Flavor text has been around since the release of Magic, dating all the way back to 1993's Limited Edition Alpha. Since then, Wizards of the Coast has used it to describe the world in which the game takes place, share flavorful and relevant descriptions of the cards, and sprinkle in a bit of humor.

One quote caught the imagination of a subset of curious players: the quote on Granite Gargoyle.

"While most overworlders fortunately don't realize this, Gargoyles can be most delicious, providing you have the appropriate tools to carve them." This grotesquely humorous quote is attributed to The Underworld Cookbook, written by an interesting individual.

Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar

What kind of name is Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar? How does one even pronounce that name? It sounds like it could be the second line in System of a Down's "Chop Suey."

Breaking it down piece by piece is a fool's errand, too. The name ends with "-car," which can be a suffix referring to a vehicle or moving component. That's likely not relevant here.

Likewise, As- could be understood as an assimilation of the Latin prefix Ad- which means "toward" in an abstract sense.

Who was Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar?

Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar, or Asmor for short, was a female wizard and cook from Dominaria. She is described as a small, slender woman with dark hair, and she has quite the reputation.

Legend has it that Asmor once summoned a Lord of the Pit for a duel, but ran out of stuff to feed it (a dangerous predicament). To escape being eaten herself, she served as the Lord of the Pit's chef for seven years and seven days, providing a new dish with every single meal so he wouldn't become bored with her.

Much like the story of Shahrazad and One Thousand and One Nights, Asmor managed to impress the Lord of the Pit and, toward the end of her service, he offered her a full-time job cooking without threat of death. As a compromise, it was agreed upon that she would make for him a cookbook.

As part of the arrangement, Asmor was allowed to publish her cookbook and sell copies in the overworld. Twenty copies of the cookbook entitled Underworld Cookbook were made, but they didn't sell all that well.

Instead of getting destroyed as planned, they started showing up in high courts and suddenly became popular. Because of this, Asmor wrote a second volume with entries like "1,001 ways to prepare elf" (a reference to the original Arabian Nights story).

Additional Card References

Granite Gargoyle was the first time Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar is referenced in Magic, but she's been quoted, depicted, and referenced in a handful of other cards, some of which were from the earlier days of Magic.

For example, further description of Asmor's gargoyle recipe can be found on Time Spiral's Lightning Axe.

If the texture of grilled gargoyle isn't to your liking, you could also find information about Asmor's Beeble recipe on Unhinged's Saute.

Again, Asmor's The Underworld Cookbook is the source quoted here. Unhinged was released in 2004 and Time Spiral in 2006. By the time of Time Spiral, it had been thirteen years since the first printing of Granite Gargoyle, yet Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar has largely remained a mystery.

Modern Horizons 2 Reveals All

At last, in 2021, eighteen years after the first time Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar is referenced on a card, Wizards of the Coast satisfied the player base's curiosity and printed Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar herself in Modern Horizons 2.

At last, players learned what Asmor looks like and what her power is in a game of Magic. The first thing to notice is her name is so long that there's no room for a casting cost.

So, conveniently, she doesn't have one. Instead, she's a Black and Red Legendary Creature who can only be cast if you've discarded a card this turn, in which case one Black or Red hybrid mana is all you need to summon this 3/3 Creature.

Then when she enters the battlefield, you may search your library for a card named, unsurprisingly, The Underworld Cookbook, and place it into your hand. Her last ability can is both oddly templated and powerful. You can sacrifice two Foods to have target Creature deal six damage to itself.

If you were wondering how you'd generate Foods to utilize Asmor's last activated ability, look no further than her cookbook. The Underworld Cookbook is a one mana Artifact that can be activated by tapping and discarding a card, which grants you a Food.

The flavor here is fantastic--you are essentially using the cookbook to turn cards in your hand into Food, like you're cooking them. Ultimate flavor points are awarded to anyone discarding Granite Gargoyle to The Underworld Cookbook to make Food tokens.

Its second ability allows you to pay four mana, tap, and sacrifice The Underworld Cookbook to return a Creature card from your graveyard to your hand. The mana cost is steep for the Raise Dead effect, but it offers a bit of a buyout in case you discarded a card you didn't want to lose permanently.

Rounding out the character, there's another gargoyle recipe quote on the set's Marble Gargoyle.

This is the third gargoyle recipe quote from The Underworld Cookbook. Something tells me that cooked gargoyle is her specialty given the amount of attention gargoyle recipes have received on other cards.

Lastly, Asmor herself is depicted on three additional cards from Modern Horizons 2: Chef's Kiss, Discerning Taste, and Kitchen Imp (background).

Thanks to these cards, Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar can be seen cooking in various scenarios, bringing the character to life in a way never seen before.

Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar & Commander Tax

Since Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar was printed in Modern Horizons 2, she was never legal in Standard and was relegated straight to Modern play. Sadly, she never really made a splash in constructed play; the card just isn't powerful enough to break out.

The good news is, she is a Legendary Creature and makes for an interesting Commander choice.

Amusingly, the highest synergy card in most of the decks that use Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar as Commander is none other than The Underworld Cookbook. The deck is naturally centered around discarding cards, sacrificing permanents, and creating Foods.

Because Asmor has no casting cost, players are sometimes confused about how she interacts with the Commander Tax rule.

If you cast Asmor and she is killed, you can place her back into the Command Zone. If you do this, can you still cast her by paying her alternate casting cost? Do you need to pay two additional mana for the tax? Or, since you're utilizing this alternative cost, is the tax inapplicable?

It turns out the total cost of the spell is broken down into four steps:

1. Begin with the Mana Cost (or the Alternative Cost). In this case, it's one B/R hybrid mana.
2. Add any additional costs. This includes the Commander Tax.
3. Minus effects that reduce the cost, such as Affinity.
4. Account for Trinisphere.

Thus, assuming steps three and four do not apply, you will need to pay two additional generic mana for each time Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar was killed, exiled, etc. and placed back into the Command Zone. Sadly, she does not get around this rule.

Wrapping Up

Just because Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar isn't exempt from the Commander Tax doesn't mean she's not worth exploring. Her combination of abilities makes her a versatile include in many Rakdos decks.

Because she fetches The Underworld Cookbook when cast, she offers many potential synergies with discard effects, sacrifice effects, and Food Token creation.

Perhaps the best part of playing Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar in Commander is watching your opponents attempt to pronounce her name during game play, especially if they cast a spell like Pithing Needle, where naming a card is required.

"You cast Nevermore? Okay, you must name the card you want to stop from being cast. Go ahead, I'll wait."