Best Two Mana Spells in Ixalan Standard – Green

[DelverMage]

Green has a fairly short stack of cards on this list.  Like red spells in Ixalan Standard, green has a number of strong staples that are available for use that are not the best in power to cost ratio.  Gift of Strength is like a Giant Growth with Reach and is a good combat trick, but the reach factor is not as impactful as other abilities could be.  If it was trample or hexproof, that would make it one of the best.  Commencement of Festivities and Haze of Pollen are the current fog abilities and Dissenter's Deliverance is for targeted artifact removal which also can cycle for G.  Green's staple functionality is represented well in Ixalan Standard.
There is another card that I think deserves mention that I don’t see used, and I am not exactly sure why.  Verdant Rebirth, is turbo version of a typical green ability.  Returning a creature from the graveyard to your hand has been around a long time in green.  This is an instant that keeps the target creature from ever making it to the graveyard as it goes straight back to your hand.  It is also a cantrip, drawing you a card.  This is all at instant effect and can have a significant impact on your ability to keep your momentum, even when your opponent has done their best to remove your creature.  This also stops the trick where they kill your best creature, and God-Pharao’s Gift it from your graveyard. There is some nice flexibility here for 1G.



Creatures
*Channeler Initiate – A 3/4 Human Druid for 1G is amazing!  That is until it enters the battlefield where it gets three -1/-1 counters, lowering it to a 0/1 creature.  That is where Channeler Initiate gets interesting, because you can tap it for mana, remove one of those counters and generate one mana of any color.  This will eventually bring it back up to a 3/4.  As removing the negative counter is part of the activation cost of Channeler Initiate, when it no longer has any there will be no more colored mana.  Of course there are plenty of other cards in Ixalan Standard that can provide additional -1/-1 counters to keep you in business.  This card gets an asterisk because getting it to the 3/4 level takes time or tricks, and in the meantime it is a non-flying  Bird of Paradise.

Longtusk Cub – This cat is a 2/2 for 1G which is right on expected cost.  The Longtusk Cub only generates energy when it actually deals combat damage, which is a stricter method to generate energy than most cards that do so.  On the flip side, you can spend two energy at any time to put a +1/+1 counter on the Longtusk Cub, which is a more lenient activation.  This allows you to be very deliberate on when you grow your Longtusk Cub, like in response to Lightning  Strike or to beef it up to survive a surprise block.

Resilient Khenra – A 2/2 Jackal Wizard for 1G is standard stuff, but when Resilient Khenra enters the battlefield you can have another creature get +X/+X where X =  RK’s power until end of turn.  That gets Resilient Khenra really close to the best card list, but when you add in the Eternalize ability it makes the list.  In the late game this guy can come out of the graveyard and gives+4/+4 to one of your creatures which can be a game changer. 

Servant of the Conduit – This is the Kaladesh version of the green mana generating creature.  A 2/2 for 1G that generates two energy when it enters the battlefield.  As it costs one energy and a tap to generate one any colored mana, that is enough to use the ability twice.  In an energy based deck, Servant of the Conduit could be used more times than two, but this cards supplies enough of its own energy to make is useful in any deck using green.

Spells
*Heroic Intervention – The wording on Heroic Intervention is permanents you control, not just creatures.  This is a great card when your plan is to go wide with creature swarms to win.  It protects your army from all the big sweepers, except for Settle the Wreckage and can protect from targeted removal, as the cost is reasonable enough to use in that way.  It also adds an extra layer of protection, if your opponent had plans to empty their hand to dismantle your battlefield.  This card is still quite situational regardless, and thus the asterisk.

Larger Than Life – The only downside to this card is that it is sorcery speed.  Larger Than Life is an aptly named card that gives a target creature +4/+4 and Trample until end of turn.  Most of the time when I see this card played, it is a component of the finishing move to win the game.  Combined with the Electrostatic Pummeler it is just devastating.

[robort]

I like your lists a lot but this card at least deserves an honorable mention, I would say in the list but honorable mention would work.

Rhonas's Last Stand is very good especially when it does come down on turn 2. Dropping a 5/4 body on turn 2 even with the consequences is always good.

[WWolfe]

I'd agree with robort. That card is a house in limited I'd imagine.

[DelverMage]

I built a few decks using this card when it came out.

Unless you cast it in turn 2 or maybe even 3, then the tapped mana cost is too high.  Not only the GG you paid must remain tapped but all of your tapped mana.

Hey the 5/4 token seems nice, but Fatal Push, Unsummon, Fairgrounds Warden, Cast Out and any other card that bounces creatures or permanents makes it go away  and there you sit with limited to zero untapped mana.

Rhonas's Last Stand costs 4 mana minimum spread across 2 turns.  When you look at that way a 5/4 token creature for 4 mana is better than average but still not the best.  If it were an instant instead of a sorcery that would be a whole new ball game.