SelesnyaLegendary Creature — Human PeasantButterbur, Bree Innkeeper
Mana value4Rank#12,288
The Commander
At the beginning of your end step, if you don't control a Food, create a Food token. (It's an artifact with "
, 
, Sacrifice this token: You gain 3 life.")
Guide
Gameplan
Butterbur quietly generates a Food token every end step you lack one, fueling a GW Food/lifegain engine that snowballs into payoffs. You play out value creatures, convert Food into tokens, life, and card advantage, then close with a wide board, lifegain triggers, or a Voltron threat backed by green's ramp and white's protection.
Strengths
- Free, repeatable Food generation with zero mana investment in the command zone
- Slots into multiple GW shells: Food, lifegain, tokens, or aristocrats
- Cheap four-mana body that pays off immediately and recurs from the command zone
- Access to white removal/protection and green ramp keeps the engine resilient
Weaknesses
- The Food trickle is slow—one token per turn unless you have copy/sac outlets
- Butterbur does nothing on its own to win; it needs payoffs and engine pieces
- GW lacks card draw and interaction compared to other color pairs
- Heavily reliant on the commander or artifact synergy that's vulnerable to wrath/artifact hate
Key Cards
- Trail of Crumbs — Turns each Food sacrifice into card selection, converting Butterbur's tokens into a steady stream of permanents.
- Academy Manufactor — Triples Butterbur's output, making Treasure and Clue alongside every Food for explosive ramp and draw.
- Gyome, Master Chef — Doubles down on Food generation and pays you off by sacrificing the pile to buff and draw.
- Cathars' Crusade — Each token you make (Food included via Manufactor effects, plus creatures) snowballs your board into a lethal army.
- Minion-free Witch's Oven — Cheap sac outlet that recurs Food and pairs with Cauldron Familiar for a recurring drain loop.
- Cauldron Familiar — With a sac outlet it loops endlessly off Butterbur's Food, draining each opponent and gaining you life.
Upgrade Path
Add token multipliers (Academy Manufactor, Mondrak, Anointed Procession) and free sac outlets to convert the slow Food trickle into explosive value. Prioritize a clean two-card combo like Cauldron Familiar + Witch's Oven, plus enablers like Trail of Crumbs and Gyome for consistency. Round out with efficient white removal, green ramp, and a few protection pieces (Heroic Intervention, Teferi's Protection) to defend the engine against board wipes.
Core Cards
The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.
Win Conditions
- ▸Go wide with token swarms pumped by Cathars' Crusade or an anthem and attack
- ▸Cauldron Familiar + Witch's Oven loop draining all opponents to zero
- ▸Lifegain payoffs like Aetherflux Reservoir or Archangel of Thune converting gained life into damage
- ▸A protected Voltron threat carried by green ramp and white auras/equipment
Archetypes
- Food / Artifacts — Butterbur is one of the few commanders that makes Food for free every turn, anchoring a dedicated Food-matters shell.
- Lifegain — Food sacrifice gains life, enabling Soul Sisters and lifegain payoffs like Archangel of Thune.
- Tokens — With Manufactor and doublers Butterbur generates a flood of artifact and creature tokens for go-wide finishes.
- Aristocrats — Free Food plus sac outlets fuels Cauldron Familiar and drain effects to bleed the table out.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (GW), by popularity.
