Soldevi Excavations MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 2 setsSee all
RarityRare
TypeLand
Abilities Scry

Key Takeaways

  1. Soldevi Excavations ensures strategic draws and mana smoothing, an edge during extended play.
  2. Restrictive for non-blue decks, its activation cost and setup can limit deck compatibility.
  3. Integral for combo-focused decks and control strategies, refining draw quality significantly.

Text of card

When Soldevi Excavations comes into play, sacrifice an untapped island or bury Soldevi Excavations. oc T: Add o1o U to your mana pool. o1, oc T: Look at the top card of your library. You may put that card on the bottom of your library.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Soldevi Excavations not only offers the potential for card filtration but also a repeatable mechanism to improve the quality of the cards you draw. Over time, this subtle edge can significantly outpace your opponents by ensuring your draws align with your strategic needs.

Resource Acceleration: As a land card capable of providing colorless mana, Soldevi Excavations serves as a reliable source of mana production without occupying valuable slots in your deck dedicated to spells. Its secondary ability, albeit at a cost, can also ensure consistent land drops by sifting unwanted cards to the bottom of your library, indirectly helping in mana smoothing.

Instant Speed: The utility to scry during any player’s turn at instant speed offers flexibility not found in many land cards. This allows players to respond to dynamic game states, setting up draws on an opponent’s end step or even after revealing a crucial piece of information. The control it provides can be a considerable tactical advantage.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: In order to activate the draw ability of Soldevi Excavations, a player has to first discard a card from their hand. This can sometimes become a hefty price, especially when a player is seeking to maintain a certain hand size to avoid falling behind in the resource game.

Specific Mana Cost: Unlocking the full potential of Soldevi Excavations demands a specific mana combination, as its activation requires both blue mana and generic mana. This could be restrictive for non-blue decks and might not fit harmoniously into multicolor mana bases that cannot consistently provide blue mana.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With its initial setup cost involving both the sacrifice of an untapped Island and one generic mana, the card presents a higher investment compared to other land options. Although the ability to scry is beneficial, the comparative cost efficiency must be considered against other lands or cards providing similar or greater value with lower investment demands.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Soldevi Excavations offers a unique utility in providing both mana fixing and card selection. This makes it a suitable addition to decks that prize consistency, as well as in control strategies that desire to fine-tune their draws over the course of a game.

Combo Potential: Its ability to scry before drawing adds value to setups focused on assembling specific combinations. It harmonizes with strategies that are centered around the top of the library or need to filter through cards to acquire key pieces.

Meta-Relevance: In formats where nonbasic lands are not heavily penalized and the pace is more deliberate, Soldevi Excavations may prove to be a powerhouse. Its inclusion could help your deck stay resilient against a variety of threats by smoothing out your draws and maintaining a stable mana base.


How to beat

Soldevi Excavations is an intriguing land card in Magic: The Gathering. It shines by offering both mana fixing and deck manipulation, enabling players to sift through their decks to find the cards they need. Unlike basic lands, it can set up your draws, offering a strategic advantage. However, its benefits come with a downside. It enters the battlefield tapped and demands an initial sacrifice of an untapped Island. This can slightly delay your momentum, a drawback savvy players can exploit.

Countering Soldevi Excavations is about understanding tempo and resource management. Land destruction effects can outright remove the card from play, while faster aggro decks can pressure opponents before they fully utilize its abilities. For those looking to outpace the card, consider adding cards like Ghost Quarter or Field of Ruin to disrupt your opponent’s mana base effectively. Alternatively, strategies that benefit from the opponent having tapped lands, such as those utilizing the card Price of Progress, may find that Soldevi Excavations plays right into their hands. By anticipating the slow start it imposes, one can craft a game plan to outmaneuver the advantages this card provides to its controller.


Cards like Soldevi Excavations

Soldevi Excavations is one of those unique lands in Magic: The Gathering that provides both mana fixing and a scry-like ability to filter the top card of the library. It bears similarity to other lands like Halimar Depths, which allows viewing the top three cards of your library when it enters the battlefield, but doesn’t offer the same mana flexibility since Soldevi Excavations produces both blue and colorless mana.

Another comparable land with a mana filtering capability is Thaumatic Compass which transforms into Spires of Orazca, granting you not only a mana source but also a reliable way to protect against attacks once flipped. While Thaumatic Compass aids in land searching before its transformation, Soldevi Excavations maintains a consistent level of control over draws throughout the game. The capacity to sift through cards every turn can be a subtle yet potent ability that edges out the reactive protection from Spires of Orazca.

Taking into account these comparisons, Soldevi Excavations stands out in the realm of utility lands in Magic: The Gathering, offering a blend of mana generation and strategic deck manipulation that can be essential in the late stages of the game.

Halimar Depths - MTG Card versions
Halimar Depths - Worldwake (WWK)

Cards similar to Soldevi Excavations by color, type and mana cost

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Island - Murders at Karlov Manor (MKM)
Teferi's Isle - Mirage (MIR)
Remote Isle - Commander 2020 (C20)
Cephalid Coliseum - From the Vault: Realms (V12)
Vivid Creek - Lorwyn (LRW)
Magosi, the Waterveil - Zendikar (ZEN)
Lonely Sandbar - Murders at Karlov Manor Commander (MKC)
Faerie Conclave - Mystery Booster (MB1)
Halimar Depths - Duel Decks: Jace vs. Vraska (DDM)
Tolaria West - From the Vault: Lore (V16)
Snow-Covered Island - MTG Arena Promos (PANA)
Jasconian Isle - Mystery Booster Playtest Cards 2019 (CMB1)
Thriving Isle - Jumpstart 2022 (J22)
Glasspool Mimic // Glasspool Shore - Zendikar Rising (ZNR)
Sea Gate Restoration // Sea Gate, Reborn - Zendikar Rising Promos (PZNR)
Beyeen Veil // Beyeen Coast - Zendikar Rising (ZNR)
Umara Wizard // Umara Skyfalls - Zendikar Rising (ZNR)
Memorial to Genius - Jumpstart 2022 (J22)
Otawara, Soaring City - Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Promos (PNEO)
Rivendell - The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth (LTR)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Soldevi Excavations 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 Excavations and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Soldevi Excavations Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 1996-06-10 and 2008-09-22. Illustrated by Liz Danforth.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
11996-06-10AlliancesALL 1431993normalblackLiz Danforth
22008-09-22Masters Edition IIME2 2361997normalblackLiz Danforth

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Soldevi Excavations has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PremodernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Soldevi Excavations card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

DateText
2004-10-04 This card produces two different types of mana. If an effect that adds one mana to your mana pool of the same type as the mana produced by this card, you choose which of the two types it produces.

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