MTG Salvation

This is one of the severely undervalued cards imo. I think this card is the best 3-mana green ramp spell. Better than Kodoma's Reach, Harrow and etc.

The primary reason for this is that it ramps two mana instead of just one. At other times the 0/1 it leaves behind can be useful for carrying equipment and going to town.

Nice find, I never considered this but it seems pretty strong.

An argument for Kodama's Reach / Cultivate and Harrow is that they also fix two additional colors though (and is certainly better if you don't have another land drop by next turn), but I might prefer the extra one-time ramp to it. I'll try this out in my 720.

I wouldn't play this over Kodama's Reach. Less fixing, no card advantage, less thinning, one-time ramp and no land-drop security. Not to mention that the land I grab for my hand is sometimes used just as a card for my hand (pitch to a masticore, or whatever).

If I have a Titan and a 4th land in my hand already, I prefer the Spasm because it gets me to 6 mana on T4 one time. But all the rest of the situations I'd much rather have the extra land.

I would play Kodama's Reach and Cultivate over Growth Spasm for the reasons wtwlf mentions, but it is close in power and has been on the brink of inclusion for me a few time.

I also thought I would like Kodama's Reach and Cultivate more. Then I changed my mind after seeing how it actually plays out (in my cube anyway). Especially after my Green ramp focus, it's slightly better than the other two cousins.

T1 Mana Elf, T2 Spasm, T3 Titan is just too fun.


Edit: Try to imagine your reach or cultivate is a Spasm instead every time you play it, and see if it would have been better. My guess is that in majority it would for you as well.

Quote from bondafong

Edit: Try to imagine your reach or cultivate is a Spasm instead every time you play it, and see if it would have been better. My guess is that in majority it would for you as well.

I'm really trying, and every time I do I come up short. With the exception of the 4th land in hand + Titan scenario, I'd rather have the CA, the fixing and the extra land drop.

I like Growth Spasm a lot more than Harrow, but Kodama's Reach and Cultivate are much better across the board. I think people with larger Cubes should definitely try Growth Spasm.

Quote from Patrunkenphat7

I like Growth Spasm a lot more than Harrow, but Kodama's Reach and Cultivate are much better across the board. I think people with larger Cubes should definitely try Growth Spasm.

Since I have Harrow, Reach and Cultivate in my cube ,and seeing that Reach and Cultivate is exactly the same card, I wouldn't mind taking one of those out for this, just for variety's sake. If all else fails, I can revert back to the pair.

Landfall triggers, cards to pitch to looter effects or Masticores, etc... vs a one time two mana ramp and a token that can chump or carry equipment (but isn't a threat without help). Both have their values and it will often come down to the Cube environs as to which is better. Personally I rank it just behind Harrow and it is not in my 540.

I prefer reach/cultivate, but this card is a significantly better topdeck.

I've never thought about this card. Thanks for bringing it up. I still run Harrow in my 500 card cube. I'll ask my friends if Growth Spasm is to their liking. I'll order a foil one and try it out.

Any new opinions of this guy? I think I'm gonna swap from cultivate to this, mostly because I think it's more interesting.
Its value probably goes up as your cubes fixing improves, as you have less need for the extra fixing from rampant growth.

The 0/1 isn't even guaranteed to stick around if you pass the turn. Cultivate and Kodama's reach always gets you two lands.

Harrow fixes two colors at instant speed and costs a virtual 1 mana, allowing you to use those two lands right away on an opponent's turn and the lands stick around as opposed to the token requiring a sac. Bonus points for interaction with Loam-type spells. The only drawback is that it's +1 land instead of +1 land and an Eldrazi Spawn, which, when you stack the Eldrazi Spawn's benefit vs the benefit of fixing two colors, is probably up to the cuber depending on what they want out of their ramp

So, Harrow is a better card as long as it's not counter correct?

I wouldn't say its cut and dry. There are arguments for both cards. IMO Harrow is better, slightly. Some others like Growth Spasm more and I don't fault their logic. If you are playing 3-5 colors Harrow is probably better. If you are playing super ramp or have a deck with lots of token interaction or equipment, Spasm is probably better.

Agreed. I think it's about deciding what you theme for the cube is first before thinking which ramp to put. Growth Spasm, in a aggro field sometimes becomes a poor man's Sakura-Tribe Elder, whereas Harrow can be awesome in a LD themed cube.

For me the lack of great 6 drops in green really hurt this card. It is only good in the narrow scenario that that op mentioned. If I am trying a risky creature based 3 drop ramp card I have gotten way more work out of Somberwald Sage (Repeatable and ramp to 7) and even Mul Daya Channelers.

I don't think Harrow is Cubeable. I'd probably run all the portal 2-mana Rampant Growths that get forests before I ever looked at Harrow, and my 720 Cube doesn't even want those.

I just recently cut Growth Spasm. It is a fine fringe card for a very large Cube, but there are generally better options in green now, even in large Cubes.

I really like Growth Spasm. Probably a good bit more than most people on this thread. The extra ramp is sweet, and the token can wear equipment and do interesting things with Skullclamp and other assorted stuff. In some cases, this is better than the other ramp spells.

That being said, I probably wouldn't play this in a cube size smaller than 450. There are better ramp spells (Cultivate, Farseek, etc). I wouldn't mind playing this at a larger cube size where the super ramp deck is encouraged for consistency.

Besides the direct card advantage Reach/Cultivate provide over Spasm, there is also a slight advantage of thinning your deck. It is an advantage that is difficult to evaluate, because whenever you draw a card, the probability of drawing that particular land that you didn't filter out with Spasm is very low. But let's say the game goes on for a bit and you draw half of your remaining library: then the probability that you draw one land less after casting Reach/Cultivate vs casting Spasm becomes quite noticeable. Reach/Cultivate provide direct and virtual card advantage: you get an extra land card right away, and you raise the probability of drawing a non-land later.

Quote from ColbyCube »

That being said, I probably wouldn't play this in a cube size smaller than 450. There are better ramp spells (Cultivate, Farseek, etc). I wouldn't mind playing this at a larger cube size where the super ramp deck is encouraged for consistency.

That would be me. It's not better than Kodama's Reach/Cultivate, but I found it to be quite solid and regularly played around here. I certainly like it much better than Harrow, which I don't even run.

Yeah, I think it's much better than Harrow. The Worst Case Scenario on Harrow is pretty poor, and all it takes is a counterspell for that to happen.