Sacred Excavation MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 4 |
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Sorcery |
| Released | 2017-04-28 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Amonkhet |
| Set code | AKH |
| Number | 67 |
| Frame | 2015 |
| Layout | normal |
| Border | black |
| Illustred by | Noah Bradley |
Key Takeaways
- Sacred Excavation recovers cycling cards, maintaining hand advantage and momentum in game play.
- Instant speed enables disruptive potential during an opponent’s turn, enhancing strategic flexibility.
- The card’s specific mana cost and discard requirement limit its inclusion to certain deck types.
Text of card
Return up to two target cards with cycling from your graveyard to your hand.
The anointed work the mines without pause, their cartouches instilling them with tireless purpose.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Sacred Excavation shines by returning up to two cycling cards from your graveyard to your hand, offering a valuable recycling mechanism to maintain momentum.
Resource Acceleration: This card effectively facilitates mana utilization. By retrieving cycling cards, you can streamline your plays for more efficient resource expenditure.
Instant Speed: Acting at instant speed, Sacred Excavation gives you the flexibility to react to the shifting battlefield, potentially disrupting opponent strategies when played at the right moment.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Sacred Excavation demands that players return two cycling cards from their graveyard to their hand, which might not always be optimal. In cases where your graveyard lacks cycling cards, the card becomes essentially a dead draw.
Specific Mana Cost: This card requires two blue mana in its casting cost. As a result, it can’t easily slot into decks that don’t have a strong focus on blue mana, potentially restricting its versatility across various deck archetypes.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of four mana, including two that must be blue, the return on investment for Sacred Excavation can be lower compared to other options. In faster-paced games or against decks that efficiently manage graveyards, the payoff may not justify the slot in a player’s deck.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Sacred Excavation offers dual utility by allowing you to return up to two cycling cards from your graveyard to hand. This capacity makes it a strong candidate for decks focused on card draw mechanics or those that strategically utilize the graveyard as an extension of their hand.
Combo Potential: With this card, you can retrieve key cycling cards that serve as combo pieces or enablers. In a cycling deck, it can help you reaccess tools that control the board or finalize a game-winning combination.
Meta-Relevance: As the meta adapts to an increasing variety of graveyard-based strategies, having a card that can repeatedly exploit the cycling mechanic ensures that your deck remains competitive and adaptable to various playstyles.
How to Beat Sacred Excavation
Sacred Excavation is a unique card from Magic: The Gathering that allows players to return up to two target cards with cycling from their graveyard to their hand. This capacity to recoup resources can be a game-changer in decks that heavily utilize the cycling mechanic. Understanding this, the key to overcoming Sacred Excavation involves disrupting your opponent’s graveyard.
One effective strategy is employing graveyard hate cards, which can exile cards from graveyards and thus deny access to the cycling cards your opponent may seek to retrieve. Cards with abilities like Scavenging Ooze’s can eat away crucial cycling cards before they can be returned. By staying one step ahead, and keeping graveyard interactions in check, you can effectively neutralize the advantage that Sacred Excavation provides.
Furthermore, counterspells also make for an effective foil to this card. A well-timed Counterspell or Negate can prevent Sacred Excavation from resolving, stopping the cycling synergy dead in its tracks. With these tactics in play, maintaining control over the board state against a deck that relies on Sacred Excavation can be wholly manageable.
Cards like Sacred Excavation
Sacred Excavation is an intriguing card in the arsenal of Magic: The Gathering, especially for players looking to harness the power of reusing cycling cards. It’s often likened to the functionality of cards like Wander in Death, which also enables players to return creatures from the graveyard to their hand. However, Sacred Excavation is distinct in its focus on specifically retrieving cycling cards, setting up potentially higher levels of card advantage for decks built around the mechanic.
Another card worthy of comparison is Restoration Gearsmith. While Restoration Gearsmith may bring back a creature or artifact to its owner’s hand, Sacred Excavation offers a different angle of utility by targeting multiple cards with cycling. This can lead to an accumulation of card advantage over time. Auramancer is yet another card that echoes this reuse theme by retrieving enchantment cards. Nevertheless, it is limited to one enchantment, whereas Sacred Excavation digs up two cycling cards, potentially doubling the opportunities for strategic plays.
Overall, players seeking to maximize their graveyard synergies might lean towards incorporating Sacred Excavation in their decks, as it can consistently provide value, especially in cycling-themed builds within Magic: The Gathering.
Cards similar to Sacred Excavation by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Sacred Excavation MTG card by a specific set like Amonkhet, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.
For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.
Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.
Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Sacred Excavation and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See Magic products
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Sacred Excavation has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Sacred Excavation card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2017-04-18 | Certain older cards have variants of cycling, such as basic landcycling or Wizardcycling. Sacred Excavation can target these cards in your graveyard. |
