Quina, Qu GourmetQuina, Qu Gourmet | Art by Artist Fajareka Setiawan

Hello hello! With Magic's Final Fantasy set releases today (June 13th), and I wanted to talk about one of the coolest commanders from this set: Quina, Qu GourmetQuina, Qu Gourmet. -based token decks are a tried and true strategy, and Quina provides a fun way to create extra tokens in the command zone. Let's get brewing, and flood the board with Frogs!

What Does Quina, Qu Gourmet Do?

For , Quina gives us an extra 1/1 Frog creature token. And, for , Quina lets us sacrifice a Frog to put a +1/+1 counter on Quina. While the ability to sacrifice our Frogs is cool, we'll mostly focus on that first ability, making tokens in small batches so that our commander can get as close to doubling our token production as possible. 

There's a few other mono-green token commanders that we can draw inspiration from. According to EDHREC's tag system, some popular decks for this strategy center around Peregrin TookPeregrin Took, Freyalise, Llanowar's FuryFreyalise, Llanowar's Fury, and Jaheira, Friend of the ForestJaheira, Friend of the Forest. Each of these commanders provides something unique to a token deck, like extra token production, card advantage, or mana advantage, and we'll make sure that each of them find a slot in the 99 of this deck.

I want to focus particularly on the card advantage that Freyalise, and other similar cards, provide. Being green means that we usually won't have a problem making tons of mana. I'd like to make sure that we've got places to spend that mana, and that'll be key to this deck's success.

This deck will aim to build up a huge board of tokens, from FoodFood to ClueClues, before turning those tokens sideways in combat. We'll seek to get Quina out quickly, then leverage its abilities to drown our opponents in a sea of 1/1s. Then, once our board is wide enough, we'll use an overrun effect to ensure that just one attack can end the game.

So, the game plan is pretty simple:

• Cast Quina, Qu GourmetQuina, Qu Gourmet as early in the game as possible,
• Make as many creature tokens as possible,
• Then turn those creature tokens into a victory through combat.

Key Cards for Quina, Qu Gourmet

The best cards in this deck are those that make tokens repeatedly. Gala GreetersGala Greeters, for example, can make us a TreasureTreasure every turn (meaning that our commander will net us an additional Frog too). Plus, its other modes - gaining life or +1/+1 counters - are super useful too. One of my favorite cards is Chittering DispatcherChittering Dispatcher, which can net us up to four extra tokens from our commander per turn (one from the myriad tokens, and up to three more when those myriad tokens leave the battlefield). And, because we'll be making so many tokens, Sandstorm SalvagerSandstorm Salvager is a fantastic fit here. This Human Artificer makes a token when it enters the battlefield, and can buff our board of tokens to be huge if it's left alone long enough.

Let's talk about how we can take advantage of our very full battlefield of tokens. Cards like Enduring VitalityEnduring Vitality and the aforementioned Jaheira, Friend of the ForestJaheira, Friend of the Forest can turn a board full of Frogs into a ton of . And, a classic in the Commander format, Essence WardenEssence Warden will put in some serious work here with pumping our life total. Lastly, rounding out the cards that take advantage of our wide board state is Sylvan AnthemSylvan Anthem. This enchantment will provide card selection and a small anthem for our whole team, two extremely powerful effects for token decks.

It's Final Fantasy season for us Magic players, so let's talk about the new cards that have found their way into this deck.

The Earth CrystalThe Earth Crystal is a great artifact, providing cost reduction and even more +1/+1 counters on our creatures. Because our commander lets us sacrifice Frogs to gain counters, this card is a perfect fit here. Sphere GridSphere Grid works extremely well with our wide board of creatures, letting them grow whenever they deal combat damage and providing some powerful keyword abilities to boot. And lastly, my favorite Final Fantasy card in this deck is Esper OriginsEsper Origins. We get card advantage, mana advantage, and even a mini-overrun. I love cards that fill multiple roles in decklists, and this new card does just that.

How Does This Deck Win?

Once we've got a big board of creatures, we need a few ways to go over the top and actually win the game. Jolrael, Mwonvuli RecluseJolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse can provide a huge power and toughness buff to our board, while also making a few extra tokens as the game goes on. Champion of LambholtChampion of Lambholt can get huge over the course of a game, making all of our creatures nigh unblockable. And, of course, Craterhoof BehemothCraterhoof Behemoth is a classic win-con in green decks, letting us swing in for huge damage.

There are two more win-cons here: Get a Leg UpGet a Leg Up and Nissa, Ascended AnimistNissa, Ascended Animist. While Get a Leg UpGet a Leg Up may seem like an ordinary combat trick, it can be lethal if we've got one unblocked creature on a board full of tokens. And Nissa is an amazing card that does so much for the deck; it can produce tokens, remove our opponents' pesky permanents, and even end the game with its ultimate ability.

Quina, Qu Gourmet Commander Deck List

Conclusion

This deck is a lot of fun, but it isn't necessarily the strongest strategy. It's got a few individually strong cards like Primal VigorPrimal Vigor and Doubling SeasonDoubling Season, but being mono-green prohibits us from tutoring for those cards effectively. The deck also does quite poorly against board wipes. I've included cards like Wrap in VigorWrap in Vigor to mitigate that risk, but it's still a notable weakness of the deck. This Quina, Qu Gourmet deck likely sits around Bracket 3, but could be improved with the inclusion of a few powerful Game Changers, like Survival of the FittestSurvival of the Fittest.

All that said, I'm quite happy with how this deck turned out. It's a lot of fun to leverage all the card advantage and mana acceleration that green token decks have access to, and it's even more fun to cover our battlefield in Frogs.

Let me know your thoughts on this deck, and on MTG x FF, in the comments below! I'll see you all soon for another deck tech.