Throughout its 32 years of existence, Magic: The Gathering has generated numerous endearing in-jokes and references. Cheerios is perhaps one of the most adorable nicknames for cards, which is given to zero-mana artifacts. Much like Cheerios, the mana cost of these cards is a big, round zero.
During the latest Weekly MTG livestream, Head Designer Mark Rosewater revealed Marvel’s Spider-Man was meant to have one of these cards. Thanks to justified meddling from the play design team, however, the mana cost was changed. According to Rosewater, this actually comes as a wider change that’s happening going forward.
Bagel and Schmear
As an MTG card, Bagel and Schmear is just okay. For one mana, you get a do-nothing Food, but for two mana, you can get a counter and draw a card. Alternatively, you can pay three to “Nosh” on this food, sacrificing it to gain life, like a normal Food token. While this is better than your average food, this is by no means a game-breaking card.
Realistically, Bagel and Schmear is only really going to see play within Food-based Commander decks. Ragost, Deft Gastronaut, in particular, can probably get some use out of this otherwise meh artifact. It could also be somewhat useful in Limited, since cheap card draw is always useful.
If anything, the greatest use case for Bagel and Schmear is causing your opponent physical damage. It might be innocuous, but this appears to be one of the most visceral, upsetting names in all of MTG. On Reddit, players are already complaining about the name of this card, and that’s unlikely to stop anytime soon.
Even more interesting, however, is the fact that Bagel and Schmear is apparently representative of a shift at Wizards of the Coast. Supposedly, Wizards is no longer making zero mana artifacts, and Bagel and Schmear is the start of that trend.
No More Zero Mana Artifacts?
During the Weekly MTG livestream, which revealed Bagel and Schmear, Mark Rosewater stated that it was originally a zero-cost artifact. Designed by Gavin Verhey, this mana cost would have been a flavorful nod to the circular shape of Bagels. Apparently, according to Rosewater, the Play Design team said, “We do not make zero-cost artifacts” after seeing this card.
Following this, Rosewater highlighted how they wanted to make an exception for Bagel and Schmear; however, Play Design won out. This led Rosewater to close the section on the card by stating, “We tried very hard to make this zero, and it just… we don’t do that anymore.” While this did seem somewhat like an offhand comment, it seems Wizards is moving away from zero mana artifacts.
Should this indeed be the case, it seems like a very safe decision from the Play Design team. Zero mana artifacts have notoriously caused problems in the past, and they’re always teetering on the edge. A zero-cost Bagel and Schmear might seem innocuous, but it’d always be free ramp for Affinity at the very least.
In this regard, free spells can be incredibly dangerous, as they can easily cause problems with new or old designs. This, in turn, could overly restrict the Play Design team, preventing them from exploring interesting spaces. That said, it’s not like Wizards has shied away from making zero mana artifacts recently.
Not Quite Zero Mana
Earlier this year, in Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Wizards released Mox Jasper. While it is legendary, this is nonetheless a zero mana artifact. So long as you control a Dragon, it can even produce mana, for free. Even without that, Mox Jasper is free fuel for Affinity decks, which is potentially problematic.
While Mox Jasper does seem to fly in the face of Rosewater’s recent statement, Wizards may have simply changed their tune. Tarkir: Dragonstorm was released almost five months ago, so design rules may have changed since then. Alternatively, Mox Jasper might have gotten special treatment because it’s a mythic, not just a boring ol’ common.
Ultimately, we’re just going to have to wait and see what happens. Only time, or a more official statement, will tell if we’re really getting more zero mana artifacts or not. That said, the optics definitely aren’t looking good for Cheerios anymore. This isn’t just because of what Rosewater has said, but due ot the state of Magic overall.
At the moment, the vast majority of new cards are Standard legal. While some premier sets do have Commander precons with new eternal legal cards, there aren’t many of these each year. Due to this, if we’re ever going to get another zero-mana artifact, it’ll likely have to be in Standard, which is a huge design hurdle.
Potentially, the solution to this problem may lie in the mystery seventh set that has been all but confirmed for 2026. Now that Wizards is also moving away from direct-to-Modern sets, however, Cheerios might truly be dead in the milk water.
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