Diligent Excavator MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 2 |
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Creature — Human Artificer |
| Abilities | Mill |
| Released | 2018-04-27 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Dominaria |
| Set code | DOM |
| Power | 1 |
| Toughness | 3 |
| Number | 51 |
| Frame | 2015 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Mark Behm |
Text of card
Whenever you cast a historic spell, target player puts the top two cards of their library into their graveyard. (Artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas are historic.)
Archaeologists don't just dig in the dirt. They excavate time, scraping off the years grain by grain.
Cards like Diligent Excavator
Diligent Excavator is a unique piece in the puzzle that is Magic: The Gathering’s roster of powerful combo enablers. This card resonates well with those using artifacts or legendary spells, as its ability to mill target player for two cards whenever you cast a historic spell is quite distinctive. It stands its ground when compared with Hedron Crab, which requires land drops to initiate its milling effect rather than casting spells.
Digging further into the blue’s mill arsenal, Altar of the Brood presents itself as another comparison. Although it triggers whenever a permanent enters the battlefield under your control, Diligent Excavator offers more targeted and potentially more frequent milling contingent on your deck’s composition. Moreover, Mesmeric Orb, while it mills any player whenever a permanent becomes untapped, it does not offer the same control over when and how the milling occurs as the Diligent Excavator does with your spell casts.
Ultimately, the Excavator holds a niche in decks that are dense with historic cards, providing a reliable and repeatable mill mechanism. It’s a card that, while subtly enabling a strategy, can become a linchpin in the right setup, offering a milling consistency that few cards can match in Magic: The Gathering’s metagame.
Cards similar to Diligent Excavator by color, type and mana cost
Decks using this card
MTG decks using Diligent Excavator. Dig deeper into the strategy of decks, sideboard cards, list ideas and export to play in ARENA or MOL.
| # | Name | Format | Archetype | Event |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Jeskai Ascendancy Combo | Pioneer | Jeskai Ascendancy | HBMO24 - GenX Comics and Games Pioneer 5k |
| Decklist | Free form | 1 |
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Diligent Excavator shines in its ability to repeatedly mill cards from your own or your opponent’s library, setting up opportunities for graveyard strategies or disrupting your adversary’s plans.
Resource Acceleration: This card is a key component in combos that enable you to play numerous historic spells in a single turn, effectively digging through your deck more rapidly and accessing your key pieces much sooner.
Instant Speed: While the Excavator’s ability isn’t performed at instant speed, its synergy with instant speed spells can be remarkable. Casting historic spells during your opponent’s turn can lead to unexpected mill, catching them off guard and potentially ruining their strategy.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Diligent Excavator demands artifacts or historic cards to trigger its ability, potentially leading to card disadvantage if the required types aren’t available in hand or on the battlefield for consistent utilization.
Specific Mana Cost: A fixed blue and white mana cost restricts Diligent Excavator to Azorius or multi-colored decks, reducing its flexibility for various deck builds that may not run these colors.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: For a two-mana 1/3 creature, the payoff of milling may not always align with a deck’s primary strategy, especially when more immediate impact cards are available at similar or lower costs.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Diligent Excavator can seamlessly integrate into a variety of decks, particularly ones centering around historic spells or artifact strategies, making it an adaptable choice for brewers.
Combo Potential: The ability to mill cards from your deck with each historic spell cast opens up explosive combo possibilities existent within the current milieu of MTG mechanics, such as pairing with Kethis, the Hidden Hand or Emry, Lurker of the Loch.
Meta-Relevance: With graveyard mechanics frequently leveraged and the prominence of artifacts and legendaries in many powerful decks, Diligent Excavator maintains relevance in various competitive formats, offering strategic depth and utility in the evolving gameplay landscape.
How to beat
The Diligent Excavator shines in decks that harness the power of historic spells within Magic: The Gathering. It offers incremental advantage by milling cards from an opponent’s deck each time a historic spell is cast. This synergy makes it a linchpin in strategies seeking to deplete an opponent’s library or fuel graveyard tactics.
Overpowering this persistent threat requires a smart approach. Tackling it can be as straightforward as employing instant-speed removal to prevent the milling from occurring. Look into cards like Fatal Push or Lightning Bolt that can swiftly dispatch the Excavator before its ability triggers. If you’re running a control deck, countering key historic spells can also blunt this strategy, essentially turning the Excavator into a benign presence on the battleground.
Meanwhile, if you’re a fan of aggro builds, maintain pressure on the life total to divert the opponent’s focus from optimizing their mill plan. In essence, the faster you can shift the game’s momentum in your favor, the less time your adversary has to leverage the Excavator’s milling capability. In conclusion, whether through direct removal, counterspells, or imposing lethal threats, there are effective strategies to bury the Diligent Excavator’s potential and secure your victory in Magic: The Gathering.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Diligent Excavator MTG card by a specific set like Dominaria, 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 Diligent Excavator and other MTG cards:
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- eBay
- 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
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Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Diligent Excavator has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Restricted |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Diligent Excavator card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2018-04-27 | A card, spell, or permanent is historic if it has the legendary supertype, the artifact card type, or the Saga subtype. Having two of those qualities doesn’t make an object more historic than another or provide an additional bonus—an object either is historic or it isn’t. |
| 2018-04-27 | An ability that triggers “whenever you cast a historic spell” doesn’t trigger if a historic card is put onto the battlefield without being cast. |
| 2018-04-27 | Lands are never cast, so abilities that trigger “whenever you cast a historic spell” won’t trigger if you play a legendary land. They also won’t trigger if a card on the battlefield transforms into a legendary land, as the Ixalan and Rivals of Ixalan double-faced cards do. |
| 2018-04-27 | Some abilities trigger “whenever you cast a historic spell.” Such an ability resolves before the spell that caused it to trigger. It resolves even if that spell is countered. |