First printed in The Brothers' War (2022)
Enchantment
: Return target permanent you control to its owner's hand. If it has unearth, instead exile it, then return that card to its owner's hand. Activate only during your turn.
"Remember, students, if it's glowing, humming, or whirring, don't touch it!"
- Illustrated by
- Lucas Graciano
Legality
- Legal in
- Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Historic, Timeless, Gladiator, Commander, Duel Commander, Tiny Leaders, Oathbreaker, Brawl, Competitive Brawl
- Not legal in
- Standard, Pauper, Future Standard, Alchemy, Penny Dreadful, Premodern, Old School 93/94, Pauper Commander, PreDH, Standard Brawl
Rulings (6)
- Unearth grants haste to the permanent that's returned to the battlefield (even if it's not a creature card). However, neither of the "exile" abilities is granted to that permanent. If that permanent loses all its abilities, it will still be exiled at the beginning of the next end step, and if it would leave the battlefield, it is still exiled instead.
- If you activate a card's unearth ability but that card is removed from your graveyard before the ability resolves, that unearth ability will do nothing as it resolves.
- If the target permanent has unearth and was put onto the battlefield using its unearth ability, this effect can still exile it and return it to its owner's hand.
- Activating a card's unearth ability isn't the same as casting that card. The unearth ability is put on the stack, but the card is not. Spells and abilities that interact with activated abilities (such as Defabricate's second mode) will interact with unearth, but spells and abilities that interact with spells (such as Scatter Ray) will not.
- At the beginning of the next end step, a permanent returned to the battlefield with unearth is exiled. This is a delayed triggered ability, and it can be countered by effects such as Defabricate that counter triggered abilities. If the ability is countered, the permanent will stay on the battlefield and the delayed triggered ability won't trigger again. However, the replacement effect will still exile the permanent if it eventually leaves the battlefield.
- If a permanent returned to the battlefield with unearth would leave the battlefield for any reason, it's exiled instead—unless the spell or ability that's causing the permanent to leave the battlefield is actually trying to exile it! In that case, it succeeds at exiling it. If that spell or ability later returns the card to the battlefield (as Static Net might, for example), the permanent card will return to the battlefield as a new object with no relation to its previous existence. The unearth effects will no longer apply to it.
Prices
MTGO price: 0.003 TIX, the cheapest non-foil print (average sell price on GoatBots, 1 Nov 2026).
Combos
180 combos, the most popular first:
- Infinite creature LTB, Infinite creature ETB…: Meticulous Excavation + Sanctum Weaver (+ 1 other requirement)
- Prevent all damage that would be dealt to you, You have protection from everything…: Meticulous Excavation + The One Ring
- Infinite storm count, Infinite mana lands you control can produce…: Candelabra of Tawnos + Meticulous Excavation + Serra's Sanctum
- Infinite creature LTB, Infinite creature ETB…: Meticulous Excavation + Selvala, Heart of the Wilds (+ 1 other requirement)
- Infinite artifact ETB, Infinite artifact LTB…: Chromatic Orrery + Meticulous Excavation + Sami, Wildcat Captain
- Infinite turns, Lock: Mendicant Core, Guidelight + Meticulous Excavation + Ugin's Nexus
- Infinite artifact ETB, Infinite artifact LTB…: Gilded Lotus + Meticulous Excavation + Sami, Wildcat Captain
- Infinite storm count, Infinite mana lands you control can produce…: Candelabra of Tawnos + Meticulous Excavation + Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
- Infinite self-mill, Near-infinite storm count…: Crime Novelist + Dihada, Binder of Wills + Meticulous Excavation
- Infinite self-mill, Near-infinite storm count…: Dihada, Binder of Wills + Kaya, Geist Hunter + Meticulous Excavation
