Food and Fellowship is one of 4 Commander preconstructed decks for the Lord of the Rings set. The deck is Abzan (Green, White, and Black), with themes of Hobbits, Food, Tree-Ents, and Eagles. Which is a lot of themes. Also life (because of the food). The alternate commander is Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant, unusually for a precon the alternate commander is not defacto better to instantly swap in. The deck also includes 20 new cards.
Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit is a decent “if you gained life” payoff. Unfortunately most of these are pretty rare, other than for hard core white weenie decks, and even those generally require 4-ofs. But drawing a card each time you attack (generally in addition to a draw and discard) is pretty solid. Combined with Frodo’s low power and the Ring emblems giving you skulk he should be able to get through to generate your card draw, and the draw / discard means you can put big fatties for reanimation into your yard fairly easily. All this is pretty solid for 2 mana, and partners with:
Sam, Loyal Attendant is kind of meh. The ability to get green into your deck seems to be his main ability, generating a food is decent if you have payoffs for gaining 3 life, which aren’t that unusual, and if you build around it that would make him more worthwhile. Enabling food by making it cheaper to sacrifice is nice, also makes Gingerbrute ‘s ability free which is.. I guess something.
Merry, Warden of Isengard is another potential commander for the deck, much more built for a weenie deck, generating Soldiers, ostensibly off of food or treasure generation (or clues or whatever but) and 3 for a 1/4 is pretty solid with a trigger to get make Soldiers with lifelink.
Pipping, Warden of Isengard is the second half to a Merry weenie deck, with a built in Overrun, which is fairly solid, though it’s very telegraphed and doesn’t give trample. Still decent enough for Abzan weenies.
Making a bunch of Halflings and food is fine. Just.. fine.
This is one of the better pay offs for gaining 3 life, just a solid card draw. 3 mana is a bit pricy, but also fits into generating card draw off of ETB with cards like Mentor of the Meek and avoids 2 damage based board clear.
This is a pretty solid card, a bit slow but nabbing the top of each opponents deck is decent, and then it’s a decent payoff for having all those foods.
This is a pretty slow burn threat that is gonna eventually get each opponent to… well probably kill Gollum, Obsessed Stalker but could potentially be a way to translate life gain into actually winning the game.
5 mana for a 5/5 flyer that gives flying when it attacks and also generates Eagles that also give flying if you gain 3 or more life is a very battlecruiser card. If that’s what you’re playing it’s solid, if not, getting a creature through on turn 6 is pretty meh.
Affinity for food is a funny ability to me, making a bunch of food is pretty funny, with some potential payoffs like Mirkwood Bats. If you set up some kind of loop where you sacrifice this and get it back to your hand or return to hand somehow could be pretty funny.
Generally making up to 3 food per turn wouldn’t be too meaningful, decent in this deck since you have the food payoffs, technically with double strike could get up to 6 food this way (more with extra attacks, obviously).
Okay so this is a hitter, and while his feet are very much in the frame, that’s the most notable thing about the card. Maybe if you run The Ozolith this is a way to move counters onto something meaningful.
There’s got to be a way to make infinite mana with this, but it’s probably too many steps to be worthwhile. Other than that this is mostly a 2 cost mana dork, but in a food based deck this effectively lowers the cost of sacrificing food to 1 mana since every time you sacrifice one, your Pig will untap. That’s not bad. It’s not great, or even good, but it’s a kind of cutesy card to put in a deck like this. Personally I think Prize Pig should also be a food but oh well.
This is like a less good pony than Bill I guess? Fine-ish for an Overrun weenie Abzan deck maybe. 5 mana for this effect is not really cutting it.
Funny interaction with Dhalsim, Pliable Pacifist / Tadeas, Juniper Ascendant, okay for making tokens as a payoff for life gain but these tokens seem way out of theme.
Just a cutesy saga really. Kind of meh.
Generating a 1/1 Halfling and a food is decent. The second ability is potentially dangerous, lifegain creatures with fight effects could get really dangerous quickly, equip this into an Apex Altisaur and give it lifegain (a lot of tricky steps, yes, you need an equip at instant speed effect) and that thing will get huge and then just kill someone out of hand.
This is a good card for group hug, which is bad. However, if it’s group hug that benefits off your opponents searching and drawing, it could be a decent card.
The vanilla Food and Fellowship is fairly typical of precons. The mana is less bad than usual, but still there are excessive enters tapped and conditionally untapped lands. There is more interaction than usual, but also extraneous over costed fatties, and extraneous board clears. Your generic gameplan should be to rush out Frodo, get tempted, and start drawing cards, ramping, and out-resourcing opponents. The deck really lacks finishers, so it will almost certainly turn into a grindfest. Some of your Eagles can let your hitters get through, or you can summon a bunch of tree-ents. Some of your creature contain +1/+1 triggers to make your creatures bigger, but of course you want to keep Frodo’s power low so he can’t be blocked easily.
Rebuilding the deck there’s a variety of options, the most straightforward is leaning into food and life triggers, more food, more life gain, and punishing your opponents when you gain life (without going infinite). Given all the food and life gain, blacks “draw cards at the cost of life” is worth running.
Cut the over costed board clear and medium fatties that will almost always underperform, due to lack of evasion or trample. Best case scenario you’re using Eagles to carry 6/6 Treefolk which is kind of funny but also not actually good. More interaction, as always, and dramatically lowering the mana curve should let you consistently ramp early and then drop 1-2 permanents per turn for most of the game, increasing your threat level unfortunately, but generating an overwhelming amount of triggers, causing you to draw more cards, gain life, and your opponents to lose life as you gain life.
1 Shire Terrace – This is an even worse fetch land, replaced with 2 cost fetch ramps
1 Rosie Cotton of South Lane – Big creatures isn’t the point of this
1 Generous Ent – Over costed, does little for us
1 Landroval, Horizon Witness – Giving flying is not our game plan
1 Evolving Wilds – Bad fetch lands, replaced with 2 cost fetch ramps
1 Graypelt Refuge – Conditionally tapped land
8 Forest – Replace with snow for Into the North
4 Plains – Replace with snow for Into the North
4 Swamp – Replace with snow for Into the North
1 Eagles of the North – Giving flying is not our game plan
1 Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit – Too cutesy
1 Gwaihir, Greatest of the Eagles – Giving flying is not our game plan
1 Assemble the Entmoot – Ents also.. not our game plan
1 Motivated Pony – Not a big enough Overrun to hold onto
1 Feasting Hobbit – We’re causing life loss rather than combat damage
1 Banquet Guests – Likewise don’t need excessive foods
1 Treebeard, Gracious Host – Ents also.. not our game plan
1 Call for Unity – Over costed and too slow
1 Cultivate – Over costed
1 Dusk // Dawn – We don’t want to clear the board
1 Essence Warden – Gaining 1 life isn’t enough
1 Fell the Mighty – We don’t want to clear the board
1 Fumigate – We don’t want to clear the board
1 Harmonize – Triggered card draw instead
1 Mentor of the Meek – Too expensive, can’t afford, easier to pay the life we are gaining
1 Dawn of Hope – Too expensive, can’t afford, easier to pay the life we are gaining
1 Woodfall Primus – Cute but too expensive
1 Orchard Strider – Cute but too expensive
1 Great Oak Guardian – Cute but too expensive
1 Chromatic Lantern – Over expensive “mana fixing” rock
1 Access Tunnel – Too expensive way to make unblockable
1 Necroblossom Snarl – Conditionally tapped
1 Sandsteppe Citadel – Conditionally tapped
1 Rogue’s Passage – Too expensive way to make unblockable
1 Scoured Barrens – Conditionally tapped
1 Shineshadow Snarl – Conditionally tapped
1 Sunpetal Grove – Conditionally tapped
1 Trading Post – Too much mana
1 Well of Lost Dreams – Too much mana, cheaper to pay life to draw
1 Crypt Incursion – The odds you’ll have this and mana at the moment you need it..
1 Ghost Quarter – The cost of colorless mana is too high
1 Ash Barrens – We have better fetches
1 Toxic Deluge – We don’t want to clear the board
Here is the add list:
1 Trail of Crumbs – Synergy with food, experimental card
1 Heroic Intervention – Protective interaction
1 Indulging Patrician – Nice triggered life loss for opponents
1 Veil of Summer – Protective interaction
1 City of Brass – Mana fixing, we have life to spare
1 Godless Shrine – Fetchable dual
1 Abrupt Decay – Very strong interaction
1 Into the North – Land fetch that ramps
1 Mana Confluence – Mana fixing, we have life to spare
1 Dark Confidant – Draw cards, pay the life we gained from food
1 Disciple of the Vault – When you eat food your opponents lose life
1 Overgrown Tomb – Fetchable dual
1 Malakir Rebirth // Malakir Mire
1 Agadeem’s Awakening // Agadeem, the Undercrypt
1 Marauding Blight-Priest –Â When you eat food your opponents lose life
1 Three Visits – Land fetch that ramps
1 Nadier’s Nightblade –Â When you eat food your opponents lose life
6 Snow-Covered Swamp – Swap for snow for Into the North
7 Snow-Covered Forest – Swap for snow for Into the North
4 Snow-Covered Plains – Swap for snow for Into the North
1 Temple Garden – Fetchable dual
1 Academy Manufactor
1 Nature’s Lore – Land fetch that ramps
1 Rampant Growth – Land fetch that ramps
1 Return to Nature – Instant speed interaction
1 Infernal Grasp – Instant speed creature removal
1 Agent of the Iron Throne – When you eat food your opponents lose life
1 Black Market Connections – Draw cards, pay the life we gained from food
1 Assassin’s Trophy – Very strong interaction
1 Stronghold Arena – Draw cards, pay the life we gained from food
1 Marionette Master – When you eat food your opponents lose life
1 Phyrexian Arena – Draw cards, pay the life we gained from food
1 The One Ring – Mostly flavor, but solid card draw we can pay the life
1 Dina, Soul Steeper – When you eat food or gain life your opponents lose life
1 Call of the Ring – Pay 2 life to draw off tempting, Frodo tempts
1 Bala Ged Recovery // Bala Ged Sanctuary
1 Delighted Halfling – Very solid new mana dork
1 Samwise Gamgee – Both a valuable way to use food and generates more food
1 Peregrin Took – Makes more food to eat
1 Lotho, Corrupt Shirriff – Solid Treasure creation for triggers
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