Spider-Man, Brooklyn VisionarySpider-Man, Brooklyn Visionary | Art by Aniekan Udofia

Welcome to Too-Specific Top 10, where if there isn’t a category to rank our pet card at the top of, we’ll just make one up! (Did you know that Noetic ScalesNoetic Scales is the only colorless ID'd artifact you can play that can return multiple creatures you control to your hand at the same time?)

So, web-slinging is kinda neat, and Spider-Man, Brooklyn VisionarySpider-Man, Brooklyn Visionary is made to abuse it.

I don't want to wait for more web-slinging cards to be spoiled, though! What can we do to abuse the ability now?

Top 10 Green "Return to Hand" Cards

Criteria: Cards within the green color identity that can return either a creature or permanent from the battlefield to your hand. As is tradition, all results are ordered by EDHREC score.

10. UmbilicusUmbilicus

(3,535 Inclusions, 0.05% of 6,705,297 Decks)

UmbilicusUmbilicus is an oldy and a baddy. Not in any positive way, mind you. What I'm saying is that this has always been a bad card, which makes it all the more puzzling that it got a functional reprint in Blood ClockBlood Clock.

Two life wasn't enough for this to do much in formats where you had 20 life. When you have 40? The table pays this without even thinking about it, or worse, does think about it and uses it to their advantage.

Which is what we were trying to do, right? Well, I'm not sold. There's gotta be cheaper and better options.

9. First ResponderFirst Responder

(4,363 Inclusions, 0.14% of 3,107,420 Decks)

See? Already we're seeing an option that still costs four mana, but happens immediately instead of having to wait for your next upkeep. Throw in the fact that it won't get you heat or actively help your opponents, along with a smattering of +1/+1 counters, and this one is probably making the cut.

8. Stickytongue SentinelStickytongue Sentinel

(8,469 Inclusions, 0.38% of 2,254,251 Decks)

You know what might be even better, though? A three-mana option that does its thing immediately! This buff little Frog Warrior is an enters trigger in what's sure to be a deck full of enters triggers, as well.

And you know what that means!

All right, this synergy might have limits. Still, solid Frog.

7. Erratic PortalErratic Portal

(9,720 Inclusions, 0.14% of 6,705,297 Decks)

Now, after my whole speech about UmbilicusUmbilicus and Blood ClockBlood Clock being too expensive, you'd probably assume that I'm not for Erratic PortalErratic Portal. You'd be wrong.

Yes, Portal does cost the same as Umbilicus, but unlike that effect, Portal can be used immediately. Add on to that that it can also affect your opponents in a negative way that you choose, rather than in a positive way that you don't, and I think this thing is actually kind of a bargain.

6. Mistbreath ElderMistbreath Elder

(11,886 Inclusions, 0.53% of 2,263,889 Decks)

My vote for actual best card in a Spider-Man, Brooklyn VisionarySpider-Man, Brooklyn Visionary deck, however? It goes to Mistbreath ElderMistbreath Elder. For a single mana, you can bounce your Spider-Man every turn, getting more and more lands out of your deck, all while the Frog that was already a 2/2 for one keeps on getting bigger and bigger.

And worst case scenario, you don't have enough mana for your Spider-Man or another ETB creature available, and you just bounce the Elder to itself every turn to abuse your other effects that care about bouncing stuff, like:

• Beast WhispererBeast Whisperer
• Radagast the BrownRadagast the Brown
• Kodama of the East TreeKodama of the East Tree
• Gala GreetersGala Greeters
• Gyre SageGyre Sage
• Venom ConnoisseurVenom Connoisseur

5. Ancestral StatueAncestral Statue

(15,900 Inclusions, 0.24% of 6,705,297 Decks)

But after the highlight that was Mistbreath ElderMistbreath Elder, we're brought back down to earth with yet another four-mana artifact that just isn't good enough.

Sure, if you're looking to do some combo things, then Ancestral StatueAncestral Statue is your Golem. But for our nefarious plan of just bouncing our commander to get tapped lands on the regular? We can do better.

4. Decoction ModuleDecoction Module

(28,228 Inclusions, 0.42% of 6,705,297 Decks)

In similar fashion, Decoction ModuleDecoction Module has some infinite combos revolving around its energy ability. But when used for the face value of its return ability, it's just not going to cut it.

3. Cloudstone CurioCloudstone Curio

(55,016 Inclusions, 0.82% of 6,705,297 Decks)

If you were still looking for at least one silly combo card that we would want to use, however, then I have good news! Cloudstone CurioCloudstone Curio remains one of the best possible cards ever printed to abuse ETBs, whether they result in infinitely looping a Peregrine DrakePeregrine Drake or not.

For our more mundane purposes, we'll probably end up with a heap of lands for our trouble instead of winning the game outright, but that's more the speed we're looking for anyhow!

2. Temur SabertoothTemur Sabertooth

(84,492 Inclusions, 2.72% of 3,107,420 Decks)

Temur SabertoothTemur Sabertooth is another well-known powerhouse, but it's actually a much more reasonable card since Dockside ExtortionistDockside Extortionist got banned. Regardless, it might be a bit slow up front, but once we hit a critical mass of bouncing and replaying our commander and the creature he bounces repeatedly, we'll have more than enough mana to have this lead to some sort of win.

How, you ask? Well, probably in the green way that we're all used to: OverrunOverrun effects stapled to a creature. You're probably thinking of Craterhoof BehemothCraterhoof Behemoth right now, but I think we'll prefer to keep it a bit cheaper.

That's why my suggestions are actually Decimator of the ProvincesDecimator of the Provinces, which will only cost five mana if we sac our commander to it, and Earthshaker GiantEarthshaker Giant, which costs a more reasonable six mana on its face.

1. Kogla, the Titan ApeKogla, the Titan Ape

(Helms 469 Decks, Rank #1,758; 98,166 Inclusions, 3.16% of 3,107,420 Decks)

If you thought Temur SabertoothTemur Sabertooth started off slow, then Kogla, the Titan ApeKogla, the Titan Ape will feel like crawling. That said, he also has an ETB to abuse, which is kind of our whole deal right now, not to mention an attack trigger thrown on for sassing the gaggles.

He also has a downside of only really being able to bounce our commander, given the Human rider, but we don't mind so much, given that our commander bounces whatever we want, including Kogla.

Honorable Mentions

We actually got pretty great coverage of the very limited options in green for returning creatures to hand. Having already covered Noetic ScalesNoetic Scales a couple times in our article, the only other one worth mentioning I could find was Rambling PossumRambling Possum. Saddling is a pretty low cost for returning a creature once a turn, not to mention Possum becoming quite large to help with our aggro plan.

There is however, another avenue we haven't talked about: cards that trigger on any creature entering, and creatures that can return themselves. This is an even more rare effect than green cards that return other cards to hand, but there are two notable, cheap options that you can cast over and over again. The ancient tech at this point is Greenbelt RampagerGreenbelt Rampager, which lets you play it and immediately bounce it twice before you get enough energy that it sticks around.

The more recent scrolls, though? That would be CactuarCactuar, a notorious entry to the Final Fantasy series that works extremely well for our purposes here.

As for what you can take advantage of them with? Well, how about a bonus top ten?

Top 10 Green Cards That Trigger on a Creature Entering

1. Garruk's UprisingGarruk's Uprising
2. The Great HengeThe Great Henge
3. Guardian ProjectGuardian Project
4. Champion of LambholtChampion of Lambholt
5. Tribute to the World TreeTribute to the World Tree
6. Selvala, Heart of the WildsSelvala, Heart of the Wilds
7. Elemental BondElemental Bond
8. Gyre SageGyre Sage
9. Kodama of the East TreeKodama of the East Tree
10. Essence WardenEssence Warden

If there's one thing we're spoiled for choice on, it's the various Guardian ProjectGuardian Projects in green. With that said, for the most part we want to keep our creature count high, so I'm actually more inclined toward the likes of Beast WhispererBeast Whisperer and Radagast the BrownRadagast the Brown.

With all that said, Tribute to the World TreeTribute to the World Tree is cheaper than most of these effects while also contributing to our go-wide aggro plan, so it seems too good not to include.

As for other notables, one of the best cards in our deck will be a Gyre SageGyre Sage we can easily have tapping for three mana with multiple casts of our commander. That should get us up to Kodama of the East TreeKodama of the East Tree mana, at which point we'll really be going nuts in a hurry.

Don't believe me? Well, you be the judge!

Spider-Man, Brooklyn Visionary Commander Deck List

For a Bracket 2 deck, it's a bit surprising how quickly this thing gets out of control if left unchecked. You often have ramp on turn one or two that rolls straight into you casting your commander to grab another land, and you're sitting there on turn three with five mana available and a likely draw or bounce engine coming down.

Of course, from there you're still a mono-green deck, so you're going to need to keep a ton of creatures on the board and make them all huge, which can be a daunting task, even against precons.

Nuts and Bolts

There always seems to be a bit of interest in how these lists are made (this seems like a good time to stress once again that they are based on EDHREC score, NOT my personal opinion…), and people are often surprised that I’m not using any special data or .json from EDHREC, but rather just muddling my way through with some Scryfall knowledge! For your enjoyment/research, here is this week’s Scryfall search.

What Do You Think?

And finally, what's your favorite green bounce spell? Can you abuse it with Spider-Man, Brooklyn VisionarySpider-Man, Brooklyn Visionary?

Let us know in the comments, and we'll see you at the table up on top of the Chrysler Building.

More Spider-Man: