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Master Chef

Legendary Enchantment — Background

Commander creatures you own have "This creature enters with an additional +1/+1 counter on it" and "Other creatures you control enter with an additional +1/+1 counter on them."

CMC
3
Mana cost
{2}{G}
Color identity
G
Rarity
common
Set
Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate
Price
—
EDHREC rank
#3870
Buy on TCGplayer
Master Chef card art
Master Chef enters and drops a +1/+1 counter on every creature you control — then keeps doing it for each new creature you play, all for two mana. That passive counter-generation is exactly what Reyhan, Last of the Abzan // Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful and Ashnod's Altar loops need to keep the engine fed without spending additional resources.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Reyhan, Last of the AbzanYoshimaru, Ever Faithful

Reyhan, Last of the Abzan // Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful

46.8% of decks · synergy 0.45

Master Chef is in nearly half of all Reyhan, Last of the Abzan // Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful decks because it floods the board with counters that Reyhan then redistributes on death, turning every sacrifice into a counters-forward chain rather than a resource loss.

02
Cleopatra, Exiled Pharaoh

Cleopatra, Exiled Pharaoh

22.5% of decks · synergy 0.22

Cleopatra, Exiled Pharaoh cares about loading counters onto creatures to generate treasures, and Master Chef provides a continuous, low-cost stream of +1/+1 counters on every new body that enters — no additional spell required.

03
Hamza, Guardian of Arashin

Hamza, Guardian of Arashin

19.8% of decks · synergy 0.17

Hamza, Guardian of Arashin reduces costs for each creature with a +1/+1 counter you control, so Master Chef turning every new arrival into a cost-reducer is a direct tax break that compounds as the board grows.

04
Chishiro, the Shattered Blade

Chishiro, the Shattered Blade

13.7% of decks · synergy 0.13

Chishiro, the Shattered Blade creates Spirit tokens whenever auras or equipment enter, but Master Chef pairs by ensuring those tokens — and everything else — immediately carry a counter, accelerating Chishiro's own power-up and the token snowball simultaneously.

05
Cazur, Ruthless StalkerUkkima, Stalking Shadow

Cazur, Ruthless Stalker // Ukkima, Stalking Shadow

12.1% of decks · synergy 0.12

Cazur, Ruthless Stalker // Ukkima, Stalking Shadow stacks counters on creatures that deal combat damage, and Master Chef primes every creature with a starting counter so they're already ahead of baseline — one hit with Ukkima becomes two counters instead of one.

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 legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is where Master Chef does its real work — the format's multiplayer pace and creature-heavy tables mean the enter-the-battlefield trigger fires constantly, and the counter synergies it enables are deep enough to anchor entire archetypes. In Pauper, it's legal and genuinely playable in counter-focused green builds, where two mana for a persistent anthem effect is above rate for the format. Legacy and Vintage have it legal but no competitive shell reaches for it — the effect is too slow and too build-around for those formats' demands. Standard, Pioneer, and Modern are all off the table.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

unknown tier

Pricing data for Master Chef isn't currently available in our system — check Scryfall or your preferred retailer for a live number. Given its niche but dedicated counter-synergy following in Commander, it tends to move with interest in the archetype rather than spiking independently.

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Sources

Mentioned

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