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Food Chain

Enchantment

Exile a creature you control: Add X mana of any one color, where X is 1 plus the exiled creature's mana value. Spend this mana only to cast creature spells.

CMC
3
Mana cost
{2}{G}
Color identity
G
Rarity
mythic
Set
Secret Lair Drop
Price
$58.44
EDHREC rank
#2051
Buy on TCGplayer
Food Chain card art
Food Chain is the engine that turns a single recursive creature into infinite mana and an unstoppable win condition — exile Squee, the Immortal repeatedly to build unbounded creature-cast mana, then close the game by casting something like Etali, Primal Conqueror for free. The three-mana investment is nothing; the question is whether you have the right creature to loop it.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01

Etali, Primal Conqueror

60.7% of decks · synergy 0.57

Etali, Primal Conqueror is one of the marquee Food Chain payoffs — infinite creature mana lets you cast it from hand repeatedly after exiling and recasting it, attacking every turn and stealing the entire table's deck. The combo requires a free-from-exile creature like Misthollow Griffin or Eternal Scourge as the mana source, but Etali closes the game immediately once it's online.

02
Prossh, Skyraider of Kher

Prossh, Skyraider of Kher

44.3% of decks · synergy 0.41

Prossh, Skyraider of Kher is the textbook Food Chain commander — exile Prossh, recast it to generate ever-increasing Kobold tokens, and the growing token count eventually fuels a lethal Prossh damage trigger the same turn. Food Chain appears in over 44% of Prossh decks because the enchantment is essentially a mandatory inclusion for anyone building the deck to win.

03
Lumra, Bellow of the Woods

Lumra, Bellow of the Woods

38.1% of decks · synergy 0.36

Lumra, Bellow of the Woods leverages Food Chain as a mana engine to chain land-based ETB triggers and accelerate into Lumra's landfall-style payoffs at a speed no normal ramp deck can match. The enchantment shows up in 38% of Lumra lists because infinite creature mana converts directly into infinite landfall triggers when Lumra is in play.

04
Loot, the Pathfinder

Loot, the Pathfinder

34.3% of decks · synergy 0.31

Loot, the Pathfinder uses Food Chain to generate infinite creature mana and then cash that mana into Loot's activated ability repeatedly, digging through the entire deck in a single turn. It appears in over 34% of Loot lists because the enchantment turns a value commander into a same-turn kill.

05
Rocco, Cabaretti Caterer

Rocco, Cabaretti Caterer

28.2% of decks · synergy 0.27

Rocco, Cabaretti Caterer runs Food Chain to produce infinite creature mana, then cashes it through Rocco's tutor ability to assemble any creature-based win condition in the deck at instant speed. The 28% inclusion rate reflects that Food Chain turns Rocco from a toolbox commander into a deterministic combo deck.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern not legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is where Food Chain lives — the singleton format's creature-heavy strategies and legendary commanders create a natural home for an enchantment that turns recursive creatures into infinite mana. Legacy sees occasional fringe play in Elves and creature-based combo shells, but the lack of a built-in commander-zone loop means you need dedicated support cards, and the format's interaction density makes resolving a three-mana enchantment harder to justify. Vintage is technically legal but Food Chain is nowhere near the power band of that format's broken permanents. Oathbreaker is legal and theoretically abusable, but the smaller starting hand size and 20 life total compress games before Food Chain can set up. The card's home is Commander, full stop.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

2,987 decks
Prossh, Skyraider of KherFood Chain

Prossh, Skyraider of KherFood Chain

Infinite colored mana that can only be spent to cast creature spells; Infinite creature tokens; Infinite death triggers; Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinitely powerful creature until end of turn; Infinite sacrifice triggers; Infinite storm count

View on Commander Spellbook ↗

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

There is no true budget replacement for Food Chain — the infinite-mana-from-recursive-creatures engine is unique, and the closest thing is just building a slower value loop with cards like Ashnod's Altar or Phyrexian Altar that require additional pieces to go infinite. If the goal is infinite mana from the command zone rather than the Food Chain line specifically, Phyrexian Altar at roughly $10 handles sacrifice-based combos and slides into most of the same shells, though it demands a creature that recurs itself to hand rather than exile.

Price Context

Current price

$58.44 premium tier

At $58.44, Food Chain sits in premium territory — justified by the fact that it's a unique effect with no functional reprint at a lower price point. It's a stable long-term staple rather than a spike, so the price reflects genuine demand from a card that anchors entire archetypes.

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Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.