Grading Green Commander Staples of EDHREC | Which Green Staples are Worth Playing? 

I think a big reason Sylvan Library is rated higher to most people over all the other cards Joe named is by the time you have played and gotten advantage of any of the cards Joe mentioned you would have gotten to use Sylvan Library 2-4 times. That’s a lot of card advantage/deck manipulation before any of the other spells get their value.

Lands is one of the most popular archetypes. Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, Harrow, and Crop Rotation are all insane in this archetype.

If an opponent plays a board wipe that destroys creatures, I'd rather have a Heroic Intervention than a counterspell. Sometimes you want a board wipe, and keeping your stuff on top of that is great.

The only thing i disagree with cultivate. Its 3 mana it replaces itself ramps and guarantees you hit you next land drop. So many times ive ramped early and not hit the land drop after and your opponents catch up.

I still love Cultivate and Kodama’s Reach. 3 mana to ramp one land is not good enough, but the fact that it guarantees your next land drop pushes it to very playable. You’re guaranteed your fifth land, which is a big deal for a lot of green decks. Especially if your commander is 5 cmc+

Grip can split second a sac outlet. For that reason alone its worth keeping.

Krosan Grip is a high B+ for me because it's not only uncounterable, it also gets around activated abilities such as a fully loaded Aetherflux Reservoir when priority passes. Sure the moments where it just destroys something without anyone else having counters or actions possible makes it feel less great, but it can be such a game saver in my experience.

I love how Explosive Vegetation is so bad the only time Joe could see himself using it is Vegetable Tribal lmao. Great video Nerds ❤️

You guys kill it every time. I’ve really re-evaluated my though process on deck building by watching your videos. Subscriber for life.

Sylvan Library is a 2 drop draw card that allows you to get WAY ahead of your opponents and makes sure you get your land drop while sacrificing some life. There's a reason why people hold it higher lol. It makes all the difference to be able to do all that turn 2 versus waiting until turn 4 to play Greater Good and then start drawing. Also all the mana ramp spells are key to a popular type of deck: landfall. You're also thinning the deck whenever you play those cards which will get you to your resources faster.

I think there’s more to be said about Heroic Intervention vs. Counterspell. If you counter someone’s board wipe, you also save your opponents’ boards. If you Heroic Intervention, you likely catapult into the lead very easily. Sure, Counterspell has more targets over the course of the whole game but you should probably just play both cards. And you’re leaving out the fact that Heroic Intervention is 2 mana, that’s an insane rate for that type of effect.

There’s always is a point in your videos where you say something that puts a huge smile on my face. You guys are awesome! Well done 👏!

These videos are an awesome exercise in card evaluation and I definitely need the practice as a newer edh player. Thank you guys!

just ordered some cards to modify my edh decks =) thanks for all the suggestions! You are the best

I love how in depth you guys go, really useful stuff

I miss the little joke subtitles under your names in the beginning.

Thanks guys. I love these "Staple" videos. New to EDH, so this is really helpful.

This series has been fun, I'm gonna be sad when it's over.

The fact that your guys’ pre-video intro is so brief is awesome. Y’all have a great format for videos and it’s only getting better

Harrow is an A++ in temur spell slinging. Nets three lands in my kalamax deck on turn 5. All untapped!

Thanks for these videos. I feel like I’m going to be referring back to them a lot. Harrow is an all-star in my friend’s Kalamax deck. It’s pretty easy for him to copy it twice. He doesn’t really do any landfall, it’s just a huge ramp spell for him.

You really shouldn't compare Heroic Intervention with Teferi's Protection since TP is broken while Intervention is fair but strong. Just like people should not compare wrath of god to Cyclonic Rift. Plus having multiple similar effects/role in the same deck like both Intervention and TP in a GWx deck is advisable for higher consistency of getting said effect. Totally agree with Beezy at not countering Harrow (Crop rotation is ofc a completely different case). Wasting a counter in order to get him to lose two cards (one of which he might want in his gy anyway) and prevent some ramping is not a good choice. Saving counters for the more important stuff is crucial. Plus compared to everyone on the table u have lost 1 card as well while two others haven't and u have made him a bit salty. Not a favourable situation imo. The only time i would counter Harrow is if there were some crazy landfall shenanigans going on but now we are talking very specific situations. I play Nature's claim in pretty much every deck i have. Even in those heavy on creatures coz 1 mana instant is just too good to pass imo. PS: Have u guys done an episode of this series about lands whether they are dual lands or utility lands? I think that'd be pretty interesting. Also gratz Beezy for quitting a job that u were not satisfied with and carving your own path in life. Best of luck to you.

Krosan Grip is so good in a heavy control meta

Cutivate and kodama's reach has another characteristic that you are not considering. They take 2 lands from your deck making it more consistent and thiner. Thanks to them your next draws are more likely to be cards that you can use and not just lands.

Positive vibes and congratulations on leaving your jobs to follow your heart. You guys have a great channel here.

Look at sylvan library like a 2 mana mirri's guile with the option to pay 4 life for each additional card you keep of the pile. There are better forms of conditional card draw based on most green archetypes. But much like sensei's divining top, its usefulness is enhanced by how skilled the player is.

Highly disagree on Krosan Grip. The Split Second is the reason you play Krosan Grip and makes the 3 mana cost worth it.

I understand their thought process on this. Most of the time if you’re in green you’re playing creature heavy decks. So it makes sense to cut things like harmonize for beast whisperer. My question is what would remain great even without a creature heavy synergy?

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I'd say Harrow is actually a perfect fit for a solid B in a Lands deck it's probably the best Ramp Spell you have access to, fits that build-around requirement, if you have the built around it's insane.

I like the new changeling reclamation sage for 1G :) Great in tribal decks

Cant wait for the inevitable multicolor staple videos for every color combination!

I 100% think Sylvan Library is an A. It plays more like a black card than a green card, and what it does over all of the other card draw options you mentioned, other than being a natural two mana, is that it draws cards ON ITS OWN, and is great at all stages of the game save the “I need an answer literally now” moments. It is incredible on rate, and UGx decks will run it alongside Rhystic/Remora/etc as it is the same caliber and quality of card as a consistent standalone engine as opposed to a synergy piece, and what it lacks in synergy it makes up for in raw power. Sure, a Guardian Project or Great Henge will do obscene things, but on a naked board in topdeck mode, Library guarantees that you can start pulling ahead, whereas the others will still leave you in topdeck mode. All of them are incredible, mind you, but Library is on rate with Ancestral Recall after three turn cycles. That’s a very difficult thing to do for any spell to begin with, and Library is at a low enough mana cost to make it happen on a consistent basis.

Artifact staples? Staples of each color pair? 🤩🤩🤩 This series is great!!!

Sylvan Library is the best draw engines in the game and easily tops every card listed in the video as being better choices.

Really missing these subtitles at the name title card ;_; Great content though as always!

The way Joe just put his hands out after saying "vegetable tribal, because it sounds like vegetable" did just make me spit my coffee over myself so thankyou 🤣

I think you guys are seriously underrating split second. There's tons of situatio its where its the only way to beat something. Powerful effects like survival of the fittest or other similar on board combos split second is great for a non-blue deck to have a chance to interact

I would argue a good enough reason to play sylvan library is if you have many fetch lands to shuffle your library. also I like heroic intervention over a counter sometimes against board wipes because the wipe will still ruin your opponent board and sometimes let you the highway to victory

You guys are so close!!! 50k 🤟🤟🤟🤟🤟🤟

Krossan grip saved me a shat ton versus and artifact deck. it deals with rhytic study and other problematic enchantments by not allowing youre opponent to interact. Thats HUGE your 1-2 mana remorval gets countered get recky

Congrats on quitting your job and going all-in on this! Love to see the channel growing!

Counterspell instead of Heroic intervention? I get that C-spell is more flexible but Heroic will win you the game single-handedly if you can be the only person at the table with their full board after a board wipe.

Green is in a weird spot right now where it's really good at supporting itself as a mono color but usually unnecessary combined with other colors. Green's role is usually to just provide your deck with mana dorks and a few staples like veil of summer and noxious revival. I hope green gets more interesting combos and synergies in the future. I think golgari is the only real exception to this atm

I agree with most of the takes except for krosan grip there are a lot of "I win" artifact and enchantment interactions in edh for example altar of dementia combos. Its nice to have a removal spell that can't be responded to not an A+ card more like a B.

On the discussion of Nature's Claim and Krossan Grip, I've actually found Broken Wings really useful. Maybe my meta just happens to have enough flyers to be useful, but the one extra mana above Nature's Claim is almost always negligible, while extra versatility to get rid of a Hushbringer or something like that is super awesome.

Congratulations Beezy on being able to do RU-vid full time!

I would love to see a video ranking mono green edh enchantments

I especially love Avenger of Zendikar as a follow up to Kodama of the east tree in my Aesi lands matter deck. Cast avenger for 7, make the 7 tokens, trigger Kodama, drop 7 lands, trigger Aesi, draw 7 cards. Gets real fun if I clone Avenger with something such as Progenitor mimic and works well with Psychic Corrosion.

Another one of my favorite parts about Sylvan Library is that it allows me to manipulate top deck. Its great in Atla Palani!

Will you grade colorless staples ? I'm very curious about how many of them are "auto include" or "best card of the deck". Love your content btw.

I run Harmonize in GW lands to refuel after dumping the lands in my hand into play. It's a nice glue card.

Sweet hoodie Joe Cherries!!

"oh look, my Gaea's craddle is a forrest... Blur blur blur". You got me 😁👍🏻 Thank you for great content fellas.

Congrats on the job change!!! Keep it up boys

Thats the stuff! Good vid, and congrats for your big career move! Go FTW guys! Philippe Groppi

You guys really need to do an episode where you look at the average grade each color gets and talk about what means for the color, who is the strongest or weakest with this metric vs who you think is strongest

Nothing better to do on memorial day than listening to the nerds talk about 20 versions of rampant growth for a half hour 😎 Cant wait for modern horizons 2 videos! Ragavan is going to be my new commander for sure, and I REALLY want to hear your opinion on the new card liquimetal tongue, I think its the most undertalked about card on the set because it gives primary red decks a free way for all of the good artifact removal to be vindicates on a mind stone!

harrow does have a certain place in like 5 color decks, not as an immediate staple, but whenever one has a duplicate land, they can just exchange that for the right colors. it works in my case since I try to avoid anything that can lock out nonbasic land like bloodmoon by having at least 2 of each basic land in my 5c decks

Heroic Intervention for me is B+. Even in simic I will play this and sometimes it's even better than a counterspell... If there's a boardwipe "OK, my stuff remains" and "even if you want to cast it again my stuff is still indestructible I don't need another spell". And it's not fair to compare it to Teferi's Protection because that's an A+++ and it's on white, the color of protecting.

I've not been playing magic with the outside world since I was 15-16 years old in the JSS during Onslaught block lol For many years just build group game decks and buy sets of 4 of everything, and when I get together with some childhood friends I bust out my cards and we have hours of enjoyment lol I am 32 years old now and been buying cards since volcanic Island was 25 bucks. Never sold or even traded for that matter, only acquired more singles and booster boxes over the years... And only in the past year I converted my decks into commander. I just wanna let you know that you guys have made our games super fun! Thank you nerds!!

WHat do you use in green outside of cultivate and kodamas reach though? Creature ramp in my meta gets removed over big threats on board often.

I actualy play acidic slime in my Yarok deck and in this deck it is very good, and when you start to blink it it become even better and cause it can destroy lands with deadeye nabigator and peregrine drake it's a win conditions . Very cool card imo .

This comment is coming from midway through the video, so I haven't seen all the cards yet, but I did want to mention a corner case that wasn't brought up in the video. Heroic Intervention can be better than a counterspell in situations where your opponents also have relatively threatening board states and you want those removed while also keeping your stuff around. In those situations, HI can almost be a 2-mana Cyc Rift.

Beast within is A- for me too. The floor is high, it will always be useful, it is never a dead card in your hand. And the ceiling is super high it can remove the biggest threat (granted, as long as it does not have indestructible, hexproof, etc.).

Great video, it was about green. Could've used more Grave Titan though.

Is there a place to see either decks built by you two or even gameplay with those decks? As a player coming over to Commander from Standard and Modern, I’d love to see some examples of decks built by non-cedh yet really solid players :)

A friend always plays part green in his decks. A lot of times it's ramp into avenger of zendikar, into craterhoof and boom

Can't help, but have a Seedborn Muse in my Sisay deck.. So good.

I like this channel and Commander Eesha

I did get rekt by a Krosan Grip many a time by the split-second thing. I dont think I'll be cutting those

I really hope you two rank staples for the the allied and enemy pairs!

I feel like you guys should also recommend what cards to replace cards that you guys consider "not good" or low grade. There a lot of " what not to play" but that just leaves a lot of holes in my decks now if I adjust according to your suggestions

I heard "a is the cream of the crop" and was like whaaa I've never heard of that card 🤔 lol.

Split second help so much when you playing against multiple player

Krosan Grip can kill Tops. Punish people using rattlesnake effects. Kill combo pieces through counterspells and things that get around counterspells. It's a meta call. I love blowing up Greater Goods with it, then blowing up the board.

The reason Cultivate is so much higher over Kodama's reach is that Arcane is so irrelevant that the huge glut of printings means people just have more lying around, and it has many more cooler aesthetic versions than Kodama's

Sylvan library in multicolored decks with fetchlands = grab the cards you want, then shuffle away the ones you don’t. Very powerful strategy. And if you’re running a fair amount of life gain (say Trostani, lathiel ect) then it just turns into a draw 3 cards every turn.

Are you guys gonna be doing staples for the two-color combos?

You guy are forgetting that seedborn muse also works well with decks that care for tap/untap effects ;)

MMm. Wood elves are good. But I need to have a use for that body. In general I want Cultivate more if, IF, I want a 3-mana ramp spell. Wood Elves gets me to four lands and is a body. Cultivate ensures that I hit 5 lands. Making it great for an odd-mana play pattern. Ala T1 Birds - T2 cultivate - T3 5-drop. (Contrast with an even mana ramp pattern, ala T2 Rampant Growth - T3 verdant mastery/other 4 drop)

i personally play thrashing Brontodon over Reclamation Sage it has a really nice 3/4 body and even though its one more total mana to kill something it sends itself to the graveyard so in graveyard decks like Meren it is a little easier to play multiple times.

You are just missing the interaction between fetch and sylvan library. One of the best deck manipulation set-up

Surprising, I figured Avoid Fate, Steely Resolve, Burgeoning or Cryptolith Rite would make the list. Edit: Gaea's Blessing, Insist, Savage Summoning and Bequeathal aren't bad either. So many good Green over the years.

Eh I’m having a tough time with sylvan library... turning your draw step into ancestral recall every turn sounds pretty strong. And it’s only two mana

What about "pest infestation" replacing "reclamation sage"? THinking about do this...Have an Aesi, not focused in creatures but in flood mana (Natural Affinity and Sylvan Awakeing) are in the deck

I run Acidic Slime in a Chulane blink deck as an annoying good win con. Blink it a ton and blow up all your opponents lands

I always felt that cultivate/rampant growth being a staple is because they are so common

As a stompy green edh deck player, what should I replace a harmonize with for card draw ?

I play a lot of green in a super budget meta. The games are slower and board wipes are more central. I found dorks were causing some problems even in my Izoni deck. I cut them, but perhaps I'll look at gradually putting them back. I think I was overdoing it before and our meta is getting faster as deck and card quality increases.

Rishkar's Expertise ought to have that last slot. I do like Return of the Wildspeaker, but Rishkar's gives you that sweet draw and THEN 5-FREE MANA.

I’m too lazy to go back and check but I don’t think you guys mentioned that harrow brings lands in untapped. One of you called it a rampant growth for one when it is in fact a natures lore for 1

So...what ARE you playing for ramp if you're cutting rampant growth and all 3 mana ramp? Just Steve, three visits, and nature's Lore with mana dorks? I'm looking for 10 or so ramp.

Worth noting that Beast Within got considerably better since its printing 10 years ago due to creatures power creep. A vanilla 3/3 wasn't something to fear back then as well but certainly it is not now.

I agree with mostly everything bar Sylvan Library, card is really near tier S (1-2+ cards per turn, difficult to remove in general, CMC 2, fixes your topdecks), you don't see this level of power in 2 CMC cards.

I straight up made a food deck where everything had to be food so I needed explosive veggies for the ramp LOL. Can't believe I got called out so hard.

You guys think split second is meh? Does your group just not play combo or control decks?

Natural order? Sylvan safekeeper? Birthing pod? But really cool video!

Do you guys think you might go into commander staples in multicolor? Maybe even divided into the ravnica guild color combos

I think krosan grip goes up to a B If your commander is prone to get countered because you can hold priority and close the stack