Top 10 "Worst" Food Commanders

December 5, 2025

In honor of the holiday season generally (and Thanksgiving being last week more specifically), let's talk about Food!

Background image for Top 10 "Worst" Food Commanders

Welcome to Too-Specific Top 10, where if there isn’t a category to rank our pet card at the top of, we’ll just make one up! (Did you know that Momo, Playful Pet is the only one-mana Food commander?)

Sitting here munching on post-Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches, I realized that while I've talked about "Tri-Token" strategies ad nauseam, I've never done the new hotness that is Food justice all on its own.

Seems like it's about time, no?

Top 10 Food Commanders

Criteria: Commanders that create or mention Food tokens specifically. As is tradition, all results are ordered by EDHREC score, although in this case it will be by amount of decks helmed, not total inclusions.

Sam, Loyal Attendant & Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit: 20648
Ygra, Eater of All: 16762
Shelob, Child of Ungoliant: 12393
Rocco, Street Chef: 10496
Ragost, Deft Gastronaut: 10486
Brenard, Ginger Sculptor: 9075
Sorin of House Markov: 5486
Sophia, Dogged Detective: 4906
Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar: 4584
Camellia, the Seedmiser: 4527

Well, no wonder I've never talked about Food specifically. This list is... uninspiring. The face commanders of the Lord of the Rings Food precon, the awfulness that is the "wipe the board again" play patterns of Ygra, Eater of All, Shelob being so generically good that the Food part doesn't even matter, it's just boring, all the way down. Some group hug could be fun with Rocco, Street Chef, I suppose, but that's not being a Food deck now, is it? Same with Ragost, Deft Gastronaut, who looks awesome, but is an artifact commander, not a Food commander.

So, why don't we find a way to give thanks to the little guy this Thanksgiving instead?

Top 10 Worst Food Commanders

10. Graham O'Brien & The Twelfth Doctor

(Partners 163 Decks, Rank #2,522; Graham O'Brien 5.02K Inclusions, 0.15% of 3.41M Decks)

While I'm not sure that the most popular pairing with Graham O'Brien is actually the one I would go with, I do enjoy the card and the idea immensely. It's easier than ever to cast cards from somewhere other than your hand, and while Grant can't see him cast himself, he can see you cast your other commander. With that in mind, rather than having another commander that also wants you to cast cards from elsewhere and therefore having to fill your whole deck with impulse draw effects that let you cast from exile, I think I'd probably go the route of having a second commander that does that part for you.

While the First, Fourth, Eighth, and The Tenth Doctors all can trigger Graham's Food ability, I think I personally would slam The Fourth Doctor as my partner of choice for a Food deck. Sure, you're two-color instead of three-color, but you get to double-dip on Foods with both of your commanders, and he doesn't cost a fortune like the Eighth and Tenth Doctors do.

9. Old Flitterfang

Old Flitterfang

(Helms 144 Decks, Rank #2,601; 14.5K Inclusions, 0.39% of 3.74M Decks)

In this day and age where there's 50 legends a set, supposedly in support of Commander and Brawl and the like, we seem to get between five and twenty of them in those sets that are Old Flitterfang. The antithesis of pushed, little to no character to excuse their being legendary, and nothing to really build around. You could go down to bracket one of Pauper EDH, and I still wouldn't even stop scrolling to look at this card, much less think about actually playing it. So who does it serve? Why is it here? It's not legendary for Limited reasons, either; it's just legendary for the sake of being legendary, the laziest of checking boxes.

Which sucks, because if they'd taken the time to make Old Flitterfang cool, he would be. Legendary Rat Faerie? Sign me up! ...so long as he's not actively and aggressively awful, of course.

8. Ignis Scientia

Ignis Scientia

(Helms 128 Decks, Rank #2,667; 5.59K Inclusions, 0.87% of 646K Decks)

I wouldn't call Ignis Scientia a Food commander, but I would call him a fun commander. His tap ability that makes Foods if you exile creatures from graveyards is awful and will essentially never get used unless you're drowning in mana, but his main ability does drown you in mana. Combine that with it being ramp that can find nonbasic lands in colors that can blink him to abuse it, and there's definitely a fun deck here.

It just... doesn't have anything to do with Food.

7. Michelangelo, the Heart & Leonardo, the Balance

(Partners 119 Decks, Rank #2,712; Michelangelo 569 Inclusions, 0.13% of 443K Decks)

If you were looking for five-color Foods, here is your best option! Not only that, but it's a cohesive, straight-forward one that's going to love the Food strategy. Michelangelo, the Heart comes down early and immediately starts making Food if you had a one-drop. Leonardo, the Balance comes down late and makes the creatures you were making bigger with Michelangelo even bigger. Honestly, it's going to make for a pretty mean aggro Food deck, even if you never get to the WUBRG you need to have things go really cowabunga.

6. Elanor Gardner

Elanor Gardner

(Helms 69 Decks, Rank #3,070; 36K Inclusions, 1.05% of 3.41M Decks)

I want to like Elanor Gardner, but she's just not quite there. In mono-green, you can't abuse her ETB to farm Food. Her end-of-turn trigger is great, but it only happens once, not once for each Food, and only on your end step, not everybody else's. In other words? This one unfortunately ended up at the bottom of the heap for a reason.

5. Butterbur, Bree Innkeeper

Butterbur, Bree Innkeeper

(Helms 65 Decks, Rank #3,105; 6.61K Inclusions, 0.42% of 1.57M Decks)

Butterbur, Bree Innkeeper is expensive, but straightforward. That doesn't mean he'll be good, but he is at least something that interests me. A Food a turn, consistently, can be something to build around. Still, we've already seen better elsewhere on this list, so let's call him "almost good enough" and move on, shall we?

4. Galadriel, Gift-Giver

Galadriel, Gift-Giver

(Helms 51 Decks, Rank #3,255; 11.4K Inclusions, 0.33% of 3.41M Decks)

Honestly, ditto on Galadriel, Gift-Giver. There's enough here that you could force a mono-green Food commander, but at five mana for a Food a turn, you'd be better off just doing mono-green with either Graham O'Brien or Michelangelo, the Heart; even without Partners, they'd be a better deal.

That said, Galadriel does have slight upside over Butterbur, Bree Innkeeper in that she can get you Food, Treasures, or +1/+1 counters. Unfortunately, that probably just distracts you from the Food thing and likely makes you into some kind of Tri-Token nonsense.

3. Bosco, Just a Bear

Bosco, Just a Bear

(Helms 35 Decks, Rank #3,540; 612 Inclusions, 0.25% of 244K Decks)

If you really wanted to do mono-green Food, though? I would go with Bosco, Just a Bear. Well, actually, that's jumping the gun a bit. I would consider Bosco, Just a Bear, by looking at what other green legends there are out there that care about Food.

Top 10 Mono-Green Legendary Creatures That Care About Food

Now, would any of these commanders probably be a better mono-green Food commander? Yes. But answer me this: are they Just a Bear? I rest my case.

2. Meriadoc Brandybuck

Meriadoc Brandybuck

(Helms 27 Decks, Rank #3,728; 21.1K Inclusions, 0.62% of 3.41M Decks)

Meriadoc Brandybuck is on that list of cards that's probably better than Bosco as a mono-green Food commander, but honestly, you're never going to beat the Bear, and the other two-mana options we've talked about that can also have a partner pairing are also just better on their face. Still, we're looking at the least popular commanders. A few of them are going to be here for a reason.

1. Momo, Playful Pet

Momo, Playful Pet

(Helms 23 Decks, Rank #3,851; 2.40K Inclusions, 0.79% of 303K Decks)

But the reason I went with this list? Well, it's because I secretly think that the worst Food commander is actually one of the best. Maybe not in raw power, but in being an interesting take? Momo, Playful Pet takes the cake! As a 1/1 vigilant flier, he's a sneaky Voltron option, but the real thing that makes me interested here is that Momo's trigger to make a Food, put out a +1/+1 counter, or scry 2 is a leaves the battlefield trigger, not a dies trigger. That means blink is on the table, setting the table for everything from slow-moving Teleportation Circle shenanigans to infinite Food, counters, and scries, depending on how you build things, so if you're doing one of these, let me know in the comments! Momo deserves some love.

Honorable Mentions

If you were wondering just how many Food commanders there now are that this list is at the bottom of, well, so was I:

Top Food Commanders

Sam, Loyal Attendant & Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit: 20,648 Decks Helmed
Ygra, Eater of All: 16,762
Shelob, Child of Ungoliant: 12,393
Rocco, Street Chef: 10,496
Ragost, Deft Gastronaut: 10,486
Brenard, Ginger Sculptor: 9075
Sorin of House Markov: 5486
Sophia, Dogged Detective: 4906
Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar: 4584
Camellia, the Seedmiser: 4527
Pippin, Warden of Isengard & Merry, Warden of Isengard: 3933
Gyome, Master Chef: 3600
Samwise Gamgee: 3198
The Goose Mother: 2420
Treebeard, Gracious Host: 2317
Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender: 2124
Jenny Flint & Madame Vastra: 1950
Greta, Sweettooth Scourge: 1901
The Cabbage Merchant: 1267
The Fourth Doctor & Sarah Jane Smith[/el]: 1141
Iroh, Tea Master: 899
Apothecary White: 801
Hurska Sweet-Tooth: 797
The Third Doctor & Sarah Jane Smith: 742
Bill the Pony: 693
Sierra, Nuka's Biggest Fan: 531
Farmer Cotton: 505
Peregrin Took: 480
Rosie Cotton of South Lane: 284
Spider-Ham, Peter Porker: 239
Astrid Peth: 199
Graham O'Brien & The Twelfth Doctor: 163
Old Flitterfang: 144
Ignis Scientia: 128
Michelangelo, the Heart & Leonardo, the Balance: 119
Elanor Gardner: 69
Butterbur, Bree Innkeeper: 65
Galadriel, Gift-Giver: 51
Bosco, Just a Bear: 35
Meriadoc Brandybuck: 27
Momo, Playful Pet: 23

It turns out, the number is 41, at least for now. I doubt that we'll see a glut of Food come out of Lorwyn Eclipsed, but with the current print rate on Food, I wouldn't be shocked to see at least one (to say nothing of random Secret Lairs that may happen in the meantime).

As for the list at large, I don't think we're going to see these newer, or so-far nonexistent, cards stay low on it. Momo, Playful Pet really is interesting and possibly powerful. The meme that is Bosco, Just a Bear is going to catch some people's fancy. Michelangelo, the Heart seems like he's actually one of the best options to pair with Leonardo, the Balance to go five-color, whether that be for Foods or other. At the same time, there do have to be some commanders at the bottom of this list, and with how fast these things are being printed these days, if they haven't caught on yet, they might not ever.

All of which is to say, don't forget to stop and try to get the sweet aroma emanating from the fire hose, folks.

Nuts and Bolts

There always seems to be a bit of interest in how these lists are made (this seems like a good time to stress once again that they are based on EDHREC score, NOT my personal opinion…), and people are often surprised that I’m not using any special data or .json from EDHREC, but rather just muddling my way through with some Scryfall knowledge! For your enjoyment/research, here is this week’s Scryfall search.

What Do You Think?

And finally, what is your favorite Food commander? Is it in the top ten, the bottom ten, or somewhere in the middle?

Let us know in the comments, and we'll see you at the kids table!