Forage in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards

Camellia, the Seedmiser | Illustration by David Petersen

In the ever-evolving world of Magic: The Gathering, new mechanics frequently reshape gameplay and strategy. One intriguing addition is the forage keyword action, introduced in the Bloomburrow Magic set. Forage combines graveyard interaction with sacrificing Food tokens, so let’s explore and highlight some of the best cards from Bloomburrow that make the most of this mechanic.

Are you excited to explore the potential of one of the set's new mechanics? Let’s dive right into it.

How Does Forage Work?

Corpseberry Cultivator | Illustration by Izzy

Forage asks you to either exile three cards from your graveyard or sacrifice a Food token.

When a triggered ability says “whenever you forage,” or an activated ability includes forage as part of its cost, it's looking specifically for the instruction to forage. If you just exile three cards from your graveyard for other reasons (like for example while collecting evidence) or sacrifice a Food to gain life from it, you haven't foraged.

The History of Foraging in MTG

This squirrel-related mechanic was introduced in Bloomburrow and is mostly seen in Golgari () colors, with green being the dominant color.

So far, there are a total of seven cards with the forage keyword.

Is Forage an Additional Cost?

Not specifically. It's a keyword action, so it may indeed show up as an additional cost for casting a spell, but it may also be part of an enters effect, or the cost of an activated ability.

In the case of Feed the Cycle, forage is indeed an additional cost. If you don't want to (or can't) pay the extra , you must forage to cast the spell.

Curious Forager, on the other hand, allows you to forage for a bonus effect when it enters the battlefield. Camellia, the Seedmiser has an activated ability that asks you to forage as a part of its activation cost.

Is Forage a Keyword Action?

Yes, forage is a keyword action. Since a keyword action essentially functions as a verb that simplifies the rules text, and forage abbreviates the instruction “exile three cards from your graveyard or sacrifice a Food,” it qualifies as a keyword action.

Can You Sacrifice a Single Food for Life and To Pay Forage?

No, you can't sacrifice a single Food token for both gaining life and paying the cost to forage.

Foraging specifically requires you to either exile three cards from your graveyard or sacrifice a Food, and it can’t be combined with the Food‘s lifegain ability. If an ability triggers “whenever you forage,” it’s triggered by the specific act of foraging and not by sacrificing a Food for other reasons.

Can You Respond to Forage?

No, you can't respond to the action of foraging once it's announced. You can respond to a spell or ability that forages as part of its resolution (Bushy Bodyguard‘s ETB, for example), but once that spell or ability resolves, you can't interact mid-foraging.

When a player announces they’re foraging, they must complete the action by either exiling three cards from their graveyard or sacrificing a Food token. Opponents can't interfere by attempting to remove cards from the graveyard or to destroy the Food artifact you control.

Forage vs. Delve

While forage and delve are similar in that they both involve interacting with your graveyard, they differ in their functions. Delve is a static keyword ability that allows you to cast a spell for cheaper by exiling cards from your graveyard, while forage can be used in different scenarios outside of casting a spell.

Gallery and List of Forage Cards

• Corpseberry Cultivator
• Camellia, the Seedmiser
• Treetop Sentries
• Thornvault Forager
• Curious Forager
• Bushy Bodyguard
• Feed the Cycle

Best Forage Cards

Since forage is a new ability introduced in Bloomburrow, there aren’t many cards with it.

That said, one of Bloomburrow‘s legends, Camellia, the Seedmiser, is a good Golgari commander to build around in a squirrel/food-themed deck.

Camellia is also an excellent addition to any deck running Cauldron Familiar and Witch's Oven. These two cards create a powerful synergy, allowing you to generate extra Squirrel tokens per each Familiar iteration, plus Ravenous Squirrel exists and is legal in Eternal formats like Modern.

The other card that can be part of decks where you can forage is Feed the Cycle, a black instant that acts as a 2-mana unconditional removal spell for creatures and planeswalkers in decks that are built around Food tokens.

Outside of those, some of the forage cards are great in other formats like Bloomburrow Limited, as is the case of Curious Forager and Thornvault Forager.

Decklist: Golgari Food in Modern

Warren Soultrader | Illustration by Pete Venters

If there’s a deck that can use the best forage cards, it has to be Golgari Food in Modern.

It’s a deck based around the creation of Food tokens and token generation in general, with the potential of going infinite with some key cards like Cauldron Familiar and Samwise Gamgee.

While it's not new, it can use some cards like Camellia, the Seedmiser to provide redundancy and other synergy options.

Wrap Up

Treetop Sentries | Illustration by Iris Compiet

While forage is a cool mechanic, it doesn’t have much support right now: Bloomburrow brought just seven cards with it. However, foraging does open up interesting possibilities in deck building, especially in Golgari-themed decks. It also gives us one cool new Golgari commander to build around.

What do you think? Would you like to see more cards with the forage mechanic in the future? Or do you think we can pass on it? Let us know in the comments!

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Take care, and see you next time!