Damia deck's ramp:
Sorceries:
Artifacts:
Planeswalkers:
[Teferi , Temporal Archmage when he's released]
Creatures:
Enchantments:
My main ramp choices are always based on what will provide me with the best mana (in quantity and quality; being fixing and ability to cast spells).
My general rule of thumb is: If it costs 1 or 2 it should put me ahead one mana, if it costs 3 or 4 it should put me ahead 2 mana, if it costs 5 it should net 3, and anything beyond that should not be considered ramp (although I did include 6+ cmc spells because they are part of the deck).
You also want to be able to cast your spells, so selection is key- if I'm picking a 1,2 or 3 drop ramp spell, I want it to give me all of my colours if I need them- let's compare some 2 drops: Simic Signet , Sylvan Caryatid , Nature's Lore . Which of these 3 spells do you think is the best one?
First off: simic signet- it doesn't care what colours I use to cast it, it gives me a net gain of 1 mana... looks great! drawbacks: you can't use that mana on turn 2, you have to be careful how you tap to activate it, it dies to artifact removal. All in all, I grade Simic Signet a 7/10
if you want to move up the scale, look at Sylvan Caryatid- 1G, so we're restricted by colour, we need a green to cast it... fine- it makes... any colour of mana! great! but we still can't use that mana this turn. It's a creature, but it has hexproof and 3 toughness, so you get a lot out of this guy- this isn't a Birds of Paradise that dies to a stiff breeze. 8.5/10 ramp spell.
but now we come to our A tier, our mainstay ramp spell- the big daddy of green ramp: Nature's Lore and it's cousin Three Visits . 1G, restrictive mana cost, but we'll make do, we're running a lot of forests for this. sorcery, meaning we can recur it if we so wish later. "search your library for a forest card and put it onto the battlefield"... read that again, and note the missing words: basic, tapped. We can use these bad boys to get any land with the land type forest and put it onto the battlefield untapped. WOW, fixing and ramp in one card- and we can use the mana right now. 9/10
now, if Nature's Lore and Three Visits are only 9/10.. what would constitute a 10/10? What spells are better than fixing your mana while ramping for 2? How about we do it.. again: Skyshroud Claim, we liked Nature's Lore so much why not just stick two together and call it a day? So much more satisfying to return from your graveyard, for essentially 2 mana you get 2 lands! You can cast Skyshroud Claim on turn 4 and then cast a Nature's Lore off the fresh untapped forests you grab to net 3 lands- LANDS, the least interactive permanent type- you're sad if someone fires off Armageddon, but beyond that monstrosity, you're probably happy with this situation. Skyshroud Claim gets a 9.75/10
"STILL NOT A PERFECT SCORE? HOW? THAT CARD IS SO GOOD!" you're probably yelling at your monitor right now... Well, no- it's great but.. 4 mana is a lot to invest... why not just pay 0? That's right folks: Mana Crypt is our 10/10, our shining beacon in a land lacking of mana.. "but... it bolts you half the time? And it dies to artifact destruction..." Your arguments are valid.. but what's a free bolt here or there when you're casting your business spells two turns before everyone else? I went from being able to combo off turn 4 with my Damia deck to being able to take infinite turns... on turn 1.
Now I know not all decks can run as much ramp as me- some of you need room for other spells I get that... If your plan, like mine- is to race everyone to 10 mana and cast Time Stretch though, you might get some ideas from this.
