Excavation

Enchantment

(1), Sacrifice a land: Draw a card. Any player may play this ability.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (13)

DementedKirby on Archelos, Lagoon Mystic

3 years ago

Phelan82

Trade Routes is amazing; I don't think it's a matter of either/or between it and Excavation. I can just try and find a swap for it. Drownyard Temple is an excellent suggestion and very easy to slot in since it's a land.

Vlasiax on Omnath, A Song of Creation and Chaos

3 years ago

Hello, I've recently started building my own landfall deck and I'd like to know your opinion about cards like Trade Routes and Excavation.

Trade Routes can allow a play, where you put a land that comes into play untapped (like e.g. basic land), tap it and bounce it back to hand. With 'you may play X additional lands on each of your turns' like Azusa you can with a single land create multiple landfall effects. On the other hand it can trade lands for additional cards and since there's lots of cards like Crucible of Worlds or Splendid Reclamation it can be a setup for a huge landfall abuse.

Excavation - basically I see it as a way to put some lands into graveyard for and explosive turn or maximum usage of multiple landfall triggers with e.g. Exploration + Ramunap Excavator. Not to mention this can dig down through some cards in library finding more lands and/or relevant spells.

spiral_te on Grixis group hug?

5 years ago

These kinds of decks are my favorite to scheme and I love your card choices!. I favor cards that "reward" opponents at a "cost" like Rite and Endless Whispers. I know it's hard to cut cards, but have you considered naughty little gems like Angel's Trumpet or Excavation ? I think I'm currently trying to build a Jund version around Overabundance and Spiteful Visions here: Hugs Not Drugs.

Flarhoon13 on Who said zedruu cant be good?

5 years ago

Re: 3) Price of Glory or and Sacred Ground > Donate Sacred Ground >> Pyrohemia or Sunscorched Desert = Infinite damage or Draw. I don't think donating Excavation works, I think you control the effect. Donating Price of Glory does, I would say :-) . I have been playing a lot with Zedruu lately with good success, many opponents sour.

ZendikariWol on

5 years ago

Well first of all, dropping my link at the bottom. But some all-stars include:

Dreamscape Artist is exceptional ramp.

Druid Lyrist, Elvish Lyrist, Elvish Scrapper, and Scavenger Folk remove artifacts & enchantments.

Glen Elendra Archmage is... hopefully going down in price thanks to the reprint??

Glowspore Shaman and Satyr Wayfinder.

Mulldrifter, Night Incarnate, and Shriekmaw are great and Evoke is great for this deck.

Plaguecrafter is a strictly better Marauder or Executioner.

Spore Frog is the best. The actual best.

Sylvan Safekeeper sacs lands (though she may be too $$), and Turntimber Sower benefits from it.

AEther Barrier seriously slows down aggressive decks.

Animate Dead can hit Muldrotha from the grave.

Excavation is nice.

Font of Fortunes, also nice.

Infernal Darkness is cruel. Sac it to the upkeep cost, cast it post-combat, and there is no enchantment removal in black. They could Seal of Primordium it once, but you just cast it again.

Sinister Concoction is okay budget removal, as is Soul Ransom.

Standstill draws cards.

Unbridled Growth is basically : draw a card.

Chromatic Lantern is FOUR DOLLARS RIGHT NOW

Courier's Capsule and Mishra's Bauble, good draws.

Expedition Map is good ramp.

Perpetual Timepiece is self-mill and woo!

cEDH_TV on cEDH; Temur Valakut

5 years ago

1). Splendid and world shaper can be used for two things. BIG COMBO KILL! You can drop your entire land base into your grave with Excavation and dig for the big cards. Then one shot almost everyone.

Or

Just play them for value.

2). I have a lot of land protection that I don't play. I have them in a binder and are just waiting to add them in. I don't need them. People usually don't try to mess with lands. So this deck is kinda going in under a radar with only lands. People are all trying to kill artifacts, creature and enchantments. They never care about lands. So I don't need my anti land hate cards.

3). Ground Seal goes in and out. Depends on my opponents. If they are starting to play more grave deck. I play ground seal. When they stop. I cut ground seal. I recommend the card. I don't recommend the card if you wanna do that Life of value thing we talked about.

4). Keep the question coming. I answer when I can.

5poons on cEDH; Temur Valakut

5 years ago

Thank you for putting up with all of my questions and helping me further understand the deck! Although, there are still a few major things I can't quite grasp by looking at it displayed on a screen instead of being played on a table.

From what I understand you have 9 lands that sacrifice themselves for potent effects like Strip Mine and others that sacrifice for value (and aid with valakut triggers) like Myriad Landscape. So, when you use Splendid Reclamation and the second effect of World Shaper is it your goal to bring these specific lands back and reap more value? Or do you hope to use the effects of Life from the Loam and Excavation to bring lands en masse for a huge play? It probably depends on the situation, but I'd like to know the mind set for when you use these cards.

My next question is about your lack of land protection. Do you not have a lot of land destruction in your meta or do you prefer to combat it with your counter spells and land recursion? I only ask this because in my Child of Alara deck I used Skyshroud Blessing and Bind to protect my lands (plus they cantrip).

Lastly, could you fully explain why Ground Seal was taken out from the deck? I understand that it 100% shuts off Scavenging Ooze. However, it only stops the main ability of Life from the Loam as you could target zero lands and then start using dredge to fill a protected graveyard. In this case I think its amazing unsymmetrical graveyard hate that draws us a card with minimal hindrance to the deck as a whole.

5poons on cEDH; Temur Valakut

5 years ago

I just began playing EDH a couple of months ago and my first deck was a Child of Alara land deck that used Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle as the primary win condition. Recently I have wanted to change the commander and possibly shave off a color or two in the process! While researching more land based commanders I stumbled upon your temur build and it grabbed my interest. Due to this I have lots of questions :)

Why are you running Meloku the Clouded Mirror instead of Trade Routes? It has a much lower CMC, dodges prevalent creature removal, and has a second ability that could be relevant in certain situations. Also Llanowar Scout is literally just a better Budoka Gardener. They have the same ability although his body is better and he wont forcefully change into a different creature. His body is also better than Walking Atlas but because the atlas is colorless it is still great and definitely deserves a spot.

One interesting card I stumbled upon is Hedron Crab as he helps fill your graveyard. Do you think it could be a useful card?

Would you ever use the card Clear the Land? It is a way to put land onto the battlefield, but it presents a risk as it could exile any number of cards. The card would be hilarious if someone tutored before your turn and was forced to exile what they wanted.

Is Training Grounds even worth running as it literally only affects Thrasios, Triton Hero?

Is Return to the Earth worth the extra cost when compared to something like Naturalize? I understand that it kills Aven Mindcensor and the cost is less important when you have lots of lands, but it still seems very heavy.

I noticed that your list doesn’t contain Eternal Witness but has Life from the Loam. What do you do if you unintentionally send Scapeshift or Splendid Reclamation to an early grave?

I really like the card Excavation and have seen a card that is kind of similar but also quite different called Aggressive Mining. Maybe it could be used before the 'big turn' to try and find more fuel for a Manabond or something else? Plus the sacrificed lands could be easily recurred and used later. I'm curious to see if you would you ever use this, why or why not?

Would you ever consider shifting the deck to Lord Windgrace or do you thing that would make the deck less reliable? By gaining black you would have access to more tutors, but you already have land tutors and that is about all you need... But by losing blue you would eliminate lots of sources of card draw and stax effects. So I guess answered my own question lol, but still want to hear your opinion.

I understand Thrasios, Triton Hero and his role in the deck, but is Kraum, Ludevic's Opus literally just there for access to the color red and a possibly offensive option?

Alright! I think that is all of the questions I have at the moment. Thank you for sharing this deck! This may be the way I want to change my Child of Alara deck and your answers will help me fully decide this.