Lorehold Excavation
Enchantment
At the beginning of your end step, mill a card. If a land card was milled this way, you gain 1 life. Otherwise, this enchantment deals 1 damage to each opponent. (To mill a card, put the top card of your library into your graveyard.)
, Exile a creature card from your graveyard: Create a tapped 3/2 red and white Spirit creature token.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- RW
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Strixhaven: School of Mages
- Price
- $0.17
- EDHREC rank
- #17332
Lorehold Excavation mills a card and drains an opponent for 1 every turn cycle, with the option to exile a creature from your graveyard for a 3/2 Spirit token — all for two mana and zero ongoing cost. The rate is low and the payoff is slow, making it a role-player in dedicated self-mill or aristocrats builds rather than a generalist include.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is the only realistic home for Lorehold Excavation — its payoff is incremental and designed for long games where a two-mana enchantment has time to accrue value across multiple opponents. In Legacy, Modern, and Pioneer it is simply outclassed: formats where games end quickly have no patience for one drain and one mill per turn. Vintage is legal but irrelevant; no competitive shell wants this effect at any cost. Oathbreaker is viable in principle but shares the same problem — the 20-life starting total means the drain clock expires before it matters.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.17 bulk tier
At $0.17, Lorehold Excavation sits firmly in bulk territory and will almost certainly stay there — it sees no competitive play and Commander demand is narrow enough that reprints would barely register. Pick it up if the effect fits your build; the financial floor is the floor.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.