Hello, fellow Commander player! As we all know keeping up with new Magic: The Gathering card releases is hard. It would be like trying to keep track of every new Pokemon that comes out and there are like, over 1000 of them or something now. If you count mega evolutions and regional exclusives that number is even bigger. There's also Gigantamax and if we consider all the Spinda patterns... anyway ... we previously covered all the wonderful Red cards you should be playing. Today, we are going to look at the best modern (time not format) Green cards you should be including in your decks!

Honorable Mention

Okay, this is not a Green card but it is Green adjacent so let's just use our imagination moving forward. Some of the best upgrades to any Commander deck's mana base come from utility lands. Shifting Woodland is a new land from Modern Horizons 3 that allows you to pay to have it become a copy of any permanent in your graveyard until end of turn as long as you have Delerium. This is the perfect addition to any graveyard-centric strategy, from self-mill to aristocrats, allowing you to copy important engine pieces long after they have been dealt with. Having a land that can turn into a previously removed Necropotence, a desperately needed Phyrexian Altar, or a game-swinging Panharmonicon proves to be an incredible tool that only gets better the longer the game progresses. This card also doesn't need to tap for its ability so you can tap it for mana to pay for its own ability. Not to mention that it comes into play untapped if you control a forest meaning that lots of decks can realistically run this with little downside. An incredible card that is technically colorless so into honorable mention jail it goes.

Number Five

Gruff Triplets is a 3/3 that makes two copies of itself when it enters, as long as it isn't a token. Also, When a Gruff Triplets dies, all other Gruff Triplets gain +1/+1 counters equal to the dead one's power. This, put simply, is just a fun card. It puts 9 power on board for 6 mana, works excellently with blink/flicker strategies, benefits from additional +1/+1 counter effects like Hardened Scales, and loves effects that increase token production like Doubling Season. There is just something so satisfying about watching your three 3/3s become two 6/6s and eventually a hulking 12/12. A simple card with a surprising level of hidden complexity, Gruff Triplets has been a powerhouse in a number of decks I've built since its release.

Number Four

Remember how we just talked about how good utility lands are? Sowing Mycospawn is a four-mana devoid creature that gets any land from your deck onto the battlefield when it's cast. For 1C you can also kick it to exile a land on the battlefield. If there are even just a handful of important lands in your deck, Sowing Mycospawn becomes an invaluable resource, fetching the likes of Field of the Dead, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Glacial Chasm, Vesuva, Dark Depths, Planar Nexus, you name it. All of which by the way, can enter the battlefield untapped. Being a cast trigger is a bit of a double-edged sword since we can't use ETB doublers or blink effects to abuse its land-fetching ability but it also makes it much more difficult to interact with since the opponent is forced to have stifle effects to counter it. The additional kicker effect also gives some potential removal for opposing problematic lands (assuming you can pay the colorless mana required) but honestly, that is more just icing on the cake than anything. Every time I play this card someone at the table reaches over to read it in disbelief and usually that's followed by "I need to get me one of these"

Number Three

If you will allow me to use hyperbole, Legolas's Quick Reflexes is the best single creature protection spell made in the last 10 years. If you won't allow me to use hyperbole then I guess I'll have to explain. For a single mana, you untap target creature, give it hexproof and reach as well as "When this creature becomes tapped it deals damage to target creature equal to its power". The real sauce though, comes from the beautiful first two words on its text box. Split Second. Once you play this spell no other spells or abilities can go on the stack until it has resolved meaning the creature you target will get hexproof, no questions asked. Commander being targeted for removal? Protect it without fear of more removal or counterspell follow-up. The other effects are not without merit either. Plenty of Creatures like Selvala, Heart of the Wilds or Lonis, Cryptozoologist would love to become untapped to reuse powerful activated abilities while cards like Yarok, the Desecrated or Prossh, Skyraider of Kher would be more than happy to ping other creatures when they tap for an attack. The untap ability plus reach also gives a bit of flexibility for a surprise blocker. Another card that feels like it was lost in the hectic release schedule of 2023 that honestly deserves a slot in many many decks.

Number Two

As a lover of lands and a certified Green fanboy, few cards spark joy the way that Open The Way sparks joy. For (Where X can't exceed the number of players) you flip cards off the top of your deck until you reveal X lands and put them into play tapped. Remember when we talked about how good utility lands are? No? Read the paragraph 4 paragraphs above this and then come back. Open the way lets you get a burst of lands that are not limited to basics, meaning the more non-basics you play, the better this card becomes. It likely doesn't have to be explained why ramp is so good in Commander but efficient, non-basic land ramp is both far from common and exceptionally strong. Open The Way can easily outperform cards like Explosive Vegetation when x=2 but when you can pay the full 6 mana for four lands it far outperforms many of its peers. "Just trust me" may not be a compelling argument but cast Open The Way a single time and see just how far ahead it makes you feel.

Number One

There is no card in recent memory that overperforms more often than Case of the Locked Hothouse. A Enchantment, Case of the Locked Hothouse lets you play an additional land on each of your turns. A decent effect if not a bit over-costed compared to cards like Exploration and Azusa, Lost but Seeking but, there's more. Once you control 7 or more lands the case is solved and you gain its other ability, allowing you to look at the top of your deck at any time, as well as play lands and cast creatures and enchantments from the top of your deck. This card may come down as a slightly expensive additional land enabler but once solved it feels more like a mini Bolas's Citadel. Numerous times now I have watched in horror as my opponent flips card after card off the top of their deck chaining spells together and even playing multiple lands as they appear. Case of the Locked Hothouse provides a really impressive amount of card advantage that demands attention from the table because left unchecked it can easily overtake the game.

There you have it! If you are a Green enjoyer there have been a lot of cards to be excited about and even more that couldn't fit on this list. Hopefully, this inspires a few new updates for existing decks! Thanks for reading!

"Be you, Be Free, Live Happily!"

@MulldrifterStan