This guy can get really out of control if you can flood the board multiple times in a single turn. By turn 4, Join the Ranks can mill them for 10-12 cards if you flood the board enough. That's not counting turns 2 and 3, either.
Just insane if left alone, and probably one of the better, if not best, Allies in Limited.
metalevolence
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(4 votes)
kicked rite of replication on this mills like 200 cards. And that's with no other allies in play.
PatrickWamsher
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(4 votes)
Best Ally in the format right now. U/W/b Ally mill is going to be strong
ajpinton
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Me thinks a W/U ally deck would me fun 4 of him and 4 Jwari Shapeshifter with some tome scour would make for great blue support for a White weenie Ally deck. Drop him turn 2 if you played 1 Ally a turn (which should not be hard) by turn 10 he should mill a total of 54 cards if my math is right and that is only with 1 in play. Allys are just great Join the Ranks being an instant can make what would spell your doom during you opponents attack phase i.e useing overrun by tripping all the Allys during your opponents turn twice since it drops 2 Ally tokens and if you had Kabira Evangel in play, thats 2 colors for each one your Allys are protected from, plus all the Allys that get bigger so you could cream you opponent even with an overrun.
blindthrall
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(3 votes)
I put him in my ally deck just for the low cost (double ally triggers can break an opponent) and some games I mill-win by accident.
LowestFormOfWit
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Why has no one said anything about Bloodchief Ascension and this card? Both are cheap, and if you're playing blue/black allies with that card, it can't be hard to activate. Makes a really cheap and easy version of Hagra Diabolist that mills!
Mogrom
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(5 votes)
Halimar excavator = 1 card for every ally in play whenever IT OR ANOTHER ALLY ENTER PLAY Rights of Replication kicked = 5 more allies into play, but they all come into play at the SAME TIME 5 copies or Halimar Excavator come into play at the same time, setting themselves off at the same time as they set each other off This sets off the original copy AND themselves 5 times each, for 6 cards each, because 6 allies are in play 5 times for 1 x6 = 30 cards 5 times for all 6 of the Halimar Excavators in play = 30x6 that's a 180 card mill
Good game.
Demonic_Angel13
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(3 votes)
He's really needs a lot of Allies to support him, but a 1/3 body for two is good. Might do great with Agadeem Occultist. All in all, a good card.
mutantman
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Definitely a good card in Limited. Even if you don't have a lot of allies, the 1/3 body is extremely relevant in ZZW for gumming up all those 2-power ground attackers in the format. If for some reason you're playing a triple WWK draft, FEAR THIS GUY, because somebody at the table is going to have drafted seven of them.
There's some small amount of constructed potential here, but I'm skeptical that it could make it past block even if a deck does emerge for it. I hope it sees play, though, because that sounds like an awesome deck.
schacher
★★☆☆☆ (2.9/5.0)(4 votes)
I hate facing this guy in allies. This card is disgusting for a common.
GradiustheFox
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Ooh! Another Ally! These little guys just tickle me somehow. I wonder if they've noticed they can finally get Banding to work right if they put it in this context instead.
TheZunk
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(3 votes)
Ok i have an ally deck and it absolutly destroys. I milled 2 opponents in 6 turns easily over 140 cards. My ally deck is 5 colors right now but it will eventually be G/W/B. Allies are all about using thier abilities and getting them out really really fast. My deck only has 4 cards with 5 mana cost. 4 with 4 mana cost(Join the ranks). 4 with 3 mana cost and the other 18 are 2 drops and also 4 1 drop allies. I cant wait till my deck is complete I also might add 4rgith of replications just for good cause but usually oppenets dont make it past turn 5-8 when i play 1v1. Allies are stupid insane when played right and with the rigth allies. So goooooo allies they could easily be a championship deck built around them. I love em and worldwake as a whole sucked but the allies that came with it had me smiling.
Motorival
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(4 votes)
I'm pretty sure a kicked Rite of Replication only mills for 36, but if you have one other ally it's 72 cards off the top.
Bant + allies + ramp = constructed?
Dirgimzib
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Motorival - No, it does mill the full 180 cards.
Excavator triggers when an ally or itself comes out. You have the first one out already. You play the kicked RoR, and that first one sees 5 others come out, and triggers 5 times. Since there's 6 allies out, that's 30 cards right there. Then each copy sees the 4 other copies and itself come out. So that's 5 triggers, and again 6 cards for each trigger. When you do this for each copy, it all adds up to 180 cards.
SorianSadaskan
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(4 votes)
Your opponent would be extremely unfortunate when you have 4 of these and 4 Archive Traps in hand. An instant win if he searched his/her library.
Cheza
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(5 votes)
I'm sorry, but for me, mill effects should be red colored effects. The reason is simple:
1) It doesn't create any obvious effect unless someone runs out of cards. 2) It supports effects like unearth, flashback, threshold, so it could be R, B or U. 3) It's the opposite to scry, fateseal and search-&-put-it-on-top-tutors 4) it's completely random
Therefore it would be wonderful to see a red cmc 1 creature with haste and "when it deals combat damage to a player, each player puts the top 3 cards from his/her library into his/her graveyard.
Now go suckers and try silly Brainstorm, Ponder, Top stuff.... so no need to ban these cards... But WotC doesn't understand REAL balancing...
Ezenthar
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(7 votes)
With a kicked Rite of Replication, the milling amount is indeed 180 (provided that Halimar Excavator is the only ally on the field at the time).
Here's the maths, and the thing to remember is that EACH Excavator makes the check when an ally comes in to play. Since 5 allies came into play, each Excavator checks the ability 5 times.
Original Halimar checks 5 times: 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6
Clone 1 checks: 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6
Clone 2 checks: 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6
Clone 3 checks: 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6
Clone 4 checks: 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6
Clone 5 checks: 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6
Total number of cards milled: 180
And that's game over for the targetted player...
Edit: So here's the rule you'd follow if you Rite of Replicationed Halimar Excavator and there were more than one ally on the field at the time; the number of cards milled for is 30n, where n is the number of allies you control.
Gaussgoat
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
The 1/3 is what makes him solid... A nice blocker that also pings their library while he sits around taking shots from various 2/1 and 2/2 creatures. An obvious fit in U/B mill decks.
Obvious synergy with several other strong mill cards in standard like:
so far that's a running total of 73 cards milled. and now i have enough mana to kick a Rite of Replication. (smell the redudndancy? smells good, don't it?)
izzet_guild_mage
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
I once wanted to build a deck with this card. Then I remembered I already had a Lorwyn block W/U merfolk deck, and that it was exactly the same thing, but less interesting.
Froenx
★☆☆☆☆ (1.3/5.0)(3 votes)
Pair them with the new Semblance Anvil that just came out in Scars of Mirrodin, and you are one-dropping these bad boys.
If you drop four of these when you have four blue, you've just nailed half their library. And that's when there are no other allies on the board. If you have two other allies out (which you should already unless you've been mana boned), you've just nailed almost all their library.
disgusting and broken doesn't even begin to describe it.
NecroticNobody
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(3 votes)
This thing is disgutingly overpowered. It is the only way I can ever lose to my friends Ally deck. It makes me main-deck 2 Quest For Ancient Secrets and 2 Elixir Of Immortality just to keep my deck above 20 cards on turn 4. This should have been uncommon or even rare, not common.
I THINK my mill factor was 1185, but I'm not sure; it was a while ago.
tantallum99
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
this guy is EVIL. I grudgingly give him 5 stars even though I never play mill decks because everytime he comes out against me, I lose
Heeltoeclutch
★☆☆☆☆ (1.2/5.0)(2 votes)
Ugh this is part of why I dislike allies... I love mill to death but this guy takes all the creativity out of it :(
Turntimber
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I use Halimar Excavator in conjunction with Xenograft and Turntimber Ranger to summon 4000000000 wolf allies on turn 6 and mill for ... well, i tried to calculate the exact amount, but after about 15 minutes of straight computation, my computer started to overheat.
ScoundrelLV
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
with the new zombies from innistrad it makes multiplayer mill soo much easier Undead Alchemist and Xenograft naming allies every time you mill a creature BANG he now mills for x+1 allies minimum three where x = the number of creatures you control (since they're all allies due to xenograft)
CanCer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
If you were to have a Halimar excavator out in play with an Equilibrium Would Summoning a new Halimar Excavator trigger them both if you activated the Equilibrium?
Or
Would the Equilibrium and the triggering effect be on the same stack and cancel out the orginal excavators proc?
DavidLopes
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
One thing I always thought was that Innistrad was meant to be released right after Zendikar Block. Just think of the mill synergies that were buried under, Mill was nearly getting its protagonism, and was almost being tournament viable. Wizards just got scared and took measures I guess, because it's just better to be pounded to oblivion by Titans or Buffed Lands.
Bowshewicz
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@CanCer: Equilibrium's ability would resolve before the second Excavator entered the battlefield. If you decided to return the first Excavator to your hand, then its ability would not trigger. Your opponent would only mill cards for the second Excavator.
SirZapdos
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
In addition to the awesome mill ability and his interaction with other Allies, this guy is a 1/3 for 2 mana! Like Sea Gate Oracle, he has a nice ability for a common and can block some early threats.
psychichobo
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I hate this guy.
So much.
The worst part is no-one seems to want to go for the guy running an ally deck built around him. 'That guy has saprolings, he's much scarier!' 'He's not milling me, so when he mills that other guy he'll have run out of steam, so I can easily kill him!'
Eventually this guy WILL kill all of you. Every. Last. One.
TokenAZN
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Suppose you control n Allies, k of which are Halimar Excavators. Let m be the number of Allies you have entering the battlefield at a point in time, and suppose that, of those j of them are also Halimar Excavators. Your total number of Excavators is k + j. Multiply by the total number of Allies you control n + m. This is the total amount milled per Excavator, however, so you have to multiply by the number of triggers (the total number of allies coming into play), m. m*(k+j)*(n+m) is your mill.
DIRTYCAMBO
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I'm new to the ally mechanic. When it says ally, it means each of your own creatures and your teammates creatures? I later saw other cards with "ally". So are those "ally" cards the only ones to be considered as "allies" is my jaces phantasm considered an "ally"?
Antsache
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@dirtycambo
"Ally" isn't really a mechanic in the sense you're thinking of. It's a creature type. Treat it like you would any creature type. Just like how some cards say "do something to all goblins" this relies on creatures with the type "ally". If a creature isn't labelled as an "ally" in its types, it doesn't interact with this card.
Comments (38)
Just insane if left alone, and probably one of the better, if not best, Allies in Limited.
Rights of Replication kicked = 5 more allies into play, but they all come into play at the SAME TIME
5 copies or Halimar Excavator come into play at the same time, setting themselves off at the same time as they set each other off
This sets off the original copy AND themselves 5 times each, for 6 cards each, because 6 allies are in play
5 times for 1 x6 = 30 cards
5 times for all 6 of the Halimar Excavators in play = 30x6
that's a 180 card mill
Good game.
There's some small amount of constructed potential here, but I'm skeptical that it could make it past block even if a deck does emerge for it. I hope it sees play, though, because that sounds like an awesome deck.
Bant + allies + ramp = constructed?
Excavator triggers when an ally or itself comes out.
You have the first one out already. You play the kicked RoR, and that first one sees 5 others come out, and triggers 5 times. Since there's 6 allies out, that's 30 cards right there.
Then each copy sees the 4 other copies and itself come out. So that's 5 triggers, and again 6 cards for each trigger. When you do this for each copy, it all adds up to 180 cards.
1) It doesn't create any obvious effect unless someone runs out of cards.
2) It supports effects like unearth, flashback, threshold, so it could be R, B or U.
3) It's the opposite to scry, fateseal and search-&-put-it-on-top-tutors
4) it's completely random
Therefore it would be wonderful to see a red cmc 1 creature with haste and "when it deals combat damage to a player, each player puts the top 3 cards from his/her library into his/her graveyard.
Now go suckers and try silly Brainstorm, Ponder, Top stuff.... so no need to ban these cards... But WotC doesn't understand REAL balancing...
Here's the maths, and the thing to remember is that EACH Excavator makes the check when an ally comes in to play. Since 5 allies came into play, each Excavator checks the ability 5 times.
Original Halimar checks 5 times: 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6
Clone 1 checks: 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6
Clone 2 checks: 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6
Clone 3 checks: 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6
Clone 4 checks: 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6
Clone 5 checks: 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6
Total number of cards milled: 180
And that's game over for the targetted player...
Edit: So here's the rule you'd follow if you Rite of Replicationed Halimar Excavator and there were more than one ally on the field at the time; the number of cards milled for is 30n, where n is the number of allies you control.
Obvious synergy with several other strong mill cards in standard like:
Mind Funeral
Traumatize
Random Combo: Master Transmuter + Stonework Puma + this guy = awesome milling if other allies are already out. Have fun!
4/5
Play him second turn, and he is removal fodder.
f.u.c.k you :)
turn 1: land, Birds of Paradise
turn 2: land, Wild Growth, Harabaz Druid
turn 3: Halimar Excavator, Jwari Shapeshifter, Ondu Cleric
turn 4: Halimar Excavator, Join the Ranks
so far that's a running total of 73 cards milled. and now i have enough mana to kick a Rite of Replication. (smell the redudndancy? smells good, don't it?)
If you drop four of these when you have four blue, you've just nailed half their library. And that's when there are no other allies on the board. If you have two other allies out (which you should already unless you've been mana boned), you've just nailed almost all their library.
disgusting and broken doesn't even begin to describe it.
I have 4 of these, 2 Jwari Shapeshifters, Rite of Replication...
And Cast through time.
I once had 5 Excavators out (2 Shapeshifters and 3 Excavators) with a Cast through time out when I cast Rite of Replication.
I THINK my mill factor was 1185, but I'm not sure; it was a while ago.
Undead Alchemist and Xenograft naming allies
every time you mill a creature BANG he now mills for x+1 allies minimum three where x = the number of creatures you control (since they're all allies due to xenograft)
Would Summoning a new Halimar Excavator trigger them both if you activated the Equilibrium?
Or
Would the Equilibrium and the triggering effect be on the same stack and cancel out the orginal excavators proc?
Just think of the mill synergies that were buried under, Mill was nearly getting its protagonism, and was almost being tournament viable. Wizards just got scared and took measures I guess, because it's just better to be pounded to oblivion by Titans or Buffed Lands.
So much.
The worst part is no-one seems to want to go for the guy running an ally deck built around him. 'That guy has saprolings, he's much scarier!' 'He's not milling me, so when he mills that other guy he'll have run out of steam, so I can easily kill him!'
Eventually this guy WILL kill all of you. Every. Last. One.
"Ally" isn't really a mechanic in the sense you're thinking of. It's a creature type. Treat it like you would any creature type. Just like how some cards say "do something to all goblins" this relies on creatures with the type "ally". If a creature isn't labelled as an "ally" in its types, it doesn't interact with this card.