A Complete Guide to Mana Ramp I The Command Zone 303 I Magic: the Gathering Commander EDH

[@classymofo1059]

Also MORE CRAIG he is amazing as a co-host. He brings up interesting counter arguments and views to certain topics and it leads to conversations that arent one sided, which is really interesting. Great job! 👍

[@sebastiankeleher8403]

classy mofo105 It makes the podcast so much better it gives a sense of debate to the conversation PLEASE keep Craig

[@darthrevan8376]

ya creg jimmy and josh

[@nielsbom]

I really like Craig as co-host, such a chill dude.

[@Adjacent_2]

sounds like he's been smoking cigs tho haha

[@mrTjstephens1]

@@Adjacent_2 sure laid back smoking something for years! Haha

[@Turn2Ugin]

@@mrTjstephens1 doobage?

[@thulegezelschap5884]

@@mrTjstephens1 is name is even Craig.. ofc he smokes

[@cliponbowties4799]

Until the game starts

[@T_Peazy]

Reliable Accelerating Mana Production. RAMP

[@T_Peazy]

@@beurtalvarez I've never heard anyone else use it. So.... thanks.

[@alexwilder806]

I’m pretty sure it comes from Rampant Growth

[@EpicGrapefruit]

People Order Our Patties. Poop

[@SuperRaids13]

@@beurtalvarez ramp is not just a magic term. The term ramp in relation to mana acceleration is simply in reference to a ramp. Increase in elevation.

[@themoakman]

Secretly Craig says off camera, "I totally switched the decks back to Dragon Shields after the episode"

[@justinem4117]

Lmao omg shook 🤣 in all seriousness though Craig is a fascinating character, I'd call him "casually competitive" he seems like a genuinely nice GUY, he just plays decks that would annoy some people ALOT. His playstyle screams "I dont care if you're salty, whatever 💁‍♀️"

[@andrewaman7661]

Craig’s reaction to the ultra pro segment looks like someone who uses dragon shield

[@malcolmp.8675]

I like the 'Dragon Shield Matte's'. No glare, great shuffle I've had the same sleeves on my decks for about six months now. All of my LGS' have a limited quantity of ultra pro sleeves so its hard for me to compare thoroughly.

[@andrewaman7661]

@@blaze556922 ok i will agree that ultra pros have great shuffle feel and amazing quality but i have people that i have played with and ever scince prof reviewd them they havent seen a break in around a year

[@Kestral287]

The upside of dragon shields isn't in their shuffle feel or their texture. It's in the fact that they're absurdly resilient. I've owned well over a thousand dragon shields in my time playing and I haven't had a single one split to normal use - I split one intentionally, to see how hard it was. That's it. In a thousand-plus, and I'm a very regular player. In working at a card shop for about a year, I've seen two others split, and dragon shields are by far our most popular sleeve sale. Conversely, I split my first eclipse two weeks after I got them. And that deck wasn't seeing any unusually high wear; it was probably one of my *less* played decks at the time.

[@SacredCharizard]

Dragonshield Mattes are far superior to Eclipse sleeves. They're thicker, the shuffle feel is far better, and they're far more resilient. If glare is all you're worried about, Dragonshield makes non-glare mattes too. But to he honest, if you're using any sleeves besides Ultimate Guard's Katana sleeves, you haven't lived. They're the absolute BEST on the market but in far more limited quantities so they're harder to find/more expensive. I put my most expensive, 100% foiled, 40% artist-signed deck in them and haven't looked back.

[@tapnslapmtg7432]

I think you need to try ultra pro katanas they are the pinnacle of greatness when it comes to hitting the nail on the head for every category that makes a sleeve great

[@johnevans6629]

I so hope the professor's predictions about the return phyrexia comes true. I also can't wait to see Josh and Jimmy's face when they have to do a game Knight's around infect and of course the lord of infect is going to be guest of honor!

[@NickOnFire1490]

I hope they go back to new phyrexia too, but i don't think that infect is guaranteed to return. Infect is perceived by a lot of the community as a feel bad, especially in commander. If you don't believe me, bring an infect deck to a casual table and see how the rest of the pod reacts. I can't speak to how it was in standard, but infect has always been a viable strategy in many eternal formats. I hope that infect makes a return, but I think there's a good chance it won't.

[@filiphorvath8932]

I dont think infect will return - it creates feel bads in standard which is where most players start and is pretty warping since it pushes aggro decks to the front of the meta. I would say we will see something new.

[@coryledwitch6492]

@@NickOnFire1490 It was feel bad when it was in standard as well.

[@CrazyCatMan13]

trex1490 I play an Arixmethes deck that has some infect (Triumph, Grafting Skeleton) for quick kills and I ended up taking it out because my play group would just target me immediately.

[@hellvast1]

Infect wont be coming back, its extrealy unpopular with the greater player base.

[@jxhook]

If Craig had his own show, I would watch that too. Just an entertaining guy.

[@rayquaza4948]

Gooooldberg Gooooldberg :)

[@Turn2Ugin]

Whole heartedly agree

[@Maezhughes]

Same

[@jordonpohl7393]

More Craig! More Craig! ... and Jimmy of course is doesn’t mean we want less of you, just more of Craig too!

[@shaunboyce727]

I’m surprised I didn’t hear anyone coin “mana advantage”. In most instances where you have unwinding clock, or seedborn muse is really “mana advantage” rather than ramp. I subscribe to the narrow thought of more lands is mana ramping, and mana rocks.

[@amywilliams5233]

I was looking for a comment mentioning this exact thing, thanks for coining it

[@muhdafiq3329]

shaun boyce and this works well in decks like feather where you’re essentially looking to cast things on people’s turns over and over again!

[@kaszael]

Seedborn Muse will not let you cast a 6CMC card on turn 5. It will let you cast up to 4 5CMC cards during the whole turn cycle however,. It depends on what you need it for. If I'm looking to cast many lower CMC cards at instant speed, I'd consider it mana ramp *only* then.

[@Tupiaz]

@GasparXR You still don't jump the curve.

[@Tupiaz]

Really like this term. I was trying define what you just did so well. I could only express Seedborn Muse was closer to card advantage as you can cast more cards but you don't jump the mana curve. Mana advantage is much better term.

[@augustfilbert6305]

I get the point about thinning, but land tax absolutely does make a meaningful dent in your dead draws.

[@TOOLandNINfan]

I agree; curious their opinion on Mana Severance. I run a Golos deck, and between him chucking 3 per activation and all 10 fetch lands, my land disappear pretty fast.

[@johnandrewbellner]

I agree. Does it make a huge difference? Probably not. But when people will absolutely annihilate someone when they say they only play 33 lands in a commander deck instead of 37, all I can think is how playing 4+ fetch lands does the same thing. Kind of.

[@nolifeSnorlax]

Dockside Extortionist is insane in Feather when you can blink it with your 'exile target creature till end of turn' protection stuff :D

[@escioe]

The rings. Every time. Have Craig on more often. He's great.

[@josephg279]

I noticed the rings immediately

[@chubby_deity3143]

How can Josh use the argument of "timing" for the Sword of Feast and Famine but not have the same mindset for Dockside?

[@Ryuka1993]

Carpet of flowers went up a while ago because it's a hugely popular CEDH card. Hopefully the reprint does push it down once march and the mystery boosters hit

[@RodrigoCML7]

A lot of good lessons from this episode but what stands out the most is “Zacama is good”

[@swiftdragonrider]

Being a 0 mana 9 drop is probably good.

[@thomashearne4670]

Craig was well spoken and knowledgeable. Definitely should be a guest on the show more often

[@Narabedla4]

30 ramp cards seems fine -tatyova

[@MehrGills]

30 ramp seems deece -Kozilek

[@stephenweber3839]

30 ramp cards are fine -every landfall based deck.

[@redstonepro5412]

10 ramp cards and 25 lands are fine - thrasios & tymna

[@Narabedla4]

@@redstonepro5412 the decklists i see are more like 30 lands with 15 ramp, thrasios likes mana. (also stuff like 28 lands and 19 ramp)

[@redstonepro5412]

@@Narabedla4 nope, thrasios/tymna likes flashhulk and hermit druid without any basics in the deck

[@jaredwallick509]

Holy cow, lord infect, it’s so cool to see him on the episode.

[@UndeadxPenguins]

I love eclipse sleeves, but I find myself replacing them more often than Dragonshield because they get dirtier a lot faster.

[@enderalex300]

I know this is old af, but yeah that's why I stopped using Eclipses. I have, idk, sweatier fingers I guess? It sounds gross, but I think it makes the sleeves get sticky/dirty. But with the Dragonshield mattes, I don't have that problem at all, I can keep the sleeves on for months and not have to change them out. Eclipses last me a few weeks to a month before I have to slot them around. I prefer Eclipses in every other way, but they just do not feel good after a while so I can't use them unless it's a deck I barely play.

[@whatsupdoc6358]

I would love to see Craig's take on zurgo

[@whatsupdoc6358]

Helmsmasher

[@iangratton6062]

@@whatsupdoc6358 Infect

[@whatsupdoc6358]

@@iangratton6062 hahaha well of course. I was wondering if he goes lots of equipment or no.

[@Ryuka1993]

Probably equipment based with a phyresis in there for good measure.

[@puffin-onehandedgamer1164]

@@Ryuka1993 that's brilliant, why didn't I think of this before, I own a Zurgo deck, of course you go infect. and with assault suit, then people die very quickly. slap on grafted exoskeleton and assault suit and watch your opponents kill each other with your zurgo, that's briliant

[@jackpabich763]

15:30 Last time Carpet of flowers was $2 was 3 and a half years ago according to MTGGoldfish... Did spike recently between War and Throne , though. Was at like $15 at the time.

[@redstonepro5412]

It is a cedh staple

[@leress]

I think there needs to a new category: 'Batteries'. Ones that store mana for later, be it through phases or turns. I used the name based off the old mana batteries from Legends.

[@Khronogi]

Is that considered ramp though? You don't have access to more mana than you should, you simply have access to more mana on a later turn, but its the same mana you would have if you used it on something else.

[@cha0sniper]

@@Khronogi In practice it ramps you, so I would say yes. It's not as good because you have to have mana that would otherwise be wasted, but not-as-good-ramp does not mean not-ramp

[@justinjones5034]

Kinda like Runaway Steamkin?

[@thulegezelschap5884]

@@Khronogi i would say it is half ramp half fixer. It lets you use the coloured mana better next turn. They also bring a spell out a turn or two earlier which is basically spellramp

[@PupusaBoy]

How would you guys treat “K’rrik, son of Yawgmoth?” Also, one of my favourite cards for ramping is “Crypt Ghast.”

[@PupusaBoy]

Ninja Named Bob I was wondering if he should part of the 99 in my Teysa Karlov deck

[@anthonymarciano6050]

I will put krtik in any deck with black

[@PupusaBoy]

@Ninja Named Bob Ya I skew heavily towards black. Thanks!

[@Khronogi]

I've been constructing a Krrik deck that reliably gets him out by turn 2, sometimes turn 1. Then its just hope they dont have a kill spell and then pump out your win con in the proceeding turn.

[@markc6571]

An episode like this, but on card draw would be awesome :D

[@kristennorth3268]

This!!

[@davidcollins3906]

I guess Tithe and Gift of Estates don't count as ramp but 2 of my favs. You can go get plains. Any land that says plains. Duel, shock, cycling. Should've been mentioned.

[@ChainsawXIV]

Surprised not to hear Sword of the Animist mentioned here. I kind of expected a section on repeatable land fetch in general.

[@braziliandre]

I was waiting for it too

[@dylanj2925]

Haven’t started yet and I’m already prepared to see 30 new cards that I want...

[@muzunomi]

And the 30 cards that skyrocket in price

[@megalithphul9542]

Nice! this is probably the aspect of deckbuilding I've been struggling with the most and it's great to see Josh and Craig give their take on ramping.

[@AdamBacchus01]

The new banners at the bottom of the screen look AMAZING!! Seriously, they add a whole new level of polish that I was not expecting. Great choice!

[@Quroe_]

I think a better question to ask than 'Is it ramp?' is 'Do I feel sad whenever I draw this card?'. If so, kick it from the deck.

[@Kozi15]

Talks about Ramp and Drawing cards Thrasios joined the chat

[@micheal5973]

Last game friend had a turn one sol ring, mana vault and crypt. I was loling cause I had treasure nabber in my hand.... and then he wheeled and everyone flipped the table

[@jeremybrown4406]

I just wanted to call out one of my pet ramp cards, seedguide ash. Although it is five mana, the fact that it is a death trigger and can grab dual lands makes it pretty cool in multicolored sacrifice decks like Korvold and others. I just wanted to bring it up because it could be a good fit for others decks, especially sacrifice ones.

[@Arcdemon44]

That is why I love commanders that have mana sinks on them, such as Kenrith or Thrasios.

[@rathlord]

Whew the dogging on Dockside Extortionist sure didn't age well haha. Funny stuff- amazing how hard it is to predict card power level.

[@morganmchenry325]

Something felt off when the episode started. Then I realized! No singing for Craig?

[@mlow239]

Another card with the "may play an additional land each turn" clause is Mina and Denn, Wildborn. They're a little more restrictive because they're Gruul colors, but it's another option if you're in those colors.

[@isaiahwelch8066]

Honestly, Stoneseeder Hierophant is one of the best ramp creatures -- because if you time it right, you'll almost always be at a +2 mana advantage over opponents.

[@gildarmesh3809]

and it works great with bounce double lands tap untap tap bounce untap and get 4 mana from just that one land play

[@corvidcognition]

Very good episode and analysis on mana ramp. A lot of concepts like card advantage, threat assesment, politicking, etc are the "cream de la cream" of EDH and the more players start discovering and understanding the minutia of our format the more they will learn to cherish it. Thanks for the content. Much appreciated! Kudos from Southwestern France.

[@dus65]

I’m not sure I agree with how JLK describes “fixing”, or moreso why he related the two, the bigger confusion seems to be ramping vs not missing land drops aka having having lands in your hands. Also, I gotta disagree, if only in a corner case scenario sense, for decks that play off the top of the library in some capacity like Elsha, Yennett, Golos, Melek, Narset, etc, thinning out lands via something like a Mana Severance guarantees always having gas at the top of the library, which is great late game or if you’re doing some kind of storm build.

[@ryancrites2021]

I think this implication on thinning is defenitely true, but I dont know if that's what josh and Craig were referring to, in say elsha, you wouldn't play renegade map because you think getting one more basic out of the deck is going to keep gas for the rest of the game. Of course we can play mana severance because it enables the commander perfectly, but I see it as more a synergy piece rather than a "deck thinning" piece

[@ryancrites2021]

Totally agree with the fixing opinion tho, we play land tax in mono white because its card draw and the best consistent ramp I've got is not missing lands

[@MrOfTheSea]

@@ryancrites2021 land tax does not ramp you though. It is a source of card draw, and that's it

[@dus65]

Ryan Crites yeah that’s fair, I think when I referred to “thinning” my mind immediately went back to very old school days in which people had solid 56 card decks and just ran baubles that cost 0 and drew you a card, which is a form of “thinning”. But yeah their implication is true. That being said I think the context of their comment was a little off in that the subject was fixing and not land drop consistency.

[@dus65]

Jon Dubois see that’s the nuance that I think they could’ve talked about a little more, but like I said in other comments, they just sorta took the easy way out and hung on green spells and artifact ramp as it applied to multi-colored decks. I think they should’ve just came out and said something along the lines of “unless you’re playing green, for the most part guaranteeing land drops is the closest you’ll get outside of a couple of colored mana rocks or colorless mana rocks”.

[@Slapthatham]

Omnath and Kruphix are not ramp by the definition. They are merely banks that allow you spend your mana more efficiently. Having the ability to store unspent mana means that (if planned around) you get to spend every bit of mana you've had available (past the turn you played them).

[@landen5562]

Y’all should do a battle of kings Brago, king eternal vs korvold, fae-cursed king vs sedris, the traitor king vs Darien, king of kjeldor.

[@LogoMotive11]

Don't forget King Macar and King Kenrith

[@mhf187]

No love for Kenrith?

[@Unraveled.Strigoi]

There's also the tymerat the murder king

[@shilohartisan]

I've been tryna tell people that land auras are way good. The most underplayed card didn't get mentioned here: Urban Burgeoning. It costs 1 mana, gives 3 mana per turn cycle, is always usable the same turn cycle you play it, and doesn't need to be played on an untapped land. That's the minimum. If you play it on an already enchanted land, or Lotus Field, Lotus Vale, Scorched Ruins, Cradle, Itlimoc, Coffers, Nykthos, Bouncelands, etc etc etc. then you get far more value from it. The downside is of course that it gives you it's mana only 1/3 at a time, and only on other people's turns. But what deck doesn't hold up mana for instants or activated abilities often enough to make this worth it? Very few I would argue. A downside to land enchantments in general is the chance to get 2-for-1'd if someone destroys your land. In metas that run a lot of Stripmine effects it will be more dangerous. But I will point out that Lotus Field protects against this, and triples the effect of Urban Burgeoning. If your deck only has 1 or 2 colors, or if you have effects that untap a land, you should consider Lotus Field and if you have green then definitely run Urban Burgeoning too. (untap target land effects is huge huge huge and there are so many of them I won't even go into it here. also, when we're talking about Urban Burgeoning you have to remember that mana doublers, anything that makes lands tap for more, will become mana 6x multipliers on the Urban Burgeoning land. Then we need to compare the general resilience of Enchantments VS Artifacts VS Creatures VS Lands. Lands of course are the most resilient of these. No arguments there. But I would say Enchantments are second. If I had the choice between Arcane Signet or Arcane Signet on an enchantment I'd take the enchantment. There are ways to deal with enchantments, but I think they're a little less common than ways to deal with artifacts. Most land enchantments aren't oppressive enough to draw hate anyway even if someone has the enchantment removal to play. There are enchantment board wipes, but again, I don't think they're more common than artifact board wipes. Anyway, all things considered I'd say LAND>Nonaura Enchantment>Artifact=Aura>Creatures>non-permanent(like rituals) is the overall hierarchy of ramp resilience. But for pure value and efficiency you just can't beat them. Wild Growth and Utopia Sprawl cost 1, give 1 per turn, and in some cases can be used the turn they are played. That beats any dork, and any artifact other than Sol Ring (legalmoxen, mana vault, mana crypt all have other downsides but I'll concede that Crypt for sure can be added to Sol Ring for the purpose of this sentence) and Mana Crypt. The most efficient land ramp spells are Nature's Lore/Three Visits which cost 2, give 1 per turn, can be used the turn they're played, and can color fix if you have Duals or Shocks. Cultivate/Kodama's cost 1 more, give you added card advantage, but can't be used the turn they're played, and can't grab duals. (though they still color fix with basic land selection). Land enchantments beat those for raw initial value and efficiency. Utopia Sprawl, Wild Growth, Fertile Ground are played a lot more than other aura's, but still not nearly enough IMO. They're all amazing. Trace Abundance is limited by color identity, but shroud is also a downside because it means you can't enchant the land again (with Urban Burgeoning for instance) bure more importantly you can't untap it with any "untap target land" effects. Overgrowth is definitely all about the green. might not want it outside of mono green or maybe 2 color decks, but it's 3 that taps for 2 each turn, sometimes can be used on the turn it's played. Elvish Guidance is of course only for elf/shapeshifter decks. Wellspring is a fun interactive card that can grab you the most powerful land on the battlefield. 4 cmc and up I will admit isn't really early game ramp so I won't address any of those. But the moral to this story is: look at the land enchantments again. Especially Urban Burgeoning.

[@childodoom]

Me: My meal needs more salt? Craig: Um...in response. Me: Perfect

[@sea81793]

This video has changed my life. I haven't played more than five turns of my first commander deck, but before I attempt a 2nd match..I will be optimizing.

[@yurigodoy93]

"I have a ton of mana... I have nothing to spend that mana on" That kinda resumes my Omnath, Locus of Mana deck lol

[@shilohartisan]

Omnath loves Recycle. (pair with topdeck manipulators like Sensei's Divining top to get more value from it. Play Reliquary Tower or Spellbook or Praetor's Council to negate the downside of hand size limit) He also likes mana sinks like Rhonas the Indomitable. Mostly he loves Genesis Wave (might want a Boseiju for that, don't want it Mana Drained/Spell Swindled!) My favorite wincon in Omnath is Surestrike Trident.

[@mth4456]

So I usually listen to these on Spotify but I wanted to comment. I know most people hate the ads on these but the Be Scared podcast that was advertised is actually awesome. Thanks for the recommendation, I needed something non-magic related to listen to.

[@ryanduffy45]

1:18:06 I don't know why I've never noticed this before but doesn't that look like a Sol Ring Treasure Nabber is holding?

[@Spike-hl2mw]

That's what I see too.

[@MrHighlife1992]

I play bounce lands in basically all my decks that don't have green or white in them because I love them as an answer to song of the dryads/ imprisoned in the moon in colors that can't blow up enchantments. They're commonly played answers to commanders in my playgroup.

[@Arrowatch]

I didn't watch this just to learn, though I did. I also watched it to find new ideas for ramp.

[@yugiohguy4543]

Dockside is just amazing. It scales really well and at a low CMC. The interaction with sabertooth elevates it to a combo piece letting it get used even more effectively in rg decks. Card is good at base and just wins at the ceiling.

[@evannovak5369]

Don't try to play Dockside on T2.

[@chibichanga1849]

48:35 When Josh says Mirari's Wake is an exception here, does he mean he counts Mirari's Wake as Ramp? I think Mirari's Wake is *much* closer to Savage Ventmaw than it is to more typical 'ramp' cards. They don't make your deck run well the way typical ramp cards can by advancing you through early turns. Rather on later turns, if they survive a turn cycle, they give a big burst of mana that can end the game. I would not count either of them for the target '10 ramp cards'. Edit: Seedborn Muse, which they talk about later, is in this category, too. I wouldn't count it as ramp. Edit2: 1:01:23 I think here we really get at my issue with some of the stuff they're talking about. I think just because a card produces mana, maybe even a lot of mana, doesn't make it ramp for the purposes of deck building. Making a bunch of mana late in the game is functionally different from investing in mana producers early in the game. The '10 ramp spells' target should pretty much all be aimed at doing the latter. That's their function in the deck and what makes the deck feel good to play. In my opinion.

[@nikolasversteeg]

I think the part around 33:25 really stood out to me. Ramp is based heavily on the cmc of your commander. If it's 1-3, you want to play a bunch of dorks that can get it out faster. If it's 4-7 or something you want to start playing those double drops, vegoes, skyshroud, etc. If it's 8+ you want to start playing the bigger ones like thran dynamo and gilded lotus.

[@johnsmith-vw4yb]

What about Nissa, Who Shakes the World literally get all forests

[@academicace]

She only gets them if she's left alone for multiple turns running, and if your opponents can't threaten your board for that long, then you were already going to win (unless you play Doubling Season first, in which case, you're just arguing that Doubling Season makes other card broken).

[@RussellCragun]

Exploring the World of Mana Ramp in Commander - 00:08 Exploring Different Types of Ramp: Creatures, Artifacts, and Enchantments - 11:17 Exploring Different Categories of Ramp: Creatures, Artifacts, Enchantments, and Land-Based - 22:43 Choosing Efficient Ramp Based on Commander CMC and Playstyle - 33:53 Exploring Cards on the Edge: Are They Truly Ramp or Synergy? - 45:03 Exploring Conditional Ramp: Evaluating Cards Like Wilderness Reclamation and Seedborn Muse - 55:59 Analyzing Card Advantage and Reliability: Exploring Cards Like Feast and Famine and Astral Cornucopia - 1:07:22 Exploring the Unreliability of Conditional Ramp Cards: The Challenges of Feast and Famine and Other Narrow Options - 1:18:35

[@Vote4Drizzt]

Re: Star Wars I got super into the EU stuff, enjoyed the prequels and think the originals are great if overrated( they are flawed classics) I didn't/dont like the recent series because they voided the stories I loved and replaced them with stories that felt less creative and/or more aimed at folks who don't love Star Wars in the specific form that I do. I normally explain it as "Star Wars under Disney is pursuing a different customer base of which I am not a member"

[@hikintrailsndrinkinales]

I use Thaumatic Compass in my Eldrazi deck. I’ve had it save my butt in early games when I have an opening hand with only 2 lands and a Sol Ring. It counts as one of my ramp cards, then has the added bonus of being a Maze of Ith in the late game.

[@heinousrat9019]

dockside extortionist made my opponent sac 36 smothering tithe treasure tokens and play nothing. also I count him as a better ritual and treasure nabber as a lightning rod.

[@EthanKTufts]

Like the design choice of the bar at the bottom. It looks professional and compartamentalizes the conversation

[@ecos889]

Elves best ramps just go for the dorks for budget green artifacts and rituals for everything else. Oh yeah and coffers and urborg for black.

[@BIGFRANKOL75]

1:12:35 early game it all comes down to if you are going last. Turn 2 many decks at least have one mana rock to ramp unless they are green. So you would net at the very least 1 treasure if not more. Then if you are playing white or blue you can Flicker it or copy the creature for more mana. this will help ramp these colors very well.

[@penguwave4025]

The lower thirds look AMAZING!

[@mercystreetcjc]

Penguwave this is an underrated observation.

[@ehallam08]

I'm really glad you guys did an episode on this. Lot of decks seem like they'd be better with more mana rocks. Personally I try to jam all the rocks I can into anything I play. Nice to know that you don't always need em.

[@TimChanMusic]

Ooh useful as always, thanks Command Zone. Time to add this to the Essential Must Watch Collection

[@stropes.]

1:16:00 - "I've seen Dockside Extortionist be pretty lackluster. I've seen one time where it was awesome but I'd say that the variance is pretty high on the card..." Ooof, aged like milk.

[@zachnewman5566]

Karametra: god of ramp Lord windgrace- manafixing and cars draw A couple ramp-y commanders 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@picassodilly]

I think there’s something to be said for using “land draw” cards in aggro decks that are low to the ground and curve out closer to 4,5,or 6. If you’re running fewer lands to get more gas, these kinds of cards are functionally equivalent to ramp- because you’re playing your gas early and running out of land drops.

[@JoeGrzzly]

Every time Josh said "Ramp means Reliable And..." I was hoping he'd create an acronym. Like Ramp means Reliability And Mana Progression.

[@shorewall]

Someone above said Reliable Accelerating Mana Production.

[@matthewtaylor6829]

My new favourite ramp card is Beanstalk Giant. Standard rate for land ramp, comes in untapped, and a nice big creature who takes advantage of it. I was watching this while building Tatyova, it was really helpful!

[@Jay15199]

"Mr. Infect?" How dare you refer to New Phyrexia's First Lord of Destruction like that?

[@howzany6832]

Thank you guys for doing this video! This is such a HUGE help and a huge part of the game, so everything said here is pretty much MtG Commander format Gold.

[@philipdaviddavies9478]

why does craig have so many rings on? Is this guy a baller IRL?

[@BaikenAndEggs]

They're used to capture the souls of those he defeats with infect.

[@anthonymarciano6050]

I like the phyrexian one. I dont think i could pull it off but i like it

[@anthonymarciano6050]

Considering the cards he has he probably is a baller

[@coryledwitch6492]

He only needs 1 to rule them all

[@josephg279]

He is secretly thanos

[@IanHarding12]

An invaluable episode to players looking to up their deck-building skills. Loved this one.

[@willo3660]

The way the lady says elder dragon highlander validates me

[@theguywiththetail]

I believe that anything that would get you more mana than you would normally have can be considered ramp. There's temporary ramp and permanent ramp. Some cards can just be made to ramp better in certain decks, like crucible, or omnath, or cryptolith. Definitely informative and gives me a better understanding of how I should be looking at certain cards plus I got to see cards I didn't know about.

[@TheHutt0326]

16:50 "Sol ring is universally considered the most powerful card in the history of magic." Not sure what universe you're living in

[@westmafiasector8136]

JoshuaTheHutt he probably meant in all of commander

[@lokirip2372]

He's living in Ravnica

[@oliver5732]

@@DixonCameronS Mana Crypt is just better than Sol Ring in EDH

[@Zac_Craig-Claveau]

I think it's a toss up between Sol R. Ancestral Recall and Black Lotus. Probably Lotus, then recall, then Sol

[@MehrGills]

Commander

[@timothylaveau]

Allot of ramp is determined by deck building and synergy as you guys said. Magus of candlabera is ramp in my budget 5 & 4 color decks. With a healthy amount of karoo bounce lands and enchant land ramp, Magus can reliably net me mana. It also doubles as fixing in decks without fetches and shocks.

[@patonnight]

I'm just gonna mention one card: Surveyor's Scope

[@mtgnoob9988]

Love that card

[@Samus-yz8of]

So glad I watched this episode I was running seedborn muse and wilderness reclamation in a deck that really couldn't use them

[@psy_p]

"It doesn't matter cause it is really marginal" I guess someone need to hve a talk with Dana Roach.

[@project_swift]

Cards that should probably be counted as rituals - Lotus Petal - Dockside Extortionist - Mana Vault - Grim Monalith - Basalt Monalith (Yes there are always exceptions, but a lot of the time, they are one-and-done) And rituals are FANTASTIC in strategies with insane amount of card draw.

[@Ragmesesis]

"JUST UNBAN TOLARIAN ACADEMY"👍👍👍👍👍👍 DO IT!!!

[@unbanrofellos5786]

Yesssss!!!

[@kremlinhighlander4147]

Yeah. Its been really tough for poor poor blue in commander, we ought to unbane it to even the odds.

[@unbanrofellos5786]

@@kremlinhighlander4147 couldnt have put it better myself ;)

[@unbanrofellos5786]

@@kremlinhighlander4147 oh and prophet of kruphix please

[@kremlinhighlander4147]

If we're just throwing cards we want unbanned out, can I have Balance, Limited Resources, Karakas and Iona back?

[@markusbombadil6665]

Favorite Enchantment Ramp ->Wellspring/Annex on a cradle or something. And Seedborn Muse is nuts in my Omnath, Locus of Mana Deck, not even fair.

[@andrelee7081]

When it comes to bounce lands, I do run them sometimes, but wouldn't really consider them as ramp. It falls under "color-fixing" to me. Personally, I wouldn't play one unless I really needed the colors or it was the only land in my hand.

[@MehrGills]

It's really card draw

[@LowellEitelberg]

I agree they are not ramp but they play really interesting rolls. I have a mardu, artifact matters, 5cmc or under, reanimator deck. Bounce lands are key to my strategy. Every game i get a bounce land, im able to discard to handsize and reanimate what i discarded at a fraction of its cost. They also maintain my hand size when have trouble drawing cards and allow me to hit all my land drops. In the right deck a full set of bouncelands can add so much.

[@ykl1277]

I play bounceland if I want to reset one of my utility lands, esp if I can tutor for it. Having 1 where it is +1 card is worth, but I've gone from play every bounce to play it only for specific reasons.

[@ninjax8t36]

Craig, I am a younger fellow and LOTR is what I grew up on. Those movies will be passed throughout the family for generations to come to ensure they know what great movies were.

[@TheFirstTriplefife]

When it comes to the "Is it ramp or not?" question, it can be more defined as hard and soft ramp. A lot of the ramp they shown in this section should be considered soft ramp. All the other normal types are hard ramp.

[@donnasprague767]

Very much enjoyed the layed back tone of the episode with Craig. Kruphix feels like ramp when you play it, or against it

[@tomjung2750]

I play a bunch of enchantment ramp in my estrid deck, its so goooddd

[@namejeppe7]

I usually Also split my ramp into "early" ramp and "push over the top" ramp. Early is what helps you get started, signets, rampant growth, cultivate, wild growth ect, getting the commander out early, and keeping up. Then I have a few ramp cards that can be a bit more expensive on the mana curve like miarris wake, cradle (growing rites of itlamog), Even counting the rocks that produce 3 Mana, gilded lotus, thran dynamo and Even rituals. Ofc you have to use the right cards in the right deck. I found that this "rule of thump" makes for Better decks/ games, always keeping me in the game, and allowing me to explode when the time is right. This Also force me to Play like 13-16 ramp spells in all my decks, but realizing this was my biggest level up moment of 2019 😁

[@Djarkness]

Yeah, but picture this: Dockside Extortionist plus Mycosynth Lattice.

[@infamous0ne789]

48:10 This card is incredible in Xenagos! A few days ago, i used this to cast See the Unwritten and flipped Malignus and Thunderfoot Baloth onto the battlefield. Infinite attack steps with Aggravated Assault. Cast a monstrous Rishkar's Expertise and flip Chandra's Ignition. it is definitely ramp!

[@BigBob1172]

I’m sad I didn’t hear anything on Nyxthos

[@Valkyrinn]

My favorite ramp card is Harrow. It's simple, it's instant speed which can trigger landfall twice on other people's turns, it can get certain lands into the graveyard (like Flagstones of Trokair or Riftstone Portal or something enchanted with Imprisoned in the Moon), the lands enter untapped so it's like only spending one mana instead of three, and it gives you more accessible lands if you have Crucible of Worlds effects or other graveyard recursion effects. It also has a sweet textless version.

[@jeffwren7815]

"Deck thinning isn't a thing" -cough- Mana severence for 35 -cough-

[@Layjus123]

Yeah..I have no clue why he would say thinning your deck doesn't help when it reduces the odds of drawing specific cards. I DO notice a difference in the quality of my draws when I have fetch lands in my deck and tutors and that it definitely is a better quality of draws.

[@GollyGoshSensation]

I'm a Fish Tutors are not deck thinning. They are tutors. Deck thinning is already minuscule in a 60 card deck that is hardly noticeable. So a 99 card deck is far less. While it does exist you won’t notice it enough for the amount of money it costs.

[@chortlesinthecorner]

@@GollyGoshSensation Dollar for dollar fetches don't hold up compared to tutors or bombs, but if it's the last piece of the puzzle then I'm going to go for it... Of course I'd much rather have 5 really fun decks to have around that are 90%-95% "finished" than one perfect deck.

[@leress]

@@Layjus123 There has been various articles about the math behind why 'deck thinning' is very marginal.

[@hwfjj1989]

Best way to thin a deck is to draw more cards

[@Overi4096]

My favourite ramp is Everflowing Chalice. In most scenarios it's +1 colorless for 2 mana value, but it's often casted for 4 mana if I ramped on on turn 2. Sometimes in late game if mana is my limiting factor I can risk and dump all of it into kicking the chalice for 6-8 mana. Also it can be cast for 0 in a storm decks, or if I just need artifact synergy. The flexibility makes it alot more interesting than boring rocks pay2-get1.

[@RntLnr]

Carpet of Flowers (and every other cEDH staple) has spiked like crazy in the past few months

[@mellowasiam]

cEDH is getting more exposure it seems

[@mtgnoob9988]

Love seeing Craig on here for a different point of view!

[@fryinryan01]

ALL HAIL LORD INFECT

[@jayseha5458]

Keep bringing Craig back. Great debate. Lovin it🤗

[@FaytVanguard]

They only talked about Treasure for like 16 seconds in a hour and a half video.... I feel these guys are biased. 18:20 (kinda skipping the topic entirely)

[@vindorin]

Yeah, I've been feeling a lot of misinfo on this channel...

[@FaytVanguard]

@@vindorin not misinfo... just tons of biased.... Like they didn't talk about fixing white that much during the fixing white episode. They just didn't lie about their biased.

[@bigpuma2149]

Trent Vickers I feel that like I used a white deck and I completely thought it was weak and it was really good and was really fun

[@bacongl]

Love episodes like these. Nice to hear Craig talk about stuff as well.