Tokens used to be the side dish of Magic. They are now half the meal. A typical Commander game generates Treasures from one player, Clues from another, Soldiers in waves of three, and a Beast or two from whichever green deck is at the table. The official tokens are beautiful and you almost never have them. This is a practical guide to managing tokens at the table — what kinds exist, what each one does, and how to track them without filling your playmat with a chaotic mound of cardboard.
The five most common tokens, and what they do
Treasure
A colorless artifact token with “
, sacrifice this token: Add one mana of any color.” Treasures are the format's universal ramp and fixing — every artifact deck makes them, every reanimator deck loves them, and every cEDH game has a player at six Treasures looking dangerous. Track Treasures with a count, not individual tokens. Nobody needs sixteen pebbles on their side of the table.
Clue
A colorless artifact with “
, sacrifice this token: Draw a card.” Investigators turn Clues into card advantage. Clues are slower than Treasures (two mana plus the sac) but they stockpile, and a five-Clue board is a reliable late-game engine.
Food
A colorless artifact with “, , sacrifice this token: You gain 3 life.” Food shines in life-matters strategies and as a chump-block-then-eat substitute. Tracking is similar to Treasures and Clues — a single counter per player suffices unless Food synergies care about individual tokens.
Blood
A colorless artifact with “
, , discard a card, sacrifice this token: Draw a card.” Blood is rummage-flavored — useful for graveyard decks and any plan that wants to cycle the top of a hand. Innistrad: Crimson Vow tokens introduced these and they have stuck around because rummage at instant speed is rare.
Map
A colorless artifact that lets a creature scry and explore. Maps printed in Lost Caverns of Ixalan and follow-up sets read “,, sacrifice this token: Target creature you control explores.” Track Maps individually only if you have an explore-matters payoff. Otherwise a count works.
Creature tokens worth knowing by sight
- Soldier — 1/1 white, the Magic baseline. Anointed Procession decks live here.
- Spirit — 1/1 white flying, common in white-blue tempo and Orzhov go-wide.
- Zombie — 2/2 black. Modern printings sometimes vary; check the source card.
- Beast — 3/3 green. Garruk, Avenger of Zendikar, every green deck.
- Plant — 0/2 green defender, mostly for chumping or sacrifice fodder.
- Goblin — 1/1 red, sometimes 1/1 with relevant text.
- Knight — 2/2 white with vigilance, sometimes other variants.
- Elemental — power and toughness vary wildly; always check the source.
Tokens with rules-text traps
Most tokens are simple. A few read closer to a creature card and trip people up.
Treasures vs. Gold
Gold tokens (older sets) and Treasure tokens (modern) both produce mana when sacrificed, but Gold reads “sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color” with no tap. Practically identical; legally distinct for things that care about “Treasure token” specifically.
Spirit vs. Spirit-with-flying
Older spirit tokens were 1/1 colorless. Most modern spirit tokens are 1/1 white with flying. If a card says “create a Spirit token,” check the printing — it determines color and abilities.
Copies are token copies
A copy of a creature created by something like Esika's Chariot is a token, even if it copies a non-token creature. It cares about “create a token” effects (Doubling Season makes two) and ceases to exist when it leaves the battlefield.
How to actually track them at the table
- Counters for stockpilers — Treasures, Clues, Food, Blood, Maps. A single number per player is faster than a heap of tokens.
- Cards for combat tokens — Soldiers, Spirits, Beasts. You need to physically tap and untap them. Use real tokens or a stack of basic lands as proxies.
- One token, multiple purposes — a Beast and a Spirit are different. Don't share a single proxy for both.
- Note the printing — “Spirit token from Spectral Procession” vs. “Spirit token from Lingering Souls” can matter for triggers like “each Spirit token enters with...”.
Why a token tool helps
TheStack.gg's token generator filters by type across every set so you can find the exact token a card produces without flipping through binders. Useful at LGS nights when nobody brought enough Treasures, in remote pods over webcam, and during deck-building when you want to know whether your deck makes more Spirits or more Soldiers and pick the synergy that supports it.
For the printed-card list of every token a deck can produce, Scryfall's token search is the canonical reference. Our generator is built around tabletop play — a faster path from “I cast this” to “here is the right token at the right size, on the table.”