Soldevi Digger MTG Card

Alliances (ALL)
1996-06-10 - Number 131

Soldevi Digger - Masters Edition II (ME2)

Masters Edition II (ME2)
2008-09-22 - Number 221

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Rare
Type	Artifact

Key Takeaways

Soldevi Digger provides card advantage by recirculating key cards from your graveyard to your library.
This artifact boosts your strategic depth by allowing precise timing for its graveyard recycling ability.
Its specificity in mana cost and activation can pose a deck-building challenge, balancing its strategic benefits.

Text of card

: Put the top card of your graveyard on the bottom of your library.

"This ceaseless device has helped uncover marvels unreachable by mere flesh." —Arcum Dagsson, Soldevi Machinist

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Soldevi Digger offers a steady flow of card advantage over time. By allowing you to put cards from your graveyard on top of your library, it ensures that you have access to key cards when you need them again. This recycling mechanism is particularly valuable in formats where graveyard manipulation can turn the tide of the game.

Resource Acceleration: With Soldevi Digger in play, you can effectively extend your hand by utilizing your graveyard as a resource. This acceleration is not only in the form of card access but also strategically placing the right tools back into your deck, tweaking the odds of drawing into answers or threats.

Instant Speed: While the digger itself doesn’t operate at instant speed, it provides the strategic depth to use your mana efficiently. You can decide to use Soldevi Digger’s ability during your opponent’s end step or after their actions have all been resolved, ensuring you don’t miss out on crucial plays and maintain the element of surprise.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Soldevi Digger asks you to put the top card of your graveyard on the bottom of your library to reuse cards, which might deplete valuable graveyard resources pivotal for your strategy.

Specific Mana Cost: This artifact requires not only generic but also one specific mana (snow mana) to activate, potentially constricting its inclusion to decks that can reliably generate this type of resource.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With an activation cost that could prove steep over multiple uses, more immediate and lower cost alternatives for manipulating your deck’s top cards are often preferred.

Reasons to Include Soldevi Digger in Your Collection

Versatility: Soldevi Digger offers a unique ability to recycle cards from your graveyard back to your library. This can be an advantage in decks that rapidly burn through their resources or in longer games where card availability becomes critical.

Combo Potential: With Soldevi Digger, you can set up powerful combinations by retrieving key cards from your graveyard. This can be particularly effective in combo decks where repeating specific actions or sequences is essential for executing your strategy.

Meta-Relevance: In a game where graveyard strategies are prevalent, having a card that allows you to interact with your own graveyard can give you resilience against opponents. This makes Soldevi Digger a useful card to have when facing decks that rely on graveyard disruption.

How to beat

The Soldevi Digger card presents an intriguing dynamic in MTG gameplay, enabling players to potentially reclaim key pieces from their graveyard. This action, while powerful, can be mitigated with strategic plays. Successful tactics involve limiting graveyard interaction through cards that exile or shuffle the graveyard into the library. Cards like Rest in Peace or Bojuka Bog remove the graveyard as a resource, nullifying the Digger’s ability.

Another approach to overpower Soldevi Digger is to apply aggressive pressure. Fast-paced decks can often outpace the slower, incremental advantage that Soldevi Digger provides. By maintaining a swift and relentless board presence, the window for effectively utilizing the Digger’s ability shrinks, rendering it less impactful. It’s about staying ahead and not allowing the game to reach a point where Soldevi Digger’s ability becomes a game-changer.

Efficiently managing one’s resources plays a pivotal role as well. By thoughtfully timing removal spells and creature attacks, players can force opponents to make unfavorable decisions about what to retrieve with Soldevi Digger, thus mitigating its potential impact on the game’s outcome.

Cards like Soldevi Digger

Soldevi Digger offers a unique mechanism of card recycling within Magic: The Gathering. This artifact allows players to put the top card from their graveyard on the bottom of their library, carefully maneuvering past decks’ traditional flow. When analyzing cards like Elixir of Immortality, the Digger’s strategic advantage becomes apparent. While the Elixir shuffles the entire graveyard back into the library and provides a modest life boost, Soldevi Digger’s precise placement offers the player a level of control over potential future draws.

Another remarkable comparator is Codex Shredder, which provides a flexible choice between recurring a card from the graveyard to the hand or forcing a library mill per turn. Unlike Soldevi Digger, Codex Shredder targets the hand rather than the library and can tailor its utility based on the game’s state. Meanwhile, Wanderer’s Twig stands as a subtle parallel, albeit with a sole focus on land fetching. Its singular, unrepeatable effect contrasts with Soldevi Digger’s ongoing use.

As players scrutinize the benefits of each card, Soldevi Digger establishes its niche in decks that thrive on predictability and utilizing the graveyard as an extended hand, positioning itself as a tactical asset within the MTG landscape.

Elixir of Immortality - MTG Card versions

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Soldevi Digger MTG card by a specific set like Alliances and Masters Edition II, 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 Soldevi Digger and other MTG cards: