I had seen harrow maybe 15 times in competitive decklists over the last few years and I must have read over it each and every time. I just discovered this card and am now wondering what else is out there i may have skimmed over. So now I ask you guys; what do you personally believe to be the best land ramp spell for each cmc?
1 Burgeoning
2 Farseek? or maybe Sakura-tribe elder
3 Harrow
4 Skyshroud Claim
Those are what i fall back on generally. But there are plenty of arguments for other's such as artifact based land ramp (Burnished Hart, Solemn Simulacrum). It is worth it to note also that it highly depends on the deck you are running. If you're in panharmonicon.dec you are probably gonna opt for creature based land ramp such as Wood Elves.
Really, it depends on single color or multicolor, focus, and budget (among other things). Manabond is a house in a deck that looks to barf all its lands quickly onto the battlefield and wants everything else in the graveyard. Exploration is better in a vacuum. In a deck with land fetches, khalni-heart expedition is almost broken. Nature's lore is amazing in either mono green or dual fetching. I like cultivate/kodama's reach better than harrow. While they are not instant speed, they are definitive card advantage.
The one card I haven't seen named yet is Search for Tomorrow. Great T1 play and later on it does pick up the land untapped.
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My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras. Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power. Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza. Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall. Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana. Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die. Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
For 1 CMC I like Caravan Vigil for a card that doesn't rely on having a land in hand or powerful non-basics in library, and Wayfarer's Bauble if you are in four or five colors. You'll probably usually get more out of Burgeoining/Exploration, though.
At 3 CMC is Primal Growth, which is great for any deck that wants to sacrifice creatures (maybe BG or something) since the lands come in untapped. Also, Harvest Season is nuts if you're playing a 'go wide' strategy.
Green Sun's Zenith for Dryad Arbor is the best turn 1 land ramp. Crop Rotation is a close second. The XGG from from GSZ is better than the X2 provided by the Crop Rotation play. Burgeoning and Exploration aren't land ramp effects. They're hand dumps for powerful card draw engines.
Nature's Lore and and Three Visits can search for non basic forest like Savannah or Stomping Grounds. This alone makes them better than every other two mana land ramp. They also put the lands into play untapped which makes them functionally cost one mana when played off curve. Sakura-Tribe Elder is the best two mana creature ramp. Require no additional mana to activate its ability, blocks well, and can traded in with Skullclamp when you no longer need ramp.
Cultivate and Kodama's Reach ramp, color fix, and guarantee a land drop for the next turn. Best three mana ramp spells. Nissa's Pilgrimage is also good if you play mono green. Wood Elves is a three mana version of Nature's Lore. As a creature it has the added benefit of wearing equipment - most noticeably Skullclamp.
You shouldn't run ramp that costs four mana unless it has synergy with other cards in your deck. At this mana threshold mana rocks start being better than land ramp effects. Gilded Lotus and Thran Dynamo will put you further than Skyshroud Claim while also having synergies with artifacts matter cards like Unwinding Clock or Goblin Welder. Even land enchantments are better at this point since auras like Dawn's Reflection have synergy with Verduran Enchantress or Earthcraft.
You also risk the very possible threat of miss your natural fourth land drop. The Skyshroud Claim that's stuck in your hand isn't going to be of any use. If you don't topdeck a land the next turn it won't help you catch up either. There's nothing that 4+ cmc ramp spell can do that 3 or lower cmc ramp spell could not.
These aren't close to the best though. They are mana wise half of a Cultivate with a more intensive mana cost spread out over your first two turns. Even if you throw it out turn 1 because you have nothing else to do and activate it turn two, it is still worse to activate on turn 2 than playing a Nature's Lore since this land enters untapped.
Example:
Player 1
1: Forest, Diligent Farmhand
2: Forest, Sac farmhand ramp a Forest
Player 2
1: Forest, Sensei's Divining Top (or whatever other one drop)
2: Forest, Nature's Lore -> Forest, EOT Worldly Tutor for a 3-4 drop on turn 3.
I would not want to waste my opening turn and by including these your are basically saying you don't mind doing so by including it. You take away any chance of having some explosive plays otherwise as my hypothetical players 2 and 3 had. Player 2 has a way superior position, and 3 is in control.
Edit: On reflection even my player 2 example is really just average and at a competitive table i would probably expect something similar to player 3 from at least one person fairly regularly. Player one is playing at the wrong table.
Edit 2: (Because I obviously had more to say than I thought I did) P2 and P3 in reality would likely lead turn one with an Island with a possibly Swan Song or similar in hand...
These aren't close to the best though. They are mana wise half of a Cultivate with a more intensive mana cost spread out over your first two turns. Even if you throw it out turn 1 because you have nothing else to do and activate it turn two, it is still worse to activate on turn 2 than playing a Nature's Lore since this land enters untapped.
Example:
Player 1
1: Forest, Diligent Farmhand
2: Forest, Sac farmhand ramp a Forest
Player 2
1: Forest, Sensei's Divining Top (or whatever other one drop)
2: Forest, Nature's Lore -> Forest, EOT Worldly Tutor for a 3-4 drop on turn 3.
I would not want to waste my opening turn and by including these your are basically saying you don't mind doing so by including it. You take away any chance of having some explosive plays otherwise as my hypothetical players 2 and 3 had. Player 2 has a way superior position, and 3 is in control.
Edit: On reflection even my player 2 example is really just average and at a competitive table i would probably expect something similar to player 3 from at least one person fairly regularly. Player one is playing at the wrong table.
Edit 2: (Because I obviously had more to say than I thought I did) P2 and P3 in reality would likely lead turn one with an Island with a possibly Swan Song or similar in hand...
They are certainly good in corner cases (Meren deck for Farmhand), but yes they are suboptimal for most decks.
Animist's Awakening has been an all-star for me. Being an X spell, it scales well as the game progresses, but I've cast it where x=2, with something like SDT to manipulate top of library, just to ramp 2 extra lands into play.
Exploration is one of the most elegant and destructive changes to the flow of the game for its CMC. It far outstrips Burgeoning for me in every situation, and IMO its only competition at that CMC is Crop Rotation which is a card that can see immense use over the course of a game as well.
I've also used yavimaya elder and veteran explorer to ramp in decks that uses recursion/sac outlets heavily. Those are VREY deck/meta dependant, and more often than not, they are sub-par.
Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
My thoughts exactly! I don't believe any 4-mana land-ramp spell is truly competitive, but Pir's Whim has the advantage of getting nonbasic lands & often setting your opponents back on mana or making them sac an important permanent.
2 Farseek? or maybe Sakura-tribe elder
3 Harrow
4 Skyshroud Claim
Those are what i fall back on generally. But there are plenty of arguments for other's such as artifact based land ramp (Burnished Hart, Solemn Simulacrum). It is worth it to note also that it highly depends on the deck you are running. If you're in panharmonicon.dec you are probably gonna opt for creature based land ramp such as Wood Elves.
1. Exploration/manabond
2. Khalni heart expedition/Nature's Lore
3. Cultivate/Azusa, lost but seeking
4. ...
Really, it depends on single color or multicolor, focus, and budget (among other things). Manabond is a house in a deck that looks to barf all its lands quickly onto the battlefield and wants everything else in the graveyard. Exploration is better in a vacuum. In a deck with land fetches, khalni-heart expedition is almost broken. Nature's lore is amazing in either mono green or dual fetching. I like cultivate/kodama's reach better than harrow. While they are not instant speed, they are definitive card advantage.
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
- Crop Rotation
- Nature's Lore/Farseek/Sakura-Tribe Elder/Rampant Growth/Knight of the White Orchid
- Cultivate/Kodama's Reach/Harrow/Wood Elves/Spoils of Victory/Yavimaya Dryad/Farhaven Elf
- Tempt with Discovery/Skyshroud Claim/Solemn Simulacrum/Kor Cartographer
- Hour of Promise
- Verdant Confluence
- Boundless Realms
List excludes all "play more lands" things and lands.https://archidekt.com/user/71716
2: Nature's Lore / Three Visits
3: Kodama's Reach / Cultivate in a vacuum, Harrow if you care about either instant speed or saccing lands
4: Skyshroud Claim is OK
5: Hour of Promise might have a slot if you've enough very good non basics
6 and above: Nothing even remotely playable.
At 3 CMC is Primal Growth, which is great for any deck that wants to sacrifice creatures (maybe BG or something) since the lands come in untapped. Also, Harvest Season is nuts if you're playing a 'go wide' strategy.
- Rabid Wombat
2. Nature's Lore / Three Visits / Sakura-Tribe Elder
3. Cultivate / Kodama's Reach / Wood Elves
4+ Don't
Green Sun's Zenith for Dryad Arbor is the best turn 1 land ramp. Crop Rotation is a close second. The XGG from from GSZ is better than the X2 provided by the Crop Rotation play. Burgeoning and Exploration aren't land ramp effects. They're hand dumps for powerful card draw engines.
Nature's Lore and and Three Visits can search for non basic forest like Savannah or Stomping Grounds. This alone makes them better than every other two mana land ramp. They also put the lands into play untapped which makes them functionally cost one mana when played off curve. Sakura-Tribe Elder is the best two mana creature ramp. Require no additional mana to activate its ability, blocks well, and can traded in with Skullclamp when you no longer need ramp.
Cultivate and Kodama's Reach ramp, color fix, and guarantee a land drop for the next turn. Best three mana ramp spells. Nissa's Pilgrimage is also good if you play mono green. Wood Elves is a three mana version of Nature's Lore. As a creature it has the added benefit of wearing equipment - most noticeably Skullclamp.
You shouldn't run ramp that costs four mana unless it has synergy with other cards in your deck. At this mana threshold mana rocks start being better than land ramp effects. Gilded Lotus and Thran Dynamo will put you further than Skyshroud Claim while also having synergies with artifacts matter cards like Unwinding Clock or Goblin Welder. Even land enchantments are better at this point since auras like Dawn's Reflection have synergy with Verduran Enchantress or Earthcraft.
You also risk the very possible threat of miss your natural fourth land drop. The Skyshroud Claim that's stuck in your hand isn't going to be of any use. If you don't topdeck a land the next turn it won't help you catch up either. There's nothing that 4+ cmc ramp spell can do that 3 or lower cmc ramp spell could not.
These aren't close to the best though. They are mana wise half of a Cultivate with a more intensive mana cost spread out over your first two turns. Even if you throw it out turn 1 because you have nothing else to do and activate it turn two, it is still worse to activate on turn 2 than playing a Nature's Lore since this land enters untapped.
Example:
Player 1
1: Forest, Diligent Farmhand
2: Forest, Sac farmhand ramp a Forest
Player 2
1: Forest, Sensei's Divining Top (or whatever other one drop)
2: Forest, Nature's Lore -> Forest, EOT Worldly Tutor for a 3-4 drop on turn 3.
Player 3
1: Forest, Sol Ring, Fellwar Stone, Sensei's Divining Top (or other 1 drop)
2: Forest, Oracle of Mul Daya, Play land off the top of your deck or from hand. Use top as necessary.
I would not want to waste my opening turn and by including these your are basically saying you don't mind doing so by including it. You take away any chance of having some explosive plays otherwise as my hypothetical players 2 and 3 had. Player 2 has a way superior position, and 3 is in control.
Edit: On reflection even my player 2 example is really just average and at a competitive table i would probably expect something similar to player 3 from at least one person fairly regularly. Player one is playing at the wrong table.
Edit 2: (Because I obviously had more to say than I thought I did) P2 and P3 in reality would likely lead turn one with an Island with a possibly Swan Song or similar in hand...
They are certainly good in corner cases (Meren deck for Farmhand), but yes they are suboptimal for most decks.
There's also dreamscape artist - harrow on a stick.
I've also used yavimaya elder and veteran explorer to ramp in decks that uses recursion/sac outlets heavily. Those are VREY deck/meta dependant, and more often than not, they are sub-par.
Legacy - Solidarity - mono U aggro - burn - Imperial Painter - Strawberry Shortcake - Bluuzards - bom
At 1, I really just use mana dorks, Mana Vault, and Sol Ring, though Burgeoning and Exploration have value.
At 2, I have a few options: Nature's Lore, Farseek, and Sakura-Tribe Elder. Beyond that, Earthcraft or Cryptolith Rite, in the right deck.
At 3, Cultivate and Kodama's Reach. If you're doing elf tribal, Bant blink, or a Sun Titan package, Wood Elves and Farhaven Elf exist.
At 4, Solemn Simulacrum and Skyshroud Claim. The hidden gem here is Overlaid Terrain, but you have to know how to set it up to make it work.
At 5, Hour of Promise. You also have Mirari's Wake in GW.
At 6, Sun Titan lets you grab any fetchland you've previously sacrificed (among other things) and. There's also Mana Reflection, notable because it lets you net three mana off a signet or filter land.
At 7, it just gets winmoar. Let's just say if you have some landfall- or big mana-related win condition and haven't gone infinite, Boundless Realms is an option and leave it at that.
On phasing:
1 Exploration
2 Nature's Lore or Three visits
My thoughts exactly! I don't believe any 4-mana land-ramp spell is truly competitive, but Pir's Whim has the advantage of getting nonbasic lands & often setting your opponents back on mana or making them sac an important permanent.
JundBGR
RW Blood MoonRW
Pauper
Delver U
Elves G
Control B
Commander
Edgar Markov BRW
Captain Sisay GW
Niv-Mizzet, Parun UR
Tymna and Ravos WB