Following a very disappointing set release in MTG Spider Man, MTG Avatar came in with a bang. Beyond the set’s range of flavorful designs, MTG Avatar brought a multitude of Constructed and Commander powerhouses to the table. These powerful build-arounds extend beyond just the main set, as the supplemental Jumpstart product also delivered some heavy hitters.
One Avatar Jumpstart legend that immediately gained some hype, The Cabbage Merchant, has even been gaining traction in cEDH. In addition to being a strong support piece in the 99 of some decks, the mono-green legend is starting to showcase its power as a Food Combo Commander.
Crafting Around The Cabbage Merchant
The Cabbage Merchant is an efficient Commander who can come down early and start generating value ahead of schedule. Thanks to the presence of mana dorks and free sources of mana like Mox Diamond and Mox Opal, landing this Human Citizen on turn one or two isn’t out of the question. From there, his first triggered ability threatens to rack up a boatload of Food tokens during the course of the game. Given that many of the top decks in cEDH are more focused on assembling combos than using creature combat to their advantage, the benefits of his first ability far outweigh the negatives of his second trigger.
At minimum, this means that as the game progresses, you should have a lot of mana to work with. Jaheira, Friend of the Forest, Night of the Sweet’s Revenge, and Krark-Clan Ironworks leverage this further, ramping your mana to obscene levels. This makes it easier to set up huge Finale of Devastation or Tooth and Nail turns.
On top of the mana boost The Cabbage Merchant provides, this deck features a multitude of ways to convert your Food surplus into extra card advantage and board presence. With Academy Manufactor in play, for example, each trigger from your Commander will also net you Clue tokens and Treasures to help crack them. Once you’re overflowing with artifacts, Sarinth Steelseeker can smooth your draws, while Second Harvest quickly wracks up an abundance of resources. Any excess Food tokens can be sacrificed to Peregrin Took to keep your hand stocked, or to Kuldotha Forgemaster to tutor up various combo pieces.
Food Combos
As strong as Peregrin Took and Academy Manufactor are as value engines with The Cabbage Merchant, they also play important roles as combo enablers. Peregrin Took and Nuka-Cola Vending Machine, for example, can draw your entire deck. Since Peregrin Took adds a Food to every token that gets created, Nuka-Cola Vending Machine will essentially replace all the Food that Peregrin Took sacrifices, creating an endless loop. You’ll also get infinite tapped Treasure Tokens, to boot.
Alternatively, assembling the combination of Peregrin Took, Clock of Omens, and Transmutation Font will also let you draw your whole library while netting infinite tapped Food. Each time you activate Transmutation Font, you’ll get a token of your choice alongside an extra Food from Peregrin Took. These two new artifacts set up Clock of Omens to untap Transmutation Font and keep the train going. Drawing your deck is trivial from here, and setting up a win via Krark-Clan Ironworks and Walking Ballista is a breeze. Notably, a similar combo can be executed with Academy Manufactor taking the place of Peregrin Took, generating infinite Treasures on top of what Peregrin Took accomplishes.
A Unique Archetype
Overall, The Cabbage Merchant has a variety of pros and cons as a competitive Commander option. By far, the biggest thing going in The Cabbage Merchant’s favor is the sheer volume of mana he can produce by himself. While hate pieces like Cursed Totem can be frustrating, the fact that Jaheira, Night of the Sweet’s Revenge, and Krark-Clan Ironworks get around them is a big deal.
This flow of mana gives you the opportunity to overwhelm opposing counterspells by casting too many things to interact with. Cards like Shimmer Myr and Liberator, Urza’s Battlethopter open the door for you to cast combo pieces on your opponent’s end step as well as your turn, which further constricts each opponent’s ability to disrupt you.
Unfortunately, as strong as The Cabbage Merchant is at proactively advancing your gameplan, he isn’t the best at messing with opposing combos. This deck incorporates plenty of artifact and enchantment removal to slow opponents down, but having access to no counterspells or strong removal options of your own makes things tough. This problem isn’t exactly solvable given The Cabbage Merchant’s mono-green color identity, either.
Nonetheless, there’s no denying this Commander’s potential to spiral out of control. His unique angle of attack makes this merchant of cabbage a force to be reckoned with, and his recent top four tournament performance showcases his upside. Don’t be shocked if The Cabbage Merchant continues to put up some strong results in spite of his weaknesses.
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