So, you’re looking for the best green ramp MTG has to offer? Well, you’re in luck because if you are playing a green deck, your life is good. Not only do you have giant creatures at your disposal, but you also have access to the best green ramp MTG has printed. And honestly, who doesn’t love mana? Mana is good, mana is king, mana is life.
By far, the 3 best spells for green ramp MTG has printed are: Three Visits, Nature’s Lore and Farseek. But there are so many more green ramp spells that are extremely good and usable other than those. A lot of those other green ramp spells are even super budget! Check out this guide for the best green ramp MTG has printed and start including some of these suggestions in your decks!
Table of Contents
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Green Ramp vs. Mana Rocks
If you are running a deck with any sort of green in it, you should replace nearly all mana rocks with actual green ramp spells. Really, depending on my colors, Chromatic Lantern, Sol Ring and Arcane Signet are the only rocks I’d even consider. Green has such easy access to the best green ramp MTG has ever printed, so be sure to use it! Mana rocks have their place and are great for decks without access to green.
Artifacts can potentially (and from my experience will) be removed. Sometimes all at once, I’m looking at you Farewell and Vandalblast… But lands? Lands usually stay on the battlefield (emphasis on usually…). It has gotten to the point where any multi-color deck that has green in it will dictate how my manabase is created.
For these decks, my manabase is focused on green first, and color fixing second. With all the dual, and even tri colored fetchable lands with basic subtypes nowadays, color fixing with a green focused manabase is not too bad at all. You get all the benefits of running green and being able to ramp like crazy, while also not having to worry about getting your colors.
MTG Green Ramp with a 5 Colored Deck
To put the green ramp vs. mana rocks philosophy mentioned previously into a real world scenario, I have a 5 color Planeswalker deck that runs all the tricycle/triome lands that have green in them. That means if I play a Nature’s Lore, I can grab any one of them while being able to have access to two more of my colors. For that deck, I play the 6 tricycles/triomes with green in them and the 4 shocklands with green in them which gives me 10 total targets (both tapped and untapped) for some of my green ramp that looks for a forest card.
In fact, every single dual or tri land in the deck has green in it. I also play all 4 crowdlands with green and all 4 checklands with green too. If you add in a pair of each color’s basic, some 5 color lands and a few utility lands, you’re manabase is all set.
This almost guarantees you’ll have access to green mana right away so you can cast your best green ramp spells from your deck when you draw them. This is where you will use those ramp spells to start color fixing. Plus you’ll be adding more lands to the battlefield!
It might seem obvious, but when it comes to ramp, green really is kind of broken. I pretty much have zero issues getting my colors using this strategy. Even though playing a 5 color deck with this type of manabase doesn’t cause too many problems, if you are playing 4 or 3 colored decks, it gets even easier.
The only real issue is when you don’t have enough lands in your opening hand and/or are missing a ramp spell. However, a mulligan or two should solve that problem.
Best Green Ramp MTG Has Printed – No Budget
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, the 3 best spells for green ramp MTG has ever printed are: Three Visits, Nature’s Lore and Farseek. Most players are aware of these cards and they are typically the first targets for inclusion in a deck’s green ramp collection.
All three of these spells used to be pretty expensive. Three Visits was even close to $100 at one point! But all three of them have been reprinted somewhat recently which has drastically brought their price down, some more than others.
For example, Farseek and Nature’s Lore can be had for under $2 and Three Visits, while the priciest of the trio, can be found for about $5 (as of June 2023). These are what I consider the no budget green ramp MTG has printed throughout the years.
My definition of no budget are cards that are generally over $1. Anything below $1 will be listed below in the budget section! Be sure to read through both lists and the budget list contains some amazing green ramp spells as well! These will be broken down alphabetically by mana value.
2 CMC Green Ramp MTG Has Printed
- Nature’s Lore
- Search your library for a Forest card and put that card onto the battlefield
- Three Visits
- Search your library for a Forest card and put that card onto the battlefield
- Farseek
- Search your library for a Plains, Island, Swamp, or Mountain card and put it onto the battlefield tapped
- Into the North
- Search your library for a snow land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped
3 CMC MTG Green Ramp Spells
- Harvest Season
- Search your library for up to X basic land cards, where X is the number of tapped creatures you control and put those cards onto the battlefield tapped
- Kodama’s Reach
- Search your library for up to 2 basic land cards, reveal those cards, put one onto the battlefield tapped and the other into your hand
- Spoils of Victory
- Search your library for a Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, or Forest card and put that card onto the battlefield
4+ CMC Green Ramp MTG Has Created
- Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
- Destroy target land
- Search your library for a Forest card and put that card onto the battlefield tapped
- Skyshroud Claim
- Search your library for up to 2 Forest cards and put them onto the battlefield
- Tempt with Discovery
- Search your library for a land card and put it onto the battlefield
- Each opponent may search their library for a land card and put it onto the battlefield
- For each opponent who searches a library this way, search your library for a land card and put it onto the battlefield
- Then each player who searched a library this way shuffles
- Traverse the Outlands
- Search your library for up to X basic land cards, where X is the greatest power among creatures you control — put those cards onto the battlefield tapped
X Cost Green Ramp MTG Has Printed
- Animist’s Awakening
- Reveal the top X cards of your library. Put all land cards from among them onto the battlefield tapped and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order
- Spell mastery — If there are 2 or more instant and/or sorcery cards in your graveyard, untap those lands
- Awaken the Woods
- Create X 1/1 green Forest Dryad land creature tokens
- New Frontiers
- Each player may search their library for up to X basic land cards and put them onto the battlefield tapped
- Then each player who searched their library this way shuffles
Best Green Ramp MTG Has Created – Budget
Just because these spells are budget does not mean they should be overlooked. A lot of these green ramp spells can (and should) be used in no budget or increased budget decks. Some of these spells have dipped below $1 when they used to be over that price, just due to frequent reprints. I’d like to highlight Emergent Sequence.
I feel like nobody talks about this card and it is pretty good. It is becoming a mandatory include in any deck that has green ramp in it for me. Yes, the land becomes a creature, but it is still tough to kill it since it is also a land as well.
And once you have plenty of lands, this just becomes a great blocker to save you some life! As with the no budget section, these will also be broken down alphabetically by mana value.
2 CMC Budget Green Ramp MTG Has Printed
- Edge of Autumn
- If you control 4 or fewer lands, search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped
- Cycling — Sacrifice a land
- Emergent Sequence
- Search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped
- That land becomes a 0/0 green and blue Fractal creature that’s still a land
- Put a +1/+1 counter on it for each land you had enter the battlefield under your control this turn
- Explore
- You may play an additional land this turn
- Draw a card
- Glimpse the Core
- Choose one —
- Search your library for a basic Forest and put it onto the battlefield tapped
- Return target cave from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped
- Choose one —
- Rampant Growth
- Search your library for a basic land card and put that card onto the battlefield tapped
- Thunderherd Migration
- As an additional cost to cast this spell, reveal a Dinosaur card from your hand or pay 1 generic
- Search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped
3 CMC Budget Green Ramp MTG Has Created
- Beanstalk Giant // Fertile Footsteps (the Adventure spell)
- Search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield
- Beneath the Sands
- Search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped
- Cycling — 2 generic
- Cultivate
- Search your library for up to 2 basic land cards, reveal those cards and put one onto the battlefield tapped and the other into your hand
- Growth Spasm
- Search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped
- Create a 0/1 colorless Eldrazi Spawn creature token — It has “Sacrifice this creature: Add 1 colorless”
- Natural Connection
- Search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped
- Nissa’s Pilgrimage
- Search your library for up to 2 basic Forest cards, reveal those cards, and put one onto the battlefield tapped and the rest into your hand
- Spell mastery — If there are 2 or more instant and/or sorcery cards in your graveyard, search your library for up to 3 basic Forest cards instead of 2
- Omen of the Hunt
- Flash
- When it enters the battlefield, you may search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped
- 2 generic 1 green — Sacrifice Omen of the Hunt to Scry 2
- Path to the Festival
- Search your library for a basic land card and put that card onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle. Then if there are 3 or more basic land types among lands you control, scry 1
- Flashback — 4 generic and 1 green
- Roiling Regrowth
- Sacrifice a land. Search your library for up to 2 basic land cards and put them onto the battlefield tapped
- Search for Tomorrow
- Search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield
- Suspend 2 — 1 green
4 CMC Budget MTG Green Ramp
- Celebrate the Harvest
- Search your library for up to X basic land cards, where X is the number of different powers among creatures you control and put those cards onto the battlefield tapped
- Circuitous Route
- Search your library for up to 2 basic land cards and/or Gate cards and put them onto the battlefield tapped
- Explosive Vegetation
- Search your library for up to 2 basic land cards and put them onto the battlefield tapped
- Hunting Wilds
- Kicker — 3 generic and 1 green
- Search your library for up to 2 Forest cards and put them onto the battlefield tapped
- If this spell was kicked, untap all Forests put onto the battlefield this way. They become 3/3 green creatures with haste that are still lands
- Migration Path
- Search your library for up to 2 basic land cards and put them onto the battlefield tapped
- Cycling — 2 generic
- Ranger’s Path
- Search your library for up to 2 Forest cards and put them onto the battlefield tapped
Creature Based Green Ramp MTG Has Given Us
Creature based ramp is very hit or miss for me. I know a lot of people love their Llanowar Elves, their Fyndhorn Elves, etc., but I am not the biggest fan of those. They are easily removed and are magnets for removal.
And if they are removed, you don’t have anything to show for it. I like my ramp spells to actually place additional lands on the battlefield, rather than being stapled on to a permanent as an ability.
As stated before, lands will usually stick around. And at worst (for most games), only 1 or 2 will get destroyed. Thus this list was created with all the green creatures that upon entering the battlefield, allow you to search for a land and place it on the battlefield!
The standouts here are Sakura-Tribe Elder and Wood Elves. But make no mistake, most of the rest are also still really good!
Creature Green Ramp MTG Has for Finding Non-Basic Lands
- Doric, Nature’s Warden
- Vigilance
- When it enters the battlefield, search your library for a Forest card and put it onto the battlefield tapped
- Whenever it attacks, you may pay 1 generic and 1 green — if you do, transform it
- Wood Elves
- When it enters the battlefield, search your library for a Forest card and put that card onto the battlefield
- Yavimaya Dryad
- Forestwalk
- When it enters the battlefield, you may search your library for a Forest card and put it onto the battlefield tapped under target player’s control (you can be the target player)
Creature Green Ramp MTG Has for Finding Basic Lands
- Farhaven Elf
- When it enters the battlefield, you may search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped
- Kodama of the West Tree
- Reach
- Modified creatures you control have trample
- Whenever a modified creature you control deals combat damage to a player, search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped
- Migratory Greathorn
- Mutate (costs 2 generic and 1 green)
- Whenever this creature mutates, search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped
- Rootweaver Druid
- When it enters the battlefield, each opponent may search their library for up to three basic land cards. They each put one of those cards onto the battlefield tapped under your control and the rest onto the battlefield tapped under their control
- Sakura-Tribe Elder
- Sacrifice it to search your library for a basic land card and put that card onto the battlefield tapped
- Springbloom Druid
- When it enters the battlefield, you may sacrifice a land. If you do, search your library for up to two basic land cards and put them onto the battlefield tapped
- Topiary Stomper
- Vigilance
- When it enters the battlefield, search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped
- It can’t attack or block unless you control 7 or more lands
- Yavimaya Granger
- Echo
- When it enters the battlefield, you may search your library for a basic land card and put that card onto the battlefield tapped
Additionally, here is a pre-populated ScryFall search to show All Manadorks that cost 1 (mostly) green mana to cast.
Final Thoughts
I hope some of these spells for green ramp MTG has printed throughout the years has been beneficial to you. When any deck I play has green, these lists are the first thing I use to start building my deck. Typically in my deck building, I try to include 12 ramp spells at minimum; sometimes more.
This all depends on the average mana value of the deck, but 12 is a good starting point, in my opinion. This gives you more changes to draw into those green ramp spells and start advancing your board ahead of everyone else’s.
If you follow my suggestion for using spells that add lands over mana rocks, your acceleration will stick around without being removed with artifact removal! There are still bunches of other green ramp MTG has printed, but I feel like the ones listed are the best of the bunch, per their dedicated categories. If I did miss any, please shout them out in the comments section below! Thanks for reading, and may you become a prominent real estate tycoon!
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