Meriadoc Brandybuck

Read the trigger carefully and the shape of the card comes into focus: it fires when Halflings attack a player, keyed to the attack step itself rather than to combat damage. That distinction is the balancing hinge. A version that paid off per attacker would reward flooding the board with bodies to maximize token count; this version only asks for a Halfling to declare an attack, so the deckbuilding pressure is toward a reliable, recurring swing rather than a wide swarm. Note also that the trigger reads "attack a player," not "attack": split your assault across multiple opponents at a multiplayer table and you stock the pantry once per defending player, turning a fork of attackers into a fistful of Food. The token itself is deliberately unremarkable as a life outlet; three life at a two-mana tax is not the reason it exists. It exists as a subtype. Food is a resource other cards want to sacrifice, tally, and eat, and a source that manufactures one every time you commit to combat converts the attack step into fuel for an artifact-sacrifice shell sitting beside it. The 2/2 for two keeps the payoff located in the tribe's aggression rather than in Meriadoc as a threat; he is an engine piece, not a finisher, happier feeding a board than being the board. Where the more overtly aggressive Halfling anthems reward the tribe with combat stats, this one rewards the decision to swing at all.