New Magic: The Gathering sets are releasing at such a speedy clip nowadays that even relatively recent cards are quickly buried and forgotten. This has led to many genuinely useful MTG cards, like Meticulous Excavation, being underplayed in Commander. Not only is this card a unique value engine, but it enables a sizable suite of infinite combos to boot.
Meticulous Excavation MTG
Meticulous Excavation is unique among MTG cards in that it’s a repeatable way to bounce permanents of any kind. At the very least, this lets it serve as a protection piece and a replay engine for valuable creatures. Additionally, however, it can also reset Cumulative Upkeep costs on Mystic Remora, or let Parallax Wave exile five creatures per turn.
Realistically, while the sky is the limit for Meticulous Excavation, using its effect repeatedly isn’t cheap. As such, it’s best suited to on-color ramp decks like Omnath, Locus of Creation or Zirda lists that make it cheaper. That said, at slower tables, the enchantment can also create a notable long-term value engine with cards like Ichor Wellspring.
Since Meticulous Excavation can also pick up lands, it can rebuy a lot of effects that other bounce engines can’t. Resetting Channel lands Boseiju, Who Endures and MDFC cards like Sink Into Stupor, Meticulous Excavation can squeeze value out of these cards later in the game.
Just Keep Digging
Meticulous Excavation is a decent value engine by itself, but it really shines as a combo enabler. Alongside The One Ring, for instance, you can give yourself permanent Protection from everything by bouncing and re-casting it each turn. With all the time in the world, you can easily draw into a wide range of win conditions.
In a similar vein, Excavation also lets you take infinite turns with Ugin’s Nexus and an artifact copier like Ultron, Artificial Malevolence. Simply cast and copy Nexus, then sacrifice the token to the legend rule to get an extra turn. Bounce the original Nexus with Excavations to remove the extra turn skipping ability, and you can rinse and repeat to win any number of ways.
Meticulous Excavation can make infinite 1/1 Flying tokens, too, with the help of Zinnia, Valley’s Voice and Peregrine Drake. With seven mana available, cast Drake and make a copy via Offspring, creating a total of ten mana. You can use three of that to bounce your Drake, and the remaining seven to repeat the loop.
If infinite mana and card draw is more your bag, then Meticulous Excavation can also provide that when paired with Sami, Wildcat Captain and Chromatic Orrery. With at least six other artifacts, you can tap Orrery for five mana, bounce it for three, then re-cast it for one, netting one mana. This can win you the game with Walking Ballista, or draw your whole deck with Orrery’s ability instead.
A Real Buried Treasure
While it’s useful in a wide range of decks, Meticulous Excavation doesn’t see much play in Commander at all. By EDHREC numbers, just 6,310 decks run it, which feels low for what it’s capable of. Considering that the card recently released in The Brothers’ War, many players should be familiar with the enchantment, too.
Though it’s a shame more players aren’t using the card, it does mean Meticulous Excavation is cheap. Near-mint copies can be had for as little as $0.04 on TCGplayer right now, making it trivial to pick up a few copies to test in your decks.
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