Asmo Food decks have been around in Modern for quite some time now but had largely fallen off the map. The strategy saw a bit of a resurgence with the printing of Monument to Endurance. Unfortunately, even with this new addition, Asmo Food has struggled to compete with some of Modern’s top decks.
However, a unique Dimir variant of Asmo Food has started popping up more and more in recent weeks. Eschewing Monument to Endurance entirely, this version of the archetype features a heavy artifact theme. There’s even a way to take infinite turns once you get your Food engine rolling!
Following a top four finish in a 51-player event, we felt like the deck earned its time in the spotlight. Perhaps this version of the deck will sustain some long-term success.
Asmo Package
For those unfamiliar, “Asmo” refers to the card above with an absurdly long name and a strange set of abilities. In order to even cast this card, you need to first discard a card. If you’re up to the task, your reward is a one-mana 3/3 that tutors up The Underworld Cookbook.
The Underworld Cookbook then serves as a discard outlet that spits out Food tokens, which you can sacrifice to Asmo to kill opposing creatures. Being able to kill big threats like Primeval Titan without even having to invest extra mana is quite powerful.
The key to getting everything started is to have ways to discard cards in an efficient manner. The Underworld Cookbook obviously suffices. On top of that, Psychic Frog enables you to discard cards at will for free. Psychic Frog is an amazing card on its own and is a huge reason to play Dimir Asmo Food in the first place.
Once you have The Underworld Cookbook in play, you’re able to start generating Food tokens turn after turn. By themselves, Food tokens aren’t worth that much. Luckily, they synergize with other cards in the deck besides just Asmo.
Alongside Urza’s Saga, your Food tokens help make your Constructs absolutely enormous. They do a good job ensuring Metalcraft is turned on for Mox Opal. Once you have Academy Manufactor in play, each Food you create comes with a Clue and a Treasure, allowing you to pull ahead on cards and mana.
If you’re able to find Ovalchase Daredevil, you won’t even feel the negative effects of discarding cards to The Underworld Cookbook. When you discard Daredevil to The Underworld Cookbook, you’ll get a Food, which immediately lets you return Daredevil to your hand to discard again later.
Artifact Theme and Infinite Combo
In addition to getting to abuse the power of Psychic Frog, playing blue gives you access to a couple Artifact-themed payoffs. At the top of the list, we have Emry. Emry is a must-kill threat for the opponent. Thanks to Mox Opal and other free artifacts, getting Emry into play as early as turn one is fairly easy.
From there, Emry can bring back any artifacts it mills. If you have Mishra’s Bauble lined up, you have a zero-mana way to generate card advantage every turn cycle. Even if Emry dies right away, milling copies of Daredevil can be strong, and any small creatures you mill can be brought back with Unearth.
The other sweet artifact payoff is Time Sieve. Time Sieve is a weird card with a very hefty cost to activate. Most decks can’t afford to sacrifice five artifacts just to take an extra turn. This deck, on the other hand, has tons of artifacts to spare.
In some games, simply sacrificing some Food tokens to take a couple extra turns can let you deal lethal damage with Psychic Frog out of nowhere. Once you factor in the presence of Academy Manufactor, though, taking tons of turns gets a lot easier.
In fact, if you control Academy Manufactor, Time Sieve, two copies of The Underworld Cookbook, and have a copy of Daredevil in hand, you can take infinite turns! By discarding Daredevil to both Cookbooks, you’ll net two Clues, two Treasures, and two Foods. This is more than enough artifacts needed to take an extra turn, and you can repeat this process on any of the following turns.
This isn’t the only way to go infinite with Time Sieve. For example, if you control only one Cookbook but also can attack with Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student unhindered, you’ll still net two Clues, two Foods, and two Treasures with Academy Manufactor. In this way, Time Sieve adds a whole combo dynamic to the deck, which comes in handy against other combo decks where you need to win quickly.
Attacking From Multiple Angles
What’s nice about the way this Asmo deck is constructed is that it can pull ahead in a number of ways. Many previous iterations of Asmo Food have either been too reliant on Asmo or The Underworld Cookbook to gain an advantage or too vulnerable to hate pieces, such as artifact removal.
Against Dimir Asmo Food, your opponent can still make good use of artifact removal and answers to Asmo. The difference is that you have a multitude of elite threats that apply pressure while also generating value and letting you win grindy games.
While Asmo and Emry die to most damage-based removal spells, Psychic Frog is a nuisance for decks like Boros Energy and Izzet Prowess to deal with. The same can be said for Urza’s Saga, whose Construct tokens can easily get out of range of Galvanic Discharge. An unanswered Psychic Frog threatens to end the game quickly while drawing you cards, and Urza’s Saga produces multiple game-breaking threats.
The one thing this archetype lacks is interaction. Outside of Asmo, you don’t have much in the way of removal even after sideboarding. This deck is fast, but racing Ruby Storm is difficult, and you don’t have ways to get rid of Ruby Medallion once it sticks.
Dimir Asmo Food certainly has some weaknesses. Nonetheless, it presents a very powerful gameplan in its own right. The presence of Psychic Frog and Mox Opal allow you to get on board early and put your opponent on the backfoot. If you’ve been waiting for a chance to break out your Cookbooks at FNM, now’s your chance.
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