How do you feel about Rift Sower and Search For Tomorrow?

[Bonethor]

So I was trying to figure out some turn one ramp plays for a Volo, Guide to Monsters deck and since I could use the common mana dorks I probably wouldn't necessarily want to since the creature types overlap quite a bit, although it's not as important for mana dorks. Regardless, that got me looking into alternatives and Rift Sower and Search For Tomorrow popped up although I haven't usually seen them in typical ramp lists.

Forgetting the whole Volo intro part (especially since Rift Sower still has a type overlap issue, but on the other hand could be timed to be copied by Volo), do you feel like these cards are good/playable in EDH decks and under what circumstances?

Personally I feel like these are pretty nice for 4-5 MV commanders if most of one's other ramp is in the 2 MV slot and you're playing a deck that's trying to ramp heavily. Some decks try to do the whole 1-3-5 mana thing so these wouldn't work that well there. Obviously both spells are pretty bad if hardcast. Thinking about some other cards like Mox Tantalite and Sol Talisman I feel like having suspend 3 instead of 2 is pretty rough, except maybe again for even costlier commanders or decks that can abuse them somehow.

Have I been living under a rock (I'll admit I don't really play green) and are these pretty common tech? Anyways, do you know any other turn 1 castable ramp options that people might not know about?

[The Golgari Guy]

I think that Search for Tomorrow is great on a budget and in decks that want a lot of ramp. It's great on turn 1 and still decent later, since the land comes in untapped.

Rift Sower, on the other hand, is very bad and only very specific decks want it. I'll say that both cards are staples in my Imoti/Keruga deck, where I can't run anything with CMC less than 3 

https://deckstats.net/decks/149180/2327835-imoti-and-keruga-present-big-b/en

Anyways, do you know any other turn 1 castable ramp options that people might not know about?

I think that Sol Talisman deserves a try. It can be great in specific decks, such as Osgir, the Reconstructor, and pretty decent elsewhere as a second copy of Sol Ring.

Other lesser-known 1-mana ramp spells: Font of Fertility, Neverwinter Dryad and Diligent Farmhand.

[Slyvester12]

I would focus more on just getting Volo out quickly. If you're determined not to have creature types overlap, your options are limited by budget. Mox Diamond, Mana Crypt, Chrome Mox, etc... would be much better if budget isn't an issue.

If you want to stay under a certain amount, just run mana dorks in the 1 CMC slot like you mentioned. Llanowar Elves, Fyndhorn Elves, Elvish Mystic, Birds of Paradise, and others. They might interfere with Volo triggering, but would you rather have Volo out faster or never have more than one of a creature type?

I wouldn't run the suspend cards unless you're building around a specific restriction. Search for tomorrow delays your ramp until turn 3, Rift Sower is just a worse version of Llanowar Elves. Who cares if it's a 1/3 when it takes so much longer to be useful?

Last I checked Bloom Tender and some other previously expensive options were at much better prices, especially if you pick up the reprint version (the name of which escapes me at the moment).

EDIT: Mystery Booster? I think that's the one.

[Bonethousand]

I've really hemmed and hawed over playing Search for Tomorrow. I always think about slotting it in for budget, but I don't know how I feel about a 3cmc one-for-one ramp spell with no other upside. Like, just feels like a manalith to me.

[Bonethor]

I guess I'll have to give Search For Tomorrow a try at least then!

I think that Sol Talisman deserves a try. It can be great in specific decks, such as Osgir, the Reconstructor, and pretty decent elsewhere as a second copy of Sol Ring.

Other lesser-known 1-mana ramp spells: Font of Fertility, Neverwinter Dryad and Diligent Farmhand.

Good point about Osgir. Funny how all those 1-mana spells in green pretty match Wayfarer's Bauble but obviously they aren't heard of too much!
Also I had wondered about finding stuff you can play with a Keruga deck before their actual mana cost, so it's nice to see some of that.

I would focus more on just getting Volo out quickly. If you're determined not to have creature types overlap, your options are limited by budget. Mox Diamond, Mana Crypt, Chrome Mox, etc... would be much better if budget isn't an issue.

Last I checked Bloom Tender and some other previously expensive options were at much better prices, especially if you pick up the reprint version (the name of which escapes me at the moment).

EDIT: Mystery Booster? I think that's the one.

I was trying to avoid getting bogged down with the origin story But yeah, I try to be "strategic" about where I put my resources when it comes to MTG and splurge mainly when it benefits a strategy immensely. Some sort of compromise is probably best, where some overlapping dorks do work avoid getting the cost too high and retaining some synergy.

Bloom Finder dropping in price was a good tip though, but I'll probably throw it in a 5 color deck instead..

EDIT: Oops missed this comment

I've really hemmed and hawed over playing Search for Tomorrow. I always think about slotting it in for budget, but I don't know how I feel about a 3cmc one-for-one ramp spell with no other upside. Like, just feels like a manalith to me.

I guess to me it feels more like a turn 3 "free" ramp spell, I kind of feel like I probably did either nothing on turn 1 or basically ramped to the future a bit. Even with the Rift Sower compared to a normal dork it's like instead of being able to tap it for mana turn 2, you can do so turn 3 (it comes with haste from suspend). I guess pretty close to a manalith a "free" more fragile manalith