The Best Ramp Spells For Commander In MTG

Summary

• Solemn Simulacrum: Consistent ramp with a basic land search, subtle advantage.
• Birds of Paradise: Efficient mana source for multiple colors, flying evasion.
• Nyxbloom Ancient: Triples mana production, costly but powerful end-game option.

Ramp is a crucial component of any Commander deck in Magic: The Gathering. You can’t cast those big game-breaking spells if you don’t have the mana for them, and that’s where these spells come in.

While the vast majority of great ramp spells are in the green, there are some very good ramp cards among the many artifacts Magic boasts. If you’re looking for the best of the best for your next deck, we have you covered.

10

Solemn Simulacrum

The Saddest Robot

A long-time staple in Magic: The Gathering’s Commander format, Solemn Simulacrum is a four-mana artifact creature that can slot into practically any deck. When the Simulacrum comes into play, you get to go through your deck, looking for a basic land card of any type, and put it into play.

This puts you ahead a land going into turn four, assuming you play Solemn Simulacrum on curve, and gives you a chance to play a six-man spell on turn five. It isn’t enough to place a target on your back, but just enough of an advantage to put your opponents on the back step a bit.

9

Birds Of Paradise

Lots Of Mana In A Small Package

One of Magic’s most prominent ramping creatures, Birds of Paradise is a versatile card that does one thing exceptionally well. You can tap the Bird to add one mana of any color, setting you up for any missing colors you might be lacking on your next turn.

The Birds of Paradise doesn’t have any power, so attacking isn’t on the menu for this creature. It does have flying, however, and this little bit of evasion can help later in the game if you happen to load up the Bird with a piece of strong equipment, like Sword of the Animist you’ll learn more about later in this list.

8

Nyxbloom Ancient

End Game Solutions

If you’ve never seen Nyxbloom Ancient, it might take a few reads to make sure you have everything right. It has trample, but that is kinda irrelevant to the rest of the card. The spice comes from the fact that it triples the amount of mana you make from any permanent you control.

That means your lands now tap for three mana and your Sol Ring taps for six, which is a huge leap in terms of mana. The downside is that Nyxbloom Ancient costs seven mana to cast, so you’ve likely expended a fair amount of resources to get to this point.

7

Bloom Tender

Perfect With 5 Colors

If you’re not content with adding just one mana to your mana pool, you can go ahead and add up to five at a time with Bloom Tender. This two-mana Elf Druid looks at all the colors among permanents you control and gives you one mana of that color.

This can net you up to one mana of each color if you happen to have all five colors represented on board, which can be a huge boost of mana. By itself, Bloom Tender will at least net you one green mana since it will count itself as being in play.

6

Lotus Cobra

Put Those Lands To Work

Lands are already adding mana for you turn after turn, and with Lotus Cobra, you can double their efficiency the turn they come out. Lotus Cobra has an ability that when a land enters the battlefield under your control, you get to add one mana of any color to your mana pool.

So if you’re playing a land untapped, you are netting two mana off that land. Things start to get interesting when you start playing fetch lands or other ramp spells like Cultivate, where you can get two or more landfall triggers off of Lotus Cobra in a turn.

5

Farseek

Get Anything

There are quite a few two-mana ramp spells in Magic but more often than not, they only let you go get a Forest or have some other stipulation for them. Farseek is in a class above most of these by letting you get practically anything else.

Farseek has you searching your library for a Plains, Island, Swamp, or Mountain, notably not a Forest land, and put it into play tapped. That said, if you get a land that has a dual basic land type, like Breeding Pool, which is both a Forest and an Island, you can still get that green mana if you need it.

4

Sword Of The Animist

Just Need A Creature

Another versatile artifact that can slot into any deck, Sword of the Animist is a powerful piece of equipment that lets you turn any creature into a ramp spell. When the equipped creature attacks you can go looking through your deck for a basic land and put it directly into play tapped.

The nice thing about this Sword is that it doesn’t require you to connect with your opponent to get the land, you can just declare attackers into a wall of defenders and you still get that land. It doesn’t add much in terms of stat bonuses, but that’s not why we’re running this equipment.

3

Commander’s Sphere

It Goes In Everything

There is quite literally no downside to running Commander’s Sphere in your commander deck. This artifact is a three-mana mana rock that can tap for any color that matches your commander.

While it is a tiny bit more of a mana commitment than you might want to be spending on your third turn, you get some immediate use out of it. Later in the game, once you have a larger number of lands out, you can sacrifice it to draw a card, helping you to stay in the game with hopefully a relevant card off the top of your deck.

2

Primeval Titan

All Your Lands Are Out

One of the strongest creatures ever printed in Magic, Primeval Titan is a monstrous Giant creature for just six mana that has an immediate impact on the board. When Primeval Titan enters you get to go search your deck for any two lands and put them into play tapped.

These lands don’t have to be basic lands either, they can be practically anything in your deck. If you’re short some mana you can go get a Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx or if you need to exile a graveyard you can snag a Bojuka Bog as well.

1

Cultivate//Kodama’s Reach

Two Sides Of The Same Coin

These two cards are functionally the same in every way, except for one subtyping but it is so unlikely that it will impact your game that it doesn’t really matter.

The nice thing about this distinction is that it lets you play both in a deck, giving the rare chance to run two of the functionally same card in a commander deck.

Both of these spells let you search up two basic lands from your deck and put one into play while the other goes into play tapped, which ensures you have a land drop on your next turn while getting you ahead on lands this turn.