While it’s a relatively new archetype in the grand scheme of Magic, Food is already pretty well-established mechanically. The archetype tends to care about lifegain, mana generation, or building up big creatures, all of which feel on-theme. The ridiculously-named Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar turns these conventions on their head, however, adding a killer damage and combo edge that seriously spices up this archetype.
Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar MTG
Though Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar is very cheap to cast, you’ll need to discard a card somehow before you can do so. To this end, cheap Cyclers like Street Wraith and Troll of Khazad-dûm are ideal, getting your Commander online as soon as possible. Discard-fuelled draw and removal, like Demand Answers and Bitter Triumph, also helps a ton here.
Once Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar is out, you’ll need Food generators like Rapacious Guest and Witch’s Oven to power its ability. Repeatable options like these are best, but big one-off Food dumps like Bag End Banquet work great too. Since you’ll be sacrificing these Foods often, payoffs like Mirkwood Bats and Experimental Confectioner are also well worth running.
With reliable access to Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar’s ability, you can take out most creatures your opponents put down. You can also present a pretty scary clock by converting the creature damage to burn using cards like Barbed Servitor. It’s even great with creatures that want to be damaged, letting you generate a ton of mana with Raphael, Ninja Destroyer or shut down lifegain with Screaming Nemesis.
Since it gives you reliable access to The Underworld Cookbook, and requires you to play discard to cast it, Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar also supports a Discard sub-theme well. Cards like Cool but Rude and Monument to Endurance are fantastic here, offering incremental advantage over time. You can also run recursive discard fodder like Ovalchase Daredevil, and Madness cards like Big Game Hunter, to offset the cost of this playstyle.
This discard naturally allows Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar’s to include a Reanimator package, letting you cheat out beaters like Marionette Master and Voracious Fell Beast. Classic pieces like Animate Dead are great enablers here, while Living Death can take advantage of the cheap setup Cyclers you’re running.
Cooking Up Some Combos
Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar can grind out a fair game perfectly well, but it also has a number of spicy combo lines up its sleeve. Pair it with Academy Manufactor and Nuka-Cola Vending Machine, for instance, and each use of its ability will refund you your Food, letting you go infinite. This can burn the table out with Brash Taunter, or with Reckless Fireweaver thanks to the constant flow of artifacts.
If you’d rather generate infinite mana instead, Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar can do that as well with Academy Manufactor and the new Smaug the Impenetrable. Target Smaug with the six damage ability, and you’ll get six Treasures, six Clues, and six Foods to fuel another use. Since these enter untapped, you can immediately sink them into a Walking Ballista or Torment of Hailfire for a swift victory.
Despite its wide-ranging uses, Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar isn’t as popular as you’d think as an MTG Commander. According to EDHREC data, in fact, only 5,246 decks run it at the helm, which feels low given its power level. It fares even worse in the 99, with just 2,730 players running the spicy chef there.
On the bright side, Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar’s low popularity means it’s a very cheap card to pick up right now. You can snag near-mint base copies for just $0.20 on TCGplayer currently, and the fancy retro frame version isn’t much more at $0.34. At these prices, it’s a great pick for a budget Commander, especially if you’re looking to build something a little different for your next brew.
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