Introduction
Ever wanted to throw a Hobbit party right on the battlefield? The Food and Fellowship precon Commander deck offers just that: a delicious mix of food tokens, creature synergy, and a heartwarming sense of community. However, straight out of the box, this deck can sometimes leave you feeling a little hungry for wins. Its mana base is a bit shaky, card draw is lacking, and it can struggle to close out games.
Fear not, fellow adventurers! This article provides budget-friendly upgrade suggestions to enhance your Food and Fellowship precon, improving its consistency, power, and leaning into the themes of food generation, creature synergy, and the spirit of fellowship. We’ll explore key weaknesses, identify game-changing upgrades, and provide a decklist you can build without emptying your pockets. Get ready to serve up some delicious victories!
Analyzing the Out-of-the-Box Food and Fellowship Deck
The Food and Fellowship deck comes with some strong points, ready to be amplified. The core mechanic of food generation is fun and thematic, offering options for lifegain and sacrifice effects. There’s a definite potential for creating a swarm of creature tokens, and the overall flavor of the deck is undeniable, capturing the essence of Middle-earth hospitality. It serves as a solid starting point for anyone interested in a lifegain or token-based strategy in Commander.
However, the deck needs some attention to truly shine. Here’s where we’ll focus our upgrading efforts:
- Inconsistent Mana Base: This is a common issue with preconstructed decks. The existing mana base can lead to color screw and slow starts. It desperately needs more dual lands and ramp spells to ensure you can consistently cast your spells on time.
- Lack of Card Draw: The deck often runs out of steam, struggling to maintain card advantage in longer games. Refilling your hand is critical for maintaining pressure and finding answers.
- Slow and Clunky: Too many high-cost cards and not enough efficient early game plays mean the deck can fall behind against faster strategies. Streamlining the curve is essential.
- Win Conditions: While generating tokens is great, the deck lacks a clear and reliable path to victory beyond simply overwhelming opponents with numbers. We need ways to convert our board state into a decisive win.
- Redundancy versus Versatility: Some cards are redundant, offering similar effects without significant improvements. Others are too niche, rarely contributing meaningfully to the game plan. We need to trim the fat and add more versatile pieces.
Key Upgrade Areas and Considerations
To address these weaknesses, we’ll focus on several key areas. These upgrades won’t break the bank, but will dramatically improve the Food and Fellowship experience.
- Mana Fixing and Ramp: A smooth mana base is the foundation of any successful Commander deck. Affordable dual lands, like the Thriving lands (Thriving Grove, Thriving Bluff etc.) and the Vivid lands (Vivid Meadow, Vivid Crag etc.), alongside ramp spells, are essential. Cultivate, Kodama’s Reach, Rampant Growth, and Farseek are all excellent options for getting ahead on mana early. Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse provide cheap, color-fixing options.
- Card Draw and Selection: Overcoming the card disadvantage requires efficient card draw spells and card selection effects. Harmonize is a classic, reliable card draw spell. Read the Bones and Painful Truths offer powerful card draw with a slight life loss cost, which can be mitigated by the deck’s lifegain elements. Generous Ent is a creature that provides card draw upon entering the battlefield, and Beaming Double is a useful token generator that also allows you to look at the top few cards of your library.
- Token Production and Synergy: While the deck already produces tokens, we can enhance this aspect by including more efficient token creators and cards that synergize with tokens. Peregrin Took is a great example, generating Food tokens passively. Second Harvest can double your token count in a single turn. Anointed Procession doubles token creation, which is strong.
- Win Conditions: We need ways to translate our board presence into a decisive victory. Craterhoof Behemoth is a powerful finisher, but can be more expensive. Overrun and Triumph of the Hordes offer similar overrun effects for a lower cost. Aetherflux Reservoir can turn lifegain into damage, and Felidar Sovereign offers a win condition based on reaching a high life total.
- Budget Considerations: The key to this upgrade guide is affordability. We’ll avoid expensive staples and focus on commons, uncommons, and budget rares that deliver maximum value without emptying your wallet.
Budget Card Suggestions by Category
Here are some specific card recommendations, categorized by their function, with rough price estimates (remember, prices fluctuate!). These are suggestions, and you can tailor your choices to your collection and local market.
Ramp and Mana Fixing (Approximately ten dollars)
- Cultivate: (two dollars) Ramp and card advantage.
- Kodama’s Reach: (one dollar) Similar to Cultivate.
- Rampant Growth: (fifty cents) Simple, effective ramp.
- Farseek: (one dollar) Fetches dual lands.
- Evolving Wilds: (twenty five cents) Fixes colors on a budget.
- Terramorphic Expanse: (twenty five cents) Similar to Evolving Wilds.
- Thriving Grove: (two dollars) A dual land that enters untapped when it comes into play.
- Vivid Meadow: (two dollars) Another dual land to aid in mana fixing.
Card Draw and Selection (Approximately ten dollars)
- Harmonize: (two dollars) Straightforward card draw.
- Read the Bones: (one dollar) Scry and draw.
- Painful Truths: (one dollar) Card draw in multiple colors.
- Generous Ent: (two dollars) Creature with card draw.
- Beaming Double: (two dollars) Card selection and tokens.
- Sign in Blood: (two dollars) a cheap sorcery to draw two cards.
Token Generators (Approximately fifteen dollars)
- Peregrin Took: (three dollars) Passive Food generation.
- Second Harvest: (five dollars) Doubles tokens instantly.
- Selesnya Charm: (one dollar) Versatile removal or token generation.
- Tendershoot Dryad: (two dollars) Constant Saproling generation.
- Rite of Replication: (three dollars) Token copy spell.
- Sprout Swarm: (one dollar) A repeatable way to produce tokens.
Synergy Pieces (Food/Lifegain/Tokens) (Approximately fifteen dollars)
- Essence Warden: (one dollar) Lifegain from creature entering.
- Soul Warden: (one dollar) Lifegain from creature entering.
- Auriok Champion: (two dollars) Prevents damage and adds lifegain.
- Orah, Skyclave Hierophant: (three dollars) Returns creatures when a cleric dies.
- Lifecrafter’s Bestiary: (four dollars) Scry each turn and draws cards whenever you cast a creature spell.
- Nurturing Peatland: (four dollars) Can gain life when used.
Win Conditions (Approximately five dollars)
- Overrun: (one dollar) Grants trample and power boost.
- Triumph of the Hordes: (three dollars) Grants infect and trample.
- Rhox Faithmender: (one dollar) Doubles your life gain
Removal (Approximately five dollars)
- Swords to Plowshares: (one dollar) Great removal for a low cost
- Path to Exile: (one dollar) Exile creatures.
- Generous Gift: (one dollar) Destroys anything.
- Beast Within: (two dollars) Destroys any permanent at instant speed.
Sample Upgraded Decklist (Budget)
This is a sample decklist; feel free to adjust it based on your preferences and card availability. This list assumes you are starting with the stock precon and swapping cards out.
Commander: Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit // Sam, Loyal Attendant
Creatures (Approximately 35):
- Essence Warden
- Soul Warden
- Auriok Champion
- Peregrin Took
- Generous Ent
- Tendershoot Dryad
- Orah, Skyclave Hierophant
- Rhox Faithmender
- Aragorn, the Uniter
- Elrond, Master Healer
- Rosie Cotton of South Lane
- Gimli, Gloin’s Son
- (Add the other creatures from the stock deck that synergize with the plan)
Spells (Approximately 30):
- Cultivate
- Kodama’s Reach
- Rampant Growth
- Farseek
- Harmonize
- Read the Bones
- Painful Truths
- Second Harvest
- Selesnya Charm
- Rite of Replication
- Overrun
- Triumph of the Hordes
- Swords to Plowshares
- Path to Exile
- Generous Gift
- Beast Within
- Sign in Blood
- (Add the other spells from the stock deck that synergize with the plan)
Lands (Approximately 35):
- Evolving Wilds
- Terramorphic Expanse
- Thriving Grove
- Vivid Meadow
- Nurturing Peatland
- (Add basic lands and lands from the stock deck to fill out)
Mana Curve Analysis: The upgraded deck aims for a smoother mana curve, with more early game ramp and efficient card draw to consistently develop your board presence.
Key Combos and Synergies: The deck leverages synergies between Food tokens, lifegain, and token generation. Peregrin Took generates Food, which can be sacrificed for life. Essence Warden and Soul Warden provide incremental lifegain whenever creatures enter the battlefield. Second Harvest doubles your token output, leading to explosive turns.
Budget Breakdown: The total cost of these upgrades should be under one hundred dollars, making it accessible to most players.
Playing the Upgraded Deck
- Early Game Strategy: Prioritize ramp and mana fixing. Play Cultivate, Kodama’s Reach, or Rampant Growth to accelerate your mana development. Play any early token generation like Peregrin Took.
- Mid-Game Strategy: Focus on generating Food tokens and building your board presence. Use card draw spells like Harmonize and Read the Bones to refill your hand. Play your token synergy pieces to get maximum value.
- Late Game Strategy: Overwhelm opponents with tokens and execute your win condition. Use Overrun or Triumph of the Hordes to give your creatures trample and a significant power boost.
- Tips and Tricks: Sacrifice Food tokens strategically to gain life at crucial moments. Use removal spells to eliminate key threats from your opponents.
- Matchup Considerations: The upgraded Food and Fellowship deck excels against slower, creature-based strategies. It can struggle against fast combo decks or decks that can easily wipe your board.
Further Upgrades (Beyond Budget)
If you’re looking to further enhance the deck with more expensive cards, consider Smothering Tithe for incredible mana generation, Academy Manufactor to turn Food into Clues and Treasures, Doubling Season for doubling your tokens, and Parallel Lives for similar token doubling effects. You could also explore a more dedicated lifegain strategy with cards like Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood.
Conclusion
These budget upgrades significantly improve the Food and Fellowship precon, addressing its weaknesses and enhancing its strengths. By focusing on mana fixing, card draw, token synergy, and efficient win conditions, you can transform this deck into a formidable force on the battlefield. You’ll have a more consistent and powerful deck, ready to win and generate food!
Try out these upgrades and share your experiences! What other budget cards have you found successful in this deck? Now, go forth and host the most epic hobbit party your playgroup has ever seen! The journey to victory begins with a well-stocked pantry and a heart full of fellowship.
