur or topdeck a single card, and initial card investment is lower so you have more potential space in hand for interaction or a backup plan. The downside would be a lot of these either cost a lot of mana or require a lot of build around, or both. So some obvious examples of this would be cards like Tooth and Nail that tutor up multiple parts of a 2-part combo. Shared Summons is another card that, given enough mana, can win by itself say by assembling Heliod, Sun-Crowned + Walking Ballista. These double tutor cards are especially sweet because they can also find protection if you already have part of the combo or other tutors. I think Hoarding Broodlord is similar because it tutors for Saw in Half to find more combo pieces, so this wins by itself too. By extension, in the decks that have these, regular Demonic TutorGC or Solve the Equation become a 1-card wins as well! Next there are some weirder ones...there's straight up Enter the Infinite which if resolved should certainly give you the ability to win on the spot with a million counterspell backups. On the opposite end of the curve, Doomsday initiates a combo line by itself but is slower; you either need to pass the turn or have a means of drawing a card to continue comboing. Similarly, Selective Memory in an all-spells deck can exile your whole deck besides Thoracle, then draw her and win next turn. Of course in the all-spells camp there's also Balustrade Spy, Undercity Informer and Goblin Charbelcher which can win on the spot, these are probably the best and actually competitively played archetypes, and Hermit Druid combos similarly. Hmm.... what else, I guess there are tons of 1-card combos with commanders, like Etali + Food Chain, Niv Mizzet + Curiosity, and so on. Those are pretty close to 1-card wins but I would say a different genre of combo than the ones I am discussing. Another card I think fits is Timesifter, with the right build this card can very likely result in a win by itself, though it is totally non-deterministic! I think as a 5 drop artifact, compared with the mana demands of some of the other cards mentioned, this is a very competitive option for a potentially game-ending effect on a single card. I love Timesifter lol. What else? Other tutors like IntuitionGC and Gifts UngivenGC can assemble breach combo by themselves in Jeskai decks with Sevinne's Reclamation. Ad NauseamGC and other mass-draw effects scoop up huge portions of the deck and win from there. Anything that can tutor multiple times like Increasing Ambition or Razaketh, the Foulblooded can win by itself. Goblin Recruiter I'm pretty sure sets up Conspicuous Snoop combo by itself, maybe that's a win next turn one. Approach of the Second Sun but that's REALLY slow by itself. This far down the line I'm tempted to even say Stoneforge Mystic and/or Stonehewer Giant because you can play a line where you get Sword of Hearth and Home to flicker her, get Kaldra Compleat then get Worldslayer and that's baaasically a win 2 turns later from just a Stoneforge. On that topic, MLD spells in general come pretty close to being 1-card wins IMO by relying more on overall deck construction to out-recover opponents, so similar to a Timesifter resolving a Jokulhaups should usually win it for the MLD player if they built their deck right, and if nobody has Tef Pro <- another 1 card win here lol.

I feel like I've blabbed enough, I'd like to know which cards I've missed and what your favorite 1-card wins are? Or even cool Commander + 1 wins if you know of some lesser-known ones. Hey I guess Magda, Brazen Outlaw and Godo, Bandit Wardlord both win by themselves too, right? But kind of slowly, Godo needs haste and Magda needs dwarves/treasures. Also for commanders, I think both Captain Sisay and Sisay, Weatherlight Captain can assemble wins by themselves, slowly. Also Yisan, Wanderer Bard.

Anyways thanks for reading if you did, hopefully you got something useful out of this wincon rant. One-card wins are a big principle I try to use in my deckbuilding especially at higher powers and I think trying to enable the wackier ones provides some fun deckbuilding challenge and is really rewarding when you can pull it off.

DemonDragonJ on Commander/EDH Game Changers

2 months ago

With today's announcement regarding modifications to the game changers list, I have removed the following cards from this list:

-Deflecting SwatGC

-ExpropriateGC

-Food ChainGC

-Jin-Gitaxias, Core AugurGC

-Kinnan, Bonder ProdigyGC

-Sway of the StarsGC

-Urza, Lord High ArtificerGC

-Vorinclex, Voice of HungerGC

-Winota, Joiner of ForcesGC

-Yuriko, the Tiger's ShadowGC

I am not certain if I agree with each decision, but I can at least understand why WotC made them, so I shall be interested to see how these changes affect the format, and I certainly am interested to see what other users here have to say, about these changes.

plakjekaas on Why Are the Other Free …

3 months ago

DreadKhan you're not wrong, but your insight in why which cards are useful in which brackets had flipped some cause and effect. Fierce GuardianshipGC is needed in bracket 4-5 because the wincons in those brackets are noncreature spells that need to be broken on the stack to be stopped. To the point that playing free counterspells now is signpost tryhard behaviour showing the game you're playing is too efficient for lower brackets.

Not being fun in lower brackets is a reason to put card on/off the gamechangers list, but it's not the only reason. Playing gamechangers is a sign you want to play a different kind of game than precons are built for. A game full of interaction and strong/ efficient ways to win, that can't be deterred by a few good blockers. The fact that you need the (tryhard, freespelling) gamechangers for both offensive and defensive uses, makes it bracket 4, it's not bracket 4 because you can play the cards.

And obligatory repeat:

The bracket system is not a legality checklist. It's a tool to start a conversation about what you want and expect out of a game of commander. There's no legality tied to it, the gamechangers are there to tell the oblivious players that; if these are the cards you like to play, there's a big percentage of players that will not have fun playing against your deck. So that the matchmaking of decks beforehand will lead to the opposite of disappointment for the most players involved. You can build decks without any gamechangers in it, still with the means to combo on turn 3. The deck isn't bracket 2 by lack of gamechangers, the intent matters as much as the cards do.

And the intent of someone playing Force of WillGC and Fierce GuardianshipGC in their deck is barely ever different from "I need to win at any cost, and stop everyone else from doing so". Which makes it at least bracket 4. That's why they're on that list. Like Food ChainGC. You don't play that card without a way to make infinite mana with it. Those plans are not casual commander plans. Deadly Rollick does not in any way convey that same sentiment, and is therefore way more widely accepted, and not a gamechanger, even though it's free. That's the conversation the Gamechanger list is trying to start.

Venum on Etali, Primal Conqueror

3 months ago

Treasonous Ogre is a great and very fast way to surprise your opponent with Etali out on turn 2-3

Food ChainGC + Squee, the Immortal is a must in Etali's deck

Feel free to check my version on my profil for ideas :)

Mortlocke on The Queen's Egg

4 months ago

russianbeast93, of the previously mentioned i've only tested The First Sliver. It's an excellent creature and is in my opinion the de facto Food ChainGC cEDH commander. I'm sure there's been some new fancy other option that was recently printed - but they're not a sliver and therefore are inferior. Sliver Gravemother and Rukarumel, Biologist are genuinely interesting Slivers (in Ruka's case "Sliver") that offer more gameplay variety but are not necessary inclusions. I haven't tested either of them in the deck - but I do have the Sliver Swarm precon. I have yet to open it mostly because i'm still trying to figure out what themes I want to build the deck around. In the future i'd love to see a Sliver that is mechanically similar to Obeka, Brute Chronologist. I want Slivers to be able to end player's turns.

plakjekaas on When is it Acceptable, if …

4 months ago

I feel like Squee, the Immortal, Misthollow Griffin and Eternal Scourge have a spot in this conversation, even though they're mostly just Food ChainGC combo pieces.

jsnrice on Atraxa, Grand Unifier

9 months ago

Deck Title: Ascension Through Unity – Atraxa cEDH Food Chain

Commander

Atraxa, Grand Unifier
Color Identity: {B}{G}{U}{W}

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Introduction

Welcome to Ascension Through Unity, a competitive EDH build centered around Atraxa, Grand Unifier, the ultimate value engine and a uniquely powerful commander that bridges midrange resilience with combo potential. This list leverages the raw card advantage of Atraxa’s ETB trigger to dig for win conditions, interaction, and fast mana — all while supporting a Food Chain combo core.

This deck is tuned for high-level pods and aims to win fast, interact precisely, and grind smart when necessary.

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Win Conditions

Primary Wincon:
- Food Chain + Eternal Scourge / Misthollow Griffin / Flesh Duplicate
Infinite creature mana via Food Chain and one of the exile-recurring creatures.
→ Cast Atraxa, Grand Unifier, dig for Thassa's OracleGC or Tainted Pact / Demonic Consultation combo.

Backup Wincons:
- Thassa's OracleGC + Tainted Pact / Demonic Consultation
- Finale of Devastation for lethal with infinite mana
- Displacer Kitten combos with The One RingGC, Teferi, Time Raveler, or mana rocks for infinite value/actions

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Notable Synergies

• Atraxa, Grand Unifier ETB + Displacer Kitten: Abuse blink triggers for maximum card filtering and pseudo-storm turns.
• Food Chain + Exile creatures: Efficient engine for infinite mana into Atraxa chains.
• Talion, the Kindly Lord + low-cost spell density = passive draw engine.
• Drannith MagistrateGC, Opposition AgentGC, Orcish Bowmasters: Stax elements that don’t disrupt our own lines.
• Archivist of Oghma, Esper Sentinel, Mystic Remora, Rhystic StudyGC: Passive card draw galore.

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Staples and Interaction

This deck plays nearly every blue interaction spell you’d expect: - Free Countermagic: Force of WillGC, Force of Negation, Pact of Negation, Mindbreak Trap, Flusterstorm
- Removal: Swords to Plowshares, Abrupt Decay, Chain of Vapor, Toxic Deluge, Culling Ritual
- Tutors: Vampiric TutorGC, Demonic TutorGC, Worldly Tutor, Enlightened TutorGC, Imperial SealGC

And it runs every relevant fast mana: - Mana Crypt, Lotus Petal, Chrome MoxGC, Mox DiamondGC, Mox Opal, Mana VaultGC, Ancient TombGC

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Why Atraxa?

While many commanders offer value, Atraxa’s Grand Unifier trigger is uniquely broken in a deck like this. With a proper build, she can hit: - A creature (e.g. Eternal Scourge, Deathrite Shaman)
- A non-creature spell (e.g. Demonic Consultation)
- An instant (e.g. Swan Song, An Offer You Can't Refuse)
- A sorcery (e.g. Finale of Devastation)
- An artifact (e.g. Sol Ring)
- An enchantment (e.g. Rhystic StudyGC)
- A planeswalker (e.g. Teferi, Time Raveler)

This makes Atraxa a one-card value engine that refills your hand and pivots you into a win turn with proper sequencing.

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Power Level & Goals

This deck is firmly cEDH (power level 9.5–10). It’s built for pods where interaction is heavy, turns are fast, and wins are clean.

You’ll thrive if: - You can protect Atraxa, Grand Unifier for at least one trigger
- You pilot your combo lines efficiently
- You mulligan aggressively for interaction or ramp

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Mulligan Strategy

Look for: - Turn 1–2 dorks/rocks + tutor
- Food Chain + exile creature opener
- Strong card draw pieces + interaction
- Always mull away clunky high-CMC hands

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Weaknesses

• Susceptible to Drannith MagistrateGC (unless we remove it)
• Hate for graveyard/exile recursion (Rest in Peace, etc.)
• Heavy counterspell matchups if we stumble on mana

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Closing Thoughts

Atraxa, Grand Unifier doesn’t just unify card types — she unifies power, control, and combo under one elegantly devastating package. Whether you’re tutoring with efficiency or slamming a turn 4 Food Chain win, this deck rewards mastery and punishes hesitation. Perfect for cEDH players who love versatility and inevitability.

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Thanks for reading! Let me know if you want a sideboard package or metagame tweaks.

Mortlocke on Atraxa, Ruler of Phyrexia

11 months ago

JeskaiMaster01,

What are your most important turns? (e.g. when you can reliably threaten to kill an opponent?). A good model I like to reference is Epochalyptik's Do you want to write a primer?. This is just a basic shell but it does get you thinking about all the big questions.

I'm going to be honest here - I know of Food Chain, but I have no idea what the usual chain lines are. I don't use it and I don't have anyone in my playgroup who does. I think I know Thassa's Oracle and to some degree Demonic Consultation - that's just simply lab manning out. But again, not every visitor is going to get that. I can assume that this isn't a Commander deck - but a cEDH deck which I regard as a whole different format. You should absolutely state that in your deck description as well as I'd assume you wouldn't break this thing out at a pod full of upgraded precons.