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Sprout Swarm

Instant

Convoke (Your creatures can help cast this spell. Each creature you tap while casting this spell pays for {1} or one mana of that creature's color.)
Buyback {3} (You may pay an additional {3} as you cast this spell. If you do, put this card into your hand as it resolves.)
Create a 1/1 green Saproling creature token.

CMC
2
Mana cost
{1}{G}
Color identity
G
Rarity
common
Set
The List
Price
$11.66
EDHREC rank
#6135
Buy on TCGplayer
Sprout Swarm card art
Sprout Swarm generates a 1/1 Saproling token for a single green mana — and then does it again, and again, because convoke plus buyback means every token you make helps pay for the next one. In Witherbloom, the Balancer decks, that self-fueling loop is the engine, not a neat trick.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Witherbloom, the Balancer

Witherbloom, the Balancer

64.6% of decks · synergy 0.62

Witherbloom, the Balancer drains opponents whenever a creature enters or leaves the battlefield, so Sprout Swarm's ability to produce an unlimited stream of Saprolings — all for effectively zero net mana once the loop is rolling — turns a single card into a game-ending life-loss engine.

02
Slimefoot, the Stowaway

Slimefoot, the Stowaway

46.1% of decks · synergy 0.43

Slimefoot, the Stowaway pings each opponent and gains you life every time a Saproling dies, which means Sprout Swarm's token flood doubles as both a combat threat and a slow poison drip that snowballs when you have any sac outlet on board.

03
Shroofus Sproutsire

Shroofus Sproutsire

29.4% of decks · synergy 0.28

Shroofus Sproutsire wants as many fungi and Saprolings in play as possible, and Sprout Swarm's buyback clause lets it replenish the board after a wipe or keep pace with sacrifice costs without ever running out of fuel.

04
Samut, the Driving Force

Samut, the Driving Force

13.4% of decks · synergy 0.13

Samut, the Driving Force gives creatures haste and rewards going wide with multiple combat steps, so Sprout Swarm's ability to mint a new attacker at instant speed — including during combat — squeezes extra value out of every trigger Samut generates.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is where Sprout Swarm earns its reputation: the combination of convoke and buyback scales with token density in a way that punishes slower multiplayer games, and the instant speed means opponents can't easily plan around it. In Pauper it sees fringe play in token-based storm-adjacent shells, though the format's speed makes the setup more fragile. Legacy and Vintage are legal homes in theory, but the card asks for too much infrastructure to compete with the formats' interaction density. Outside of Commander and occasional Pauper appearances, Sprout Swarm is a multiplayer card through and through.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

If the $11.66 price tag is the sticking point, Saproling Migration and Scatter the Seeds both produce multiple tokens for similar mana investment — neither has buyback, so they're one-shots rather than engines, but they fill the same 'flood the board with Saprolings' role at under $0.50 combined. Sprout Swarm's ceiling is dramatically higher in decks that can convoke repeatedly, so the alternatives are a reasonable placeholder but not a true substitute if infinite-token lines are the goal.

Price Context

Current price

$11.66 mid tier

At $11.66, Sprout Swarm sits in the mid tier — expensive for a common, but the price reflects genuine demand from Witherbloom, the Balancer and Slimefoot decks rather than hype. It's a stable inclusion rather than a speculative buy, and its utility in a narrow range of commanders keeps the ceiling where it is.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

← All cards

Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.