The 32 Best Green Instants in Magic Ranked

Last updated on October 26, 2023

Veil of Summer | Illustration by Riyou Kamei

If there's one key aspect of gameplay that sets MTG apart from other games, it’s that players are allowed to interact during their opponents’ turns. This is possible through instant cards and activated abilities, which MTG players call “playing at instant speed.” Instant speed play is essential at higher levels of competition where players strive to get the edge over one another.

In contrast, decks that don’t interact at instant speed are often predictable and easier to beat. Today, we’re looking at how green interacts with their opponents through their best instant cards across different competitive formats.

Looking to update your green instants or add some more? We’ve got you covered!  

What Are Green Instants in MTG?

Worldly Tutor | Illustration by David O'Connor.

Any mono-green card that is an instant counts for today's rankings. The most common effects that green is allowed to have at instant speed are combat tricks (the classic one being Giant Growth) and fight/bite effects like Pounce and Ambuscade.

Some other common effects that green has at instant speed are Naturalize effects, or destroying target artifacts or enchantments, and Plummet effects, or destroying a target creature with flying.

We’ll see that green is allowed (at higher rarities) to have card advantage tied to creatures in play or effects that search the top cards of the library for creatures, and those rank among the best green instants because these effects win games on their own.

For the purposes of this list, I’m taking out all multicolor/hybrid cards that are also green, focusing on instants you can play with a mono-green commander. For example, I’ve left cards like Tear Asunder out of the list because of the black kicker cost.

#32. Back to Nature

Destroying all enchantments is a very narrow effect, so although it’s powerful sometimes, Back to Nature is best left in your sideboard. This changes if you can profit from the destruction of said enchantments or if your deck is a toolbox with powerful but narrow effects. The card would be maindeckable in EDH if it also destroyed artifacts, so it’s a metagame call.

#31. Moment's Peace

Fog effects with flashback have double the utility, and Moment's Peace usually sees play in Pauper Tron decks or control decks that use green. Turbo-Fog decks usually want as many fog effects as they can get, as do Superfriends decks that don’t want their planeswalkers attacked. This is one of the best ones.

#30. Tangle

Cards like Fog are usually bad because they don’t change the board state, only preventing the damage that’s being dealt in that turn. Tangle goes a step further, locking the creatures down for another turn. Tangle is basically a Fog for two turns, which is much better than only one.

#29. Seedtime

Who said extra turns were only a blue effect? Seedtime allows you, the green player, to take an extra turn provided that a blue player cast a spell this turn. You have to jump some hoops, but it’s the perfect punishment for that pesky countermagic foe.

#28. Benefactor's Draught

Benefactor's Draught is an almost strictly better Vitalize. You’ll draw a card after casting it no matter what, it combos with your mana dorks and creatures that have tap abilities, and you can even use this to help a player during combat in EDH. Do you want to be able to block and survive? Now you can, but give me cards instead.

#27. Crop Rotation

Crop Rotation sees lots of play in decks that need to tutor a specific land. It’s usually played in green Tron decks or land combo decks that need to find a copy of Vesuva or Dark Depths. It can also be used in response to a land destruction spell or a Wasteland activation.

#26. For the Ancestors

In typal decks, particularly elf decks, For the Ancestors can give you a bunch of cards. If you can get three hits out of six, it’s already an awesome deal.

#25. Harrow

Besides the ramp and color fixing it provides, the best part of Harrow is the ability to trigger landfall at instant speed. Since you send a land to your graveyard, it has cool implications in The Gitrog Monster EDH decks or Titania, Protector of Argoth decks that have a need to protect the graveyard.

#24. Hunter's Insight

Once a very slow instant that saw Standard play, and a spell only playable in Limited, Hunter's Insight is now a solid card draw spell in EDH, especially in decks that want to attack with beefy creatures or that have big commanders with trample.

#23. Kindred Summons

Kindred Summons is very expensive, but the bonus it provides is huge. You’ll need to have some creatures of the same type, which is attainable in typal decks or token decks. If you can put 2-3 creatures into play reliably it’s worth it, and it only gets better from there.

#22. Sprout Swarm

Sprout Swarm, a ruiner of Limited formats, doesn’t look like much, but it allows you to pay 5 mana with buyback to make a token. Once you have enough tokens you can convoke the spell to pay even less. It’s a little slow, but it’s a staple in token and saproling decks.

#21. Nourishing Shoal

Nourishing Shoal has seen some play in decks aiming to cheat very large creatures into play as a way to keep themselves alive until they get to combo. The worst thing about playing decks like reanimator is being stuck with an 8- or 10-drop in your hand, so you can use Nourishing Shoal to gain a bunch of life. Modern Shoal decks also use the card to offset the life loss from Griselbrand’s activation.

#20. Noxious Revival

Noxious Revival does a very good Vampiric Tutor impression if your deck is heavy on the self-mill aspect. With popular commanders like Thrasios, Triton Hero that can draw on demand, it becomes much better since you can draw the card you just put on top.

#19. Second Harvest

Second Harvest allows you to double your tokens after you untap your mana and begin another turn, which may be sufficient to win the game on the spot. It can also be used as a nice way to create surprise blockers.

#18. Weather the Storm

Weather the Storm is very strong in Pauper sideboards when you want to gain life and stabilize against burn/red aggro decks. You can counter spells like Grapeshot or Tendrils of Agony with Weather the Storm too. Considering that you’ll often gain six to nine life, it’s enough to be out of danger. There are also a bunch of green, Selesnya, and Golgari decks that appreciate the lifegain.

#17. Shared Summons

A double tutor for creatures is nice, even if you need to pay 5 mana for it. You’ll get to put two creatures you need in your hand and maybe even win on the next turn depending on what you’ve found. Shared Summons offers two cards at instant speed, and not many green cards can give you that.

#16. Vines of Vastwood

Giving hexproof to protect a creature for 1 green mana is something that green often does. Vines of Vastwood allows you to pay an extra mana to give +4/+4 on top of the protection, and that’s a tremendous buff. This is one of those combat tricks that gets better in infect decks because you can not only protect your threat but outright kill an opponent using it.

#15. Tamiyo's Safekeeping

Tamiyo's Safekeeping is a 1-mana Heroic Intervention for a single card. See how unfair the comparison is? For just 1 mana more, you could protect all your permanents, not just one. Either way, this is one of the best protection spells available at 1 mana.

#14. Arachnogenesis

The comparison with Galadhrim Ambush is obvious since they’re almost equal cards. I’ll rate the ambush a little higher simply because it fits elf token decks better, but let’s talk about Arachnogenesis. It creates a Spider token with reach for each creature attacking you, so at worst you won’t get hurt. In spider decks, you’ll have a huge benefit since there are lots of cards in spider typal decks that get better with the number of spiders you have on the battlefield. Either way, 3 mana at instant speed to make some tokens is a nice deal.

#13. Galadhrim Ambush

Galadhrim Ambush is an excellent tool for elf decks. You’ll make a 1/1 Elf for each creature attacking you, and elf decks already have nice supporting cards like Priest of Titania and Ezuri, Renegade Leader to benefit from the numbers.

#12. Mutagenic Growth

Mutagenic Growth sees play in various formats as a support to infect decks, since it’s a pump spell you can cast for free. The difference between a 2/2 and a 4/4 with infect is huge, and people don’t expect you to have pump effects when you’re tapped out.

#11. Return of the Wildspeaker

Return of the Wildspeaker is one of the best card draw spells available in green, allowing you to either draw a bunch of cards or to pump your creatures/tokens. It’s nice if you’re going wide or tall.

#10. Beast Within

Beast Within is a flexible removal spell capable of destroying any permanent at instant speed, even creatures. The downside is that you’ll give its owner a 3/3 creature. This spell became a green staple in EDH because giving them a 3/3 in exchange for a very problematic permanent is usually an awesome deal. If you have good, beefy green creatures around, a 3/3 won’t even be a big threat to you anyway.

#9. Summoner's Pact

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the deck, Summoner's Pact is best used in conjunction with Hive Mind, making opponents lose the game on the spot. Aside from that interaction, this card is a temporarily free tutor that can fetch you the creature combo piece you need to win.

#8. Once Upon a Time

Free spells always have the potential to be broken. Once Upon a Time was banned in multiple formats because it gives tremendous consistency to decks, and it was an easy four-of include. A free spell early on and not a bad top deck in the late game are all the requirements needed for a strong card.

#7. Chord of Calling

Chord of Calling allows you to tutor a creature and put it onto the battlefield, provided you pay the right cost. It’s an X spell after all, and it’s easily used to get small creatures. It has convoke to help offset the mana cost, and it can even be cast for free if you have enough creatures. This card is an Eternal format staple, and it sees play in many creature decks, including Golgari () Yawgmoth and Elf decks.

#6. Force of Vigor

Artifacts and enchantments used to be hated by cards like Ancient Grudge or Wear / Tear. Force of Vigor offers a mono-green alternative that can get two targets with one spell, and it can even be cast for free by exiling another green card from your hand. It’s flexible and gets the job done not only in EDH, but also in ultra-fast formats like Legacy and Vintage.

#5. Berserk

Berserk is a prime way to dish out damage, and it's even better in formats like EDH where you can kill people with commander damage. Green commander decks like Ghalta, Primal Hunger can one-shot someone with Berserk, not to mention the extra poison counters that infect creatures can deal with this card. And all this for just 1 mana.

#4. Collected Company

Playing two creatures with flash on your opponent’s end step is very powerful, and that’s what Collected Company allows you to do. It can be cast on your opponent's end step after they swept the board, during combat to add creatures that buff your other creatures, or to drop disruptive effects like Brutal Cathar.

#3. Heroic Intervention

Heroic Intervention protects all permanents you control, whether they’re lands, creatures, or planeswalkers. You’ll give them hexproof and indestructible, for only 2 mana. It’s fantastic in conjunction with white symmetric sweepers since you won’t lose anything, but your opponents will.

#2. Worldly Tutor

For 1 mana, you can cast Worldly Tutor and set up your next draw with a creature you need for your strategy. Worldly Tutor is almost an auto-include in Gx EDH decks that rely on creatures to combo off. It also improves decks that have a creature toolbox, so you can fetch specific creatures that provide artifact hate, graveyard hate, lifegain, and so on.

#1. Veil of Summer

Veil of Summer gives you cheap interaction for the cost of a single green mana and a card back most of the time. Veil can protect your combos from counterspells or your creatures from removal, and it was strong enough to see main deck play in many formats, even though it’s a card that only hates on blue and black.

Best Green Instant Payoffs

Green is a very creature and land-centric color, so it’s the color that most lacks instant payoffs. There’s an archetype called flash, and it’s competitive from time to time. Those decks are usually great at playing instants. In fact, most of green’s instant payoffs come when paired with blue. Green is rewarded for playing instants in combat situations, and here green’s combat tricks shine.

I’d also say that infect is the archetype that most benefits from green instants, particularly the combat tricks like Vines of Vastwood. There’s a huge difference between a 1/1 Blighted Agent and a 5/5 or 7/7 one.

Wrap Up

Heroic Intervention | Illustration by James Ryman

MTG wouldn’t be the same game without instant speed interactions, and green decks are very well served by them. The main strength of the color is sorceries, creatures, and mana generation, but even then, WotC’s given green some ways to scare opposing players on the end step.

Since those spells are somewhat pricy, they tend to shine more in EDH where games are slower and players have access to more mana.

What are the staple green instants in your decks? Let me know in the comments section below or on the Draftsim Discord.

Stay safe folks, and keep drawing cards with big green creatures at instant speed.