So, very often, I find myself at a bit of a loss when I'm filling in the two slot in my EDH decks. I know I need a few, but I'm often stuck either due to thematic concerns or sheer forgetfulness. I was hoping we could try to compile a list of the top eight two drops for:
Each color
Multicolor
Artifact
In the spirit of the 50 best list. Unlike the 50 best, I expect a lot of these will require explanations, which I will be happy to write. These are presented Caveat Emptor, with no particular ordering. Once we have a set list, and a final format, I'll alphabetize them, so that it's as close to the 50 Best List in formatting as we can reasonably make it without compromising content. Signets and mana-fixing rocks of many varieties are already covered, and can be found under the spoiler block at the end.
A Critical Note
I am presenting cards here that are good. I am not making value judgments on their playability in your group. I am not making value judgments regarding their effects on the net health of the format. I am not making suggestions regarding playstyle, or the relative correctness thereof. These are simply cards, in sets of 8 or so, that happen to be excellent for their CMC of 2. A great many excellent cards ended up in the larger build-arounds list, in the spoiler block at the end of this guide. If you can't find a card, you should check there first, since I was a little liberal regarding what I treated as a build-around.
Dwarven Miner - Usually eats removal, but at least he ate that removal. Though a t1 or t2 miner can end games sometimes.
All of the guild signets - self explanatory
Diabolic Vision - I don't know if people ever use this, but it's a personal favorite of mine.
Depending on your decks colors, the familiars from Planeshift. Especially when you are running allied tri colors, they reduce your general by two, and a host of other spells.
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Black: Demonic Tutor - The best tutor in the game, hands down. 2 mana for any card in the deck. Shred Memory - A little graveyard removal never hurts, and it can also transmute into useful things. Bitterblossom - Guys every turn. Card advantage wins games. Fuels Skullclamp and Contamination, amongst others. Reassembling Skeleton - Like a bitterblossom taking mana instead of life. Bloodghast - Like a bitterblossom taking land drops instead of life Nezumi Graverobber - Incredibly powerful threat. Graveyard removal and a recursion engine in one neat little package. Diabolic Edict - Cheap, effective removal that can be used again in a pinch. Abyssal Gatekeeper - Innocent Blood on legs.
Red: Fork, Reverberate - Red has a distinct lack of powerful spells. This lets them piggyback on the powerful spells of others Shattering Pulse - Reuseable removal for one of the most commonly-played card types in the format Ashling, the Pilgrim - One of the best mono-red Generals. Great outlet for leftover mana, boardwipe and damage in a nice neat little package. Braid of Fire - With the removal of mana burn, this now has no drawback, and just powers out more and more expensive instants or abilities every upkeep Burning Wish - 2 mana tutor for one of 10 cards (your sideboard) never hurts Devastating Dreams - Great way to seal a victory for cheap. Goblin Tinkerer - Potentially re-usable artifact hate
White: Abeyance - Stops combos dead in their tracks, and cantrips to boot Revoke Existence - Versatile, Permanent removal for many problem cards Balance - If set up properly, can do some very sick things Eight-and-a-Half Tails - Counters removal and can make your whole team uinblockable. Great as a general or even just as a part of an aggressive strategy. Jotun Grunt - Efficient beater that also graveyard hates Ethersworn Canonist - Stops a lot of combo shenanigans Flickerform - Great way to abuse ETB abilities and protect a key component, like a voltron general Stoneforge Mystic - Cheap ETB tutor
Blue: Mana Drain - Counters anything AND gives you mana Artificer's Intuition - Survival of the Fittest for trinkets. Copy Artifact - Artifacts are so common in the format, that being able to clone any for 2 mana is a huge bargain Counterbalance - Gets by the biggest drawback of countermagic in EDH - the fact that it goes 1 for 1 Daze - Free countermagic is always threatening Erayo, Soratomi Ascendant - Easy to flip with so many players, and shuts people down hard when it does Jushi Apprentice - Pretty easy to flip in a format where Reliquary Towers abound, and then it's a stupid powerful draw engine Lighthouse Chronologist - Taking lots of extra turns is stupid good
(Time Walk omitted due to ban)
I'll come back for artifact and multicolored later. I probably overlooked a lot of stuff, this is just stuff to consider.
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Sell me on Artificer's Intuition. It's a lovely tutoring effect, and it can dump things into the yard, but what makes it one of the top eight, particularly in a color weighted down with amazing choices?
I've dropped ESworn into build-arounds, even though she likely doesn't belong there, simply because I've seen people lose when they included her without a sufficient artifact base or self-sac. It's pretty clear we're going to come up with more than 8 really awesome cards in a few places, so a few of them will be included with little notes about how they made it in and won't be counted against the 8.
Sell me on Artificer's Intuition. It's a lovely tutoring effect, and it can dump things into the yard, but what makes it one of the top eight, particularly in a color weighted down with amazing choices?
I know blue has a lot of excellent choices for 2-drops, but a lot of them are one-shot effects. Artificer's Intuition is a repeatable effect, and repeatability is king in EDH. Then again, I'm not sure what you REALLY need to find with it besides Sensei's Divining Top and Skullclamp. I guess it can Fix Mana, Find non-basics, spot remove, and Mass remove, but it should probably be under "Build-Around".
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armillary sphere and journeyer's kite are both soooo good. Generally the later you stop making your land drops, the better as you have more mana available for crazy-good engines (nim deathmantle... also a two-drop!)
Other than that, it's not a two-drop but dragonmaster outcast really dominates games he doesn't get removed from... And if he does get removed, you probably got a slight tempo advantage anyway because he's only one mana.
"I will flay the skin from your flesh and the flesh from your bones and scrape your bones dry. And still you will not have suffered enough." -Greven il-Vec, to Gerrard
- Each color
- Multicolor
- Artifact
In the spirit of the 50 best list. Unlike the 50 best, I expect a lot of these will require explanations, which I will be happy to write. These are presented Caveat Emptor, with no particular ordering. Once we have a set list, and a final format, I'll alphabetize them, so that it's as close to the 50 Best List in formatting as we can reasonably make it without compromising content. Signets and mana-fixing rocks of many varieties are already covered, and can be found under the spoiler block at the end.A Critical Note
I am presenting cards here that are good. I am not making value judgments on their playability in your group. I am not making value judgments regarding their effects on the net health of the format. I am not making suggestions regarding playstyle, or the relative correctness thereof. These are simply cards, in sets of 8 or so, that happen to be excellent for their CMC of 2. A great many excellent cards ended up in the larger build-arounds list, in the spoiler block at the end of this guide. If you can't find a card, you should check there first, since I was a little liberal regarding what I treated as a build-around.
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Flickerform
1 Revoke Existence
1 knight of the white orchid
1 leonin arbiter
1 leonin relic-warder
1 Jushi Apprentice
1 Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
1 Dance of Many
1 Vedalken Shackles
General Hate And More
1 Declaration of Naught
1 Bloodghast
1 Demonic tutor
1 Sinkhole
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Shred Memory
1 Nezumi Graverobber
1 Word of Command
1 Reassembling Skeleton
1 Go For The Throat
1 Doom blade
1 Stitch Together
1 Ashling the Pilgrim
1 Smoke
1 Recoup
1 Fork
1 Wheel of Fate
1 Dwarven Blastminer
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Regrowth
1 Earthcraft
1 Constant Mists
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Life from The Loam
1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
1 Fauna Shaman
Honorables
1 Into The North
1 Sylvan Scrying
1 Magus of the Library
1 Mistmeadow Witch
1 Azorius Guildmage
1 Eladimri's call
1 lim-dul's vault
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Sterling Grove
1 Terminate
1 Hull Breach
1 Tin Street Hooligan
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Meddling Mage
1 Bloom Tender
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Grim Monolith
1 Scroll Rack
1 Myr Retriever
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Rachet Bomb
1 Powder Keg
1 nim deathmantle
1 Temporal Aperture
Build Arounds, Signets, Miscellany
A Few other things merited inclusion, but didn't fit strictly into the top 8 lists.
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Genesis Chamber
1 Winter Orb
1 isochron scepter
1 Artificer's Intuition
1 Cursed Totem
1 Null Rod
1 Magus of The Bazaar
1 Boros Signet
1 Dimir Signet
1 Golgari Signet
1 Gruul Signet
1 Izzet Signet
1 Orzhov Signet
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Selesnya Signet
1 Simic Signet
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Sphere of The Suns
1 Mindstone
1 Everflowing Chalice
1 Guardian Idol
1 Journeyer's Kite
1 Armillary Sphere
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Sylvan Library - Effectively a top but it can occasionally net you a few well needed cards.
Sakura-Tribe Elder - One of the best little mana fixers ever
Dwarven Miner - Usually eats removal, but at least he ate that removal. Though a t1 or t2 miner can end games sometimes.
All of the guild signets - self explanatory
Diabolic Vision - I don't know if people ever use this, but it's a personal favorite of mine.
Depending on your decks colors, the familiars from Planeshift. Especially when you are running allied tri colors, they reduce your general by two, and a host of other spells.
Tin Street Hooligan - Great two drop removal
Braid of Fire - Although it's really only good when build around.
Reckless Waif; It's the red Delver of Secrets.
Game over. Topic closed.
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Avatar of Woe
Bloodghast
just to name a few off the top of my head
Impulse
Mana Drain
Counterspell
green
Sylvan Scrying
Regrowth
black
Demonic Tutor
multicolor
Qasali Pridemage
Eladamri's Call
It strikes me that especially tutors come to my mind.
also, bloom tender, constant mists, azorius guildmage, lightning greaves, and mistmeadow witch come to mind.
EDIT: hey life from the loam too
WUB Merieke Ri Berit BUW
GWU Phelddagrif 1 2 3 4 UWG
BR Kaervek the Merciless RB
B Chainer, Dementia Master B
WUB Sen Triplets BUW
BG Sisters of Stone Death GB
WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon GRBUW
GWU Angus Mackenzie UWG
R Kumano, Master Yamabushi R
WB Teysa BW
U Higure U
B Geth B
WUBRG Child of Alara 1 2GRBUW
R Zirilan R
U Arcum U
UR Nin RU
BRG Sek'Kuar GRB
U Teferi U
G Melira G
GU Edric UG
BG Glissa GB
Casual
GUB Knacksaw Clique BUG
RWU Sunforger UWR
Hmm, I was unaware that you could run 8 copies of coiling oracle.
You may know me as Doctor Rocktopus.
More EDH decks of varying quality here.
Thanks to DarkKnightCavalier For the awesome banner!
Currently Playing:
RWUZedruuRWU
(G/U)Momir Vig(G/U)
Works In Progress
WBGGhaveWBG
RUGRikuRUG
GRStonebrowGR
RWBrionRW
Other than that:
Artifact:
Green:
White:
Red:
Blue:
Those are the ones I can think of off-hand.
Wall of Blossoms
Wall of Omens
Four more to go!
(U/B)(U/B)(U/B) JUMP IN THE LINE, ROCK YOUR BODY IN TIME
(R/W)(R/W)(R/W) RISING FROM THE NEON GLOOM, SHINING LIKE A CRAZY MOON
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StaffBlack:
Demonic Tutor - The best tutor in the game, hands down. 2 mana for any card in the deck.
Shred Memory - A little graveyard removal never hurts, and it can also transmute into useful things.
Bitterblossom - Guys every turn. Card advantage wins games. Fuels Skullclamp and Contamination, amongst others.
Reassembling Skeleton - Like a bitterblossom taking mana instead of life.
Bloodghast - Like a bitterblossom taking land drops instead of life
Nezumi Graverobber - Incredibly powerful threat. Graveyard removal and a recursion engine in one neat little package.
Diabolic Edict - Cheap, effective removal that can be used again in a pinch.
Abyssal Gatekeeper - Innocent Blood on legs.
Red:
Fork, Reverberate - Red has a distinct lack of powerful spells. This lets them piggyback on the powerful spells of others
Shattering Pulse - Reuseable removal for one of the most commonly-played card types in the format
Ashling, the Pilgrim - One of the best mono-red Generals. Great outlet for leftover mana, boardwipe and damage in a nice neat little package.
Braid of Fire - With the removal of mana burn, this now has no drawback, and just powers out more and more expensive instants or abilities every upkeep
Burning Wish - 2 mana tutor for one of 10 cards (your sideboard) never hurts
Devastating Dreams - Great way to seal a victory for cheap.
Goblin Tinkerer - Potentially re-usable artifact hate
Green:
Regrowth - Demonic Tutor for your graveyard. Nothing beats it in efficiency
Nostalgic Dreams - Mass recursion is pretty amazing
Sakura-Tribe Elder - Everyone's favorite Rampant Growth
Sylvan Scrying - Find ANY land
Survival of the Fittest - Reusable creature tutor and graveyard filler
Constant Mists - Combined with Life from the Loam or Crucible of Worlds, can permanently shut out the attack step as a method to victory.
Life From the Loam - Repeatable card advantage engine
Rofellos, Llanawar Emissary - The sheer amount of ramp he provides is stupid. You can have 6 mana available on turn 3 from one card.
White:
Abeyance - Stops combos dead in their tracks, and cantrips to boot
Revoke Existence - Versatile, Permanent removal for many problem cards
Balance - If set up properly, can do some very sick things
Eight-and-a-Half Tails - Counters removal and can make your whole team uinblockable. Great as a general or even just as a part of an aggressive strategy.
Jotun Grunt - Efficient beater that also graveyard hates
Ethersworn Canonist - Stops a lot of combo shenanigans
Flickerform - Great way to abuse ETB abilities and protect a key component, like a voltron general
Stoneforge Mystic - Cheap ETB tutor
Blue:
Mana Drain - Counters anything AND gives you mana
Artificer's Intuition - Survival of the Fittest for trinkets.
Copy Artifact - Artifacts are so common in the format, that being able to clone any for 2 mana is a huge bargain
Counterbalance - Gets by the biggest drawback of countermagic in EDH - the fact that it goes 1 for 1
Daze - Free countermagic is always threatening
Erayo, Soratomi Ascendant - Easy to flip with so many players, and shuts people down hard when it does
Jushi Apprentice - Pretty easy to flip in a format where Reliquary Towers abound, and then it's a stupid powerful draw engine
Lighthouse Chronologist - Taking lots of extra turns is stupid good
(Time Walk omitted due to ban)
I'll come back for artifact and multicolored later. I probably overlooked a lot of stuff, this is just stuff to consider.
Currently Playing:
Legacy: Something U/W Controlish
EDH Cube
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I've dropped ESworn into build-arounds, even though she likely doesn't belong there, simply because I've seen people lose when they included her without a sufficient artifact base or self-sac. It's pretty clear we're going to come up with more than 8 really awesome cards in a few places, so a few of them will be included with little notes about how they made it in and won't be counted against the 8.
You may know me as Doctor Rocktopus.
More EDH decks of varying quality here.
Green:
Colorless:
White:
Blue:
That's it for now.
You may know me as Doctor Rocktopus.
More EDH decks of varying quality here.
Don't forget Leonin Arbiter. Slowing down ramps and tutors puts a target on your head but it sure is fun!
@MarkBGH on Twitter | Bloody Good Horror
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StaffI know blue has a lot of excellent choices for 2-drops, but a lot of them are one-shot effects. Artificer's Intuition is a repeatable effect, and repeatability is king in EDH. Then again, I'm not sure what you REALLY need to find with it besides Sensei's Divining Top and Skullclamp. I guess it can Fix Mana, Find non-basics, spot remove, and Mass remove, but it should probably be under "Build-Around".
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StaffMind Stone - It's a mana stone that also cantrips
Myr Retriever - It's a lot easier for decks to recur creatures (Volrath's Stronghold, Genesis, Sword of Light and Shadow, etc) than artifacts. This lets you turn the former into the latter.
Journeyer's Kite - Recurring Card advantage, shuffles, and deck thinning, works great with Scroll Rack and/or SDT
Armillary Sphere - Fixes colors and 2-for-1's. Not gamebreaking, but it's solid
Coldsteel Heart, The Diamonds, The Talismen, Sphere of Suns - More mana stones
Candles of Leng - Given that cards in the format tend not to share names, it's a Jayemdae Tome for half the initial investment
Contagion Clasp - Takes out early mana dorks, and Proliferate can be a powerful effect (Build-around?)
Cursed Totem and Null Rod - Shut down certain decks
The Medallions - Pseudo Mana Stones
Guardian Idol - A mana stone that also beats
Isochron Scepter - Abuse any instants on your list (build-around?)
Livewire Lash - After Jitte and Greaves, probably the third-best Equipment at 2 mana
Powder Keg and Ratchet Bomb - bad in metas that are swarming with only high CMC threats, but they can do a lot in faster metas
Reito Lantern - Graveyard hate and potential recursion engine in one nice package.
Temporal Aperture - Generates card advantage, great with SDT and similar effects
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Other than that, it's not a two-drop but dragonmaster outcast really dominates games he doesn't get removed from... And if he does get removed, you probably got a slight tempo advantage anyway because he's only one mana.
(U/B)(U/B)(U/B) JUMP IN THE LINE, ROCK YOUR BODY IN TIME
(R/W)(R/W)(R/W) RISING FROM THE NEON GLOOM, SHINING LIKE A CRAZY MOON
(U/R)(R/G)(G/U) STEALIN' WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN BUYIN'
EDH
GUBVorosh, the HunterGUB
BRGKarrthus, Tyrant of JundBRG
GMolimo, Maro-SorcererG
UThada Adel, AcquisitorU list soon
BEndrek Sahr, Master BreederB
Edit: 'nathed on the vault.
Commander: Vorosh || Karn || Sygg || Phage || Niv Mizzet
Sterling Grove an enchantment tutor that also goes great with Privileged Position
Also, Regrowth