The Cabbage Merchant
Legendary Creature — Human Citizen
Whenever an opponent casts a noncreature spell, create a Food token. (It's an artifact with "
, 
, Sacrifice this token: You gain 3 life.")
Whenever a creature deals combat damage to you, sacrifice a Food token.
Tap two untapped Foods you control: Add one mana of any color.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- G
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Avatar: The Last Airbender Eternal
- Price
- $24.85
- EDHREC rank
- #3305
The Cabbage Merchant drops a Food token onto the battlefield the moment it enters, then keeps producing them on your end step whenever you gained life that turn — repeatable, low-maintenance value stapled to a two-mana body. Samwise Gamgee decks treat it as a core piece rather than a flex slot, because the Food-generation loop feeds directly into his triggered ability.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Samwise Gamgee
The Cabbage Merchant sits in over a third of Samwise Gamgee decks because every Food it generates triggers Samwise Gamgee's ability to create Halfling tokens, turning a single end step into a board-wide snowball.
Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools // Thrasios, Triton Hero
Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools // Thrasios, Triton Hero lists run The Cabbage Merchant as a low-cost, repeatable token generator that fuels sacrifice engines and keeps the life-gain trigger live across multiple turns.
Thrasios, Triton Hero // Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful
Thrasios, Triton Hero // Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful builds lean on The Cabbage Merchant to accumulate artifacts cheaply, feeding both counter synergies on Yoshimaru and incidental life-gain that other engine pieces care about.
Sisay, Weatherlight Captain
Sisay, Weatherlight Captain can tutor The Cabbage Merchant directly as a legendary permanent, making it an on-demand piece whenever the Food loop or life-gain trigger is needed.
Gyome, Master Chef
Gyome, Master Chef already generates Foods of his own, and The Cabbage Merchant doubles down on that density — more Foods means more activate-Gyome responses and a wider cushion of life gain.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where The Cabbage Merchant earns its slot, specifically in Food-matters, life-gain, and artifact-token shells where repeated end-step triggers compound over a long game. Legacy and Vintage both allow it, but a two-mana 1/1 with no immediate board impact competes poorly against the raw efficiency those formats demand. Oathbreaker is the other relevant competitive home, where a low-cost recursive token source pairs well with planeswalker-centric strategies that care about incremental advantage. Standard, Pioneer, Modern, and Pauper are all off the table, so the card's entire practical life plays out in eternal and casual formats.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
If the Food token is what you're after, Academy Manufactor costs a similar amount but multiplies across all three artifact-token types rather than specializing — it's a lateral move, not a strict replacement. For a cheaper on-theme option, Gilded Goose enters for one mana and produces Food on the spot, but it stops generating without green mana investment and lacks The Cabbage Merchant's end-step trigger, so you trade consistency for curve efficiency.
Price Context
Current price
$24.85 premium tier
At $24.85, The Cabbage Merchant sits firmly in the premium tier — that's a meaningful ask for a two-mana utility creature. The price is driven by its status as a legend in high-synergy Food and life-gain builds, and as long as Samwise Gamgee remains a popular commander, demand stays real enough to support it.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Samwise Gamgee
- Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools // Thrasios, Triton Hero
- Thrasios, Triton Hero // Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful
- Sisay, Weatherlight Captain
- Gyome, Master Chef
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.