When it comes to ramp, there are some cards that are good depending on the average power level of the deck/environment. For example: When your games typically go to turn 17, a card like Skyshroud Claim will be really great and a card like Rampant Growth will do very little in comparison. However, when your games are typically over by turn 5, the reverse is true. With that in mind, I have made this list for games that end around turn 11 or so, which is basically the average (if you don't believe me, view my videos on my YouTube channel, and you will see that the average last turn is about 11). On top of that, while anecdotal evidence isn't the best evidence, I can also say that after I made the switch to using only ramp that ramps up by 2+, I noticed a huge improvement in my own games. With that in mind, here is what I would like to say:
This list is built in mind to offer the best options for ramp for a deck that is in an environment of the most common power level, which means that cards that ramp you up by only one mana (without providing any other card advantage), such as Rampant Growth and Farseek, are NOT good enough for this list due to the fact that they have a smaller effect than all the cards on this list, trading the ability to have the most mana late game (when the game usually ends) for having the most mana early game (when the players decide who is the scariest opponent) or for using the most cards from your hand. Don't believe me? Make the switch too, and let me know how your games go. :) Sure, doing more things in the first three turns FEELS better, but it's not actually as good as ramp of 2+.
That's fine and all, but don't take my word for it. Here is a video proving why ramp of 2 or more is significantly better for games that end around turn 9 or 10 (which is both what I've found from my research and what the Command Zone has found in their research): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgCux0rfun4
List of all pertinent ramp cards in EDH.
What this includes:
Any card that that searches your library for two or more land cards and puts them on the battlefield for less than X mana, where X is twice the number of lands that it gets, but not more than 5.
Any nonland permanent that can transform the same turn it enters into a land that produces 2 or more mana, following the same mana restrictions found in the first point above.
Lands that produce net 3 or more mana (since that is 2 or more mana more than a land normally can produce).
Artifacts or enchantments that allow you to have 2 extra mana for costing 4 mana or less, or 3 extra mana for costing 5 mana or less.
What this doesn't include:
Cards that ramp you up by only one (Curious as to why? See the disclaimer above.).
Cards that can ramp all players, unless it can be abused to be more ramp for you than each opponent.
Creature cards needing to attack or activate a tap ability and auras that need to stick around. Creature cards are very fragile, so playing them or auras in place of other ramp means that many games will happen where a board wipe will knock out your ability to ramp as much as your opponents, but if they have a more or less immediate effect, the chances of this are low enough that they should be worth considering.
Cards that require you to sacrifice lands or discard cards, unless it gets a surplus land more than the above restrictions for each land sacrificed and each card discarded.
Cards that make you lose 1 life or more per mana.
Cards that only provide mana for a specific color and/or type of spell.
Cards that are "strictly worse" than Gilded Lotus, as you really shouldn't be playing more than one of these cards except in very specific circumstances. (In this situation, "strictly worse" is being used to mean "costs five mana to play, but cannot immediately produce three colored mana the turn after it is played", because there isn't really a better way to succinctly describe it.)
Then check out my YouTube channel where I upload a game every Saturday at 11 AM EST, featuring 4 different commanders each month, one of which is brand new to the channel! Or at least check out this playlist of all the videos on my channel:
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