Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Excava, the Risen Past
Excava, the Risen Past
Legendary Creature — Spirit Horse · {2}{R}{W} · Red/White commander
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.)
Build an Excava, the Risen Past deck →
What Excava, the Risen Past actually does
Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.
- Triggered ability · attackWhenever 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
- Keyword · flyingflying
- Keyword · hastehaste
What an Excava, the Risen Past deck needs
Plays as combat trigger. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- artifacts, creatures and enchantments with mana value 3 or less in the graveyard (each attack returns one)
- self-mill
- evasion and protection for the commander (it has haste)
The Excava, the Risen Past deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 8× Make the commander connect — a body that never deals combat damage never triggers
- 14× Put your own cards into your graveyard as a resource
- 8× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 10× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 3× Answer a whole board at once
- 10× Refill your hand
- 4× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- 11× Get ahead on mana
Best cards for Excava, the Risen Past
Ranked by an engine that reads what each card does — its real cost, its delay and how reliably it works — rather than counting how often other people play it.
Make the commander connect — a body that never deals combat damage never triggers
- Iroas, God of Victory4 mana
- Elspeth, Sun's Champion6 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Goblin War Drums3 mana
- Akroma's Memorial7 mana
- On Wings of Gold4 mana
- Archetype of Aggression3 mana
- Beamtown Beatstick1 mana
Put your own cards into your graveyard as a resource
- Eden, Seat of the Sanctum0 mana
- Millikin2 mana
- Perpetual Timepiece2 mana
- Ghoulcaller's Bell1 mana
- Palantír of Orthanc3 mana
- Sequestered Stash0 mana
- Excavated Wall1 mana
- Wand of Vertebrae1 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Path to Exile1 mana
- Swords to Plowshares1 mana
- Wild Magic Surge2 mana
- March of Otherworldly Light1 mana
- Generous Gift3 mana
- Erode1 mana
- Unwanted Remake1 mana
- Angelic Ascension2 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Open the Armory2 mana
- Enlightened Tutor1 mana
- Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon3 mana
- Goblin Engineer2 mana
- Templar Knight2 mana
- Idyllic Tutor3 mana
- Imperial Recruiter3 mana
- Ranger-Captain of Eos3 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Vanquish the Horde8 mana
- Wrath of God4 mana
- Blasphemous Act9 mana
- Chain Reaction4 mana
- Day of Judgment4 mana
- Street Spasm1 mana
- Shatter the Sky4 mana
- Split Up3 mana
Refill your hand
- Esper Sentinel1 mana
- Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer1 mana
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Professional Face-Breaker3 mana
- Archivist of Oghma2 mana
- The One Ring4 mana
- Sticky Fingers1 mana
- Vexing Bauble1 mana
Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- Flowering of the White Tree2 mana
- Hexing Squelcher2 mana
- Bastion Protector3 mana
- Codsworth, Handy Helper3 mana
- Avacyn, Angel of Hope8 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Chaplain of Alms // Chapel Shieldgeist1 mana
Get ahead on mana
- Sol Ring1 mana
- Boros Signet2 mana
- Palladium Myr3 mana
- Worn Powerstone3 mana
- Chrome Mox0 mana
- Everflowing Chalice0 mana
- Mox Diamond0 mana
- Mana Vault1 mana
Combos with Excava, the Risen Past
Known combos from Commander Spellbook that Excava, the Risen Past is a piece of, and how many decks list them.
- Excava, the Risen Past + Solemnity + Breath Of Fury + Anger3 decks
- Excava, the Risen Past + Solemnity + Breath Of Fury3 decks
- Excava, the Risen Past + Solemnity + Breath Of Fury + Hammer Of Purphoros
- Excava, the Risen Past + Solemnity + Breath Of Fury + Dragonlord Kolaghan
- Excava, the Risen Past + Solemnity + Breath Of Fury + Concordant Crossroads
- Excava, the Risen Past + Second Chance + Solemnity