- Commander Nexus
- Commanders
- The Motherlode, Excavator
Command zone
The Motherlode, Excavator
Legendary Artifact Creature — Robot
The Motherlode wants a deck that saves up energy and spends it on stronger effects. It also suits a deck that plays sturdy creatures that also deal with opponents' cards.
- Mana cost
- Red ()
- Power / toughness5 / 5
- RarityRare
When The Motherlode enters, choose target opponent. You get an amount of 
(energy counters) equal to the number of nonbasic lands that player controls.
Whenever The Motherlode attacks, you may pay . When you do, destroy target nonbasic land defending player controls, and creatures that player controls without flying can't block this turn.
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- Themes
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- Artifact Creatures
- Robots
Cards That Fit The Motherlode, Excavator
Picked for what they do in The Motherlode's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit The Motherlode's color identity.Mana ValueThe total amount of mana a card costs, all added up. A card costing two generic and one green has a mana value of three. Wizards renamed this from "converted mana cost" in 2021, so older cards and articles may still use the old name.
Open the full glossary
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Rulings for The Motherlode, Excavator
explain how The Motherlode works in tricky situations. They come from Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic.RulingThe official answer to how a card works in a tricky situation. Most rulings are written by Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic, and a few are notes from Scryfall, the card database Magic players use. A ruling explains a card. It does not change what the card says.Open the full glossary
{E} is the energy symbol. It represents one energy counter.
Energy counters are a kind of counter that a player may have. They're not associated with any specific permanents.
Energy counters aren't mana. They don't go away as steps, phases, and turns end, and effects that add mana "of any type" can't give you energy counters.
If a spell or ability with one or more targets states that you "may pay" some amount of {E}, and each permanent that it targets has become an illegal target, the spell or ability won't resolve. You can't pay any {E} even if you want to.
If an effect says you get one or more {E}, you get that many energy counters. To pay one or more {E}, you lose that many energy counters. You can't pay more energy counters than you have. Any effects that interact with counters a player gets, has, or loses can interact with energy counters.
If the target nonbasic land is an illegal target as The Motherlode's reflexive triggered ability tries to resolve, it won't resolve and none of its effects happen. Creatures defending player controls without flying will still be able to block this turn.
Keep track of how many energy counters each player has. Potential ways to track this include writing them down on paper or using dice, but any method that is clear and mutually agreeable is fine. (At higher levels of tournament play, dice may not be allowed for tracking counters that players have.)
Some spells and abilities that give you {E} may require targets. If each target chosen is an illegal target as that spell or ability tries to resolve, it won't resolve. You won't get any {E}.
Some triggered abilities state that you "may pay" a certain amount of {E}. You can't pay that amount multiple times to multiply the effect. You simply choose whether or not to pay that amount of {E} as the ability resolves.
Some triggered abilities that state that you "may pay" a certain amount of {E} describe an effect that happens "If you do." In that case, no player may take actions to try to stop the ability's effect after you make your choice. If the payment is followed by the phrase "When you do," then you'll choose any targets for that reflexive triggered ability and put it on the stack before players can take actions.
The Motherlode's reflexive triggered ability prevents all creatures without flying that player controls from blocking that turn, including creatures that lose flying after the ability resolves as well as creatures without flying that enter the battlefield or come under that player's control later in the turn.
Use the number of nonbasic lands the target opponent controls when The Motherlode's first ability resolves to determine the number of energy counters you get.
You don't choose a target nonbasic land at the time The Motherlode's last ability triggers. Rather, a second "reflexive" ability triggers when you pay {E}{E}{E}{E} this way. You choose a target for that ability as it goes on the stack. Each player may respond to this triggered ability as normal.
13 rulings, all written by Wizards of the Coast. Read the originals on Gatherer ↗
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