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Excava, the Risen Past
Legendary Creature — Spirit Horse
Flying, haste Whenever Excava attacks, return up to one target artifact, creature, or non-Aura enchantment card with mana value 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield with a finality counter on it. It's a 1/1 Spirit creature with flying in addition to its other types. (If a creature with a finality counter on it would die, exile it instead.)
3 / 3
$0.92Buy on TCGPlayer
“Flying attacker that recycles cheap artifacts and creatures every swing.”
Midrange
Intermediate
Commander damage, Tokens swarm, Combo
Tokens, Sacrifice, Graveyard
Strategy
Excava, the Risen Past is a flying aggressor that doubles as a graveyard recursion engine. Every time it attacks, you're bringing back a cheap artifact, creature, or enchantment from the bin as a flying 1/1 Spirit, giving you incremental value while applying pressure. The finality counter prevents your recursed permanents from dying, turning them into recurring threats that stick around even after removal.
Your game plan is to fill the graveyard early with cheap utility pieces—mana rocks, sacrifice outlets, token generators, or evasive creatures—then use Excava's attack trigger to rebuild your board every combat step. You're essentially getting a stream of free threats while pressuring for commander damage. The deck wants to ramp quickly into Excava, then leverage haste and evasion to keep swinging while rebuilding after board wipes. Win through a combination of commander damage, token swarms from recursed creatures, and grinding value until opponents can't keep up.
Strategy generated by Tapped Decks AI. Not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast.
Key Synergies
Budget Build
Skip pricey tutors like Enlightened Tutor; use cheaper cantrips and self-mill like Faithless Looting and Stitcher's Supplier to fill your graveyard naturally.
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Currency Converter
Inclusion = % of Excava, the Risen Past decks running this card. +lift = percentage-point boost over the format average.
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