Intro

This deck is my cozy tavern booth. It does exactly what it says on the tin: Sam cooks, Frodo eats, we profit. With Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit and Sam, Loyal Attendant at the helm, we crank out Food, turn it into life, cards, and mana, then close the game with drain pings or a chonky Halfling stampede!

tldr; Make Food every turn, sac one before attacks to turn on Frodo’s ring trigger, snowball tokens and value with payoff pieces, convert Food into mana (Night of the Sweets’ Revenge) or spells (Inspiring Statuary), then finish with drain effects (Mirkwood Bats/Agent of the Iron Throne), an overrun from Night of the Sweets’ Revenge, or big bodies like Banquet Guests/Feasting Hobbit. Goldfishing, you threaten pods around turns 6–8.

The Overall Gameplan

1. Set the table: land Sam and early Food makers.
2. Eat before you beat: sac a Food pre-attacks to gain 3 and turn on Frodo.
3. Snowball: double up tokens and translate Food into cards/mana.
4. Tidy up: drain the table or swing with a pumped Halfling horde.

In the Details

Archidekt Link

Core Loop (a.k.a. “Second Breakfast -> Elevenses -> Lethal”)

1) Set the table – perpetual Food. Your baseline is one Food per turn off Sam, Loyal Attendant. Stack that with cheap engines: Pippin, Warden of Isengard, Prosperous Innkeeper, Apothecary White, Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit, Farmer Cotton, Lotho, Corrupt Shirriff, Tireless Provisioner, and the ever-rude Academy Manufactor turning every token into an additional benefit.

2) Eat before attacks – Frodo online. Each combat, sac a Food to gain 3 life. Now when Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit attacks, you get The Ring tempts you. Progressing the Ring means looting on attacks, better evasion, and eventually free drain on hits. Keep Frodo small to slip past bigger blockers and keep the engine humming.

3) Translate snacks -> advantage.

• Cards: The One Ring, Call of the Ring, Idol of Oblivion, Savvy Hunter (sac two Foods/Clues to draw), The Gaffer (end step draws after 3+ life), plus ring-loot from Frodo.
• Mana: Night of the Sweets’ Revenge gives Foods “T: add G” and turns your pantry into a ritual. Inspiring Statuary lets artifacts improvise nonartifact spells. Your Foods/Clues effectively pay for your haymakers.
• Scaling bodies: Feasting Hobbit, Banquet Guests, Rapacious Guest, Treebeard, Gracious Host make “eat well, hit hard” a lifestyle.

4) Convert the pantry into a win.

• Aristocrats drain: Mirkwood Bats and Agent of the Iron Throne turn every token into table-wide life loss.
• Overrun: Crack Night of the Sweets’ Revenge to give +X/+X where X = Foods.
• Big spell lines: With Statuary and a pile of artifacts, [card:Bolas’s Citadel] becomes "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.” Food erases the life-payment downside while Bats/Agent chip the pod.

Micro-timing tip: Sam makes the Food as you enter combat, so you can sac that Food right away to meet Frodo’s “gained 3+ life this turn” clause.

Interaction & Protection (a.k.a. “Get your hands off my picnic”)

• Spot answers: Swords to Plowshares, Anguished Unmaking, Assassin’s Trophy, Stroke of Midnight, Mortality Spear (discounted after lifegain), Pest Infestation (hits problems and leaves lunch).
• Board control: Culling Ritual turns low-CMC boards into a huge mana surge, be careful because it will destroy your food too! The Battle of Bywater is an on-theme wipe that leaves you with Food to rebuild.
• Table tax / tempo: Blind Obedience buys turns and pads life with extort.
• Stick the core: Gyome, Master Chef protects key creatures (and bribes blockers), Delighted Halfling smooths out commander casts.

Need Some Cards?

This list is tuned to never actually run out of gas once the pantry is stocked.

• Token-draw blend: Idol of Oblivion, Tempt with Bunnies (often “draw 2–3 + a bunny army” at my tables), Savvy Hunter, Call of the Ring.
• Lifegain payoffs that self-feed: The Gaffer, Gollum, Obsessed Stalker (keeps nibbling), Phial of Galadriel as a tidy rock.
• Value glue: Samwise Gamgee and Revive the Shire rebuy key pieces. Peerless Recycling can grab cards too.

Mulligans & Keepable Opens

Keep hands with:

• 2–3 lands + one of: Sam, Loyal Attendant, Delighted Halfling, Gilded Goose, Many Partings/Heaped Harvest, or a cheap Food maker.
• A payoff or translator: Night of the Sweets’ Revenge, Inspiring Statuary, Mirkwood Bats, Academy Manufactor.
• If you see Academy Manufactor, Delney, Streetwise Lookout or Parallel Lives, it’s almost always a snap keep.

Try to avoid hands that are all payoffs/no snacks or vice-versa. You want engine + enabler, not seven condiments.

Subpackage Highlights

• Halfling Beatdown: Rosie Cotton of South Lane quietly snowballs counters while you churn tokens, while Feasting Hobbit and Banquet Guests become freight trains.
• Manufactor Cookbook: Academy Manufactor + any Food maker = three artifacts per trigger. Add Tireless Provisioner and fetchlands for silly turns.
• Citadel Lines: With Inspiring Statuary and a table of artifacts, Bolas’s Citadel becomes “draw 10, cast 8,” then eat to reset life and keep flipping.

Politics, Pitfalls, and Table Talk

• Don’t flex early. Drain a little with extort effects, not 12. Keep life totals close so you don’t become the “we have to kill them now” target.
• Telegraph the safe line. “I’m just looting with the Ring and making lunch” draws less heat than “I’m assembling a trebuchet made of pastries.”
• Wipe insurance. Keep 1–2 Foods floating. Post-wipe, Sam restarts the table by himself, and Revive the Shire finds your best piece.

Combos & Micro-Synergies

There are several two-card combos available in this deck. I've moved them to a sideboard to keep them in bracket 3, but if you want a higher-power game, feel free to swap them in.

• Rosie Loop (Sideboard power-up): Rosie Cotton of South Lane + Scurry Oak + any token creation = infinite Squirrels + counters. Add Mirkwood Bats or Agent of the Iron Throne to end it.
• Parallel Pantry: Parallel Lives with any of Peregrin Took/Academy Manufactor/Pippin, Warden of Isengard turns single triggers into avalanches.
• Citadel Snackrifice: Bolas’s Citadel + lots of cheap artifacts -> cast a bunch off the top, sac Foods to keep life high, and drain with Bats/Agent as you go.
• Nuka-Engine (tuned pods): Nuka-Cola Vending Machine plus token doublers and a drain piece accelerates lethal.

Other Options

I've kept this deck fairly in the middle of several themes. It's about 40% Lifegain, 40% Tokens Sac, and 20% Ring Tempts. You can push it in several directions to focus it up onto your preferred playstyle.

Outro

That’s Frodo & Sam: Second Breakfast Aristocrats. Equal parts picnic and punishment. If your table likes value piles with interactive, modular wins, this list feeds the whole pod without resorting to “oops, infinite” (unless you flip the Sideboard Power switch).

If you enjoyed this Deck Tech, pass it to your fellowship, or that one friend who swears Food decks “just gain life.” Sure, buddy. Have a snack.