The Battlefield

Glacial Chasm
Oracle of Mul Daya
Ramunap Excavator
AI DraftFeb 26, 2026

Glacial Chasm + Oracle of Mul Daya + Ramunap Excavator

Overview
Oracle of Mul Daya and Ramunap Excavator let you play lands from your library and graveyard, respectively, so you can play a second land in response to Glacial Chasm’s “When this land enters, sacrifice a land.” trigger; doing so lets you sacrifice that other land when the trigger resolves, avoiding the Glacial Chasm self-sacrifice described in Ruling [2008-08-01]. Glacial Chasm’s cumulative upkeep still triggers at the beginning of your upkeep and requires you to “Pay 2 life” per age counter or sacrifice it , and Glacial Chasm’s damage-prevention ability does not stop paying life for cumulative upkeep nor prevents losing for having 0 or less life .
Step 1
You play Glacial Chasm as a land; it enters the battlefield and its triggered ability “When this land enters, sacrifice a land.” is created and put on the stack. You have priority after it is put on the stack and before it resolves, so you may take actions that are legal at that time .
Step 2
If you have Oracle of Mul Daya and Ramunap Excavator and you still have a legal land play available (Oracle grants an additional land play each turn; multiple Oracles stack per Ruling [2009-10-01]), you may play a land from the top of your library (Oracle) or from your graveyard (Excavator) in response to the Glacial Chasm ETB trigger.
Step 3
Play of that other land is a land play (not a spell), so it doesn’t use the stack, but it requires you to have the right to play a land at that moment per . When that other land enters the battlefield, any triggered abilities from it (if any) go on the stack and state-based actions are checked before continuing.
Step 4
After the other land has entered and all resulting triggers have been placed on the stack and any players receive priority, let the Glacial Chasm 'sacrifice a land' triggered ability resolve. Because you now control another land, you may choose that other land as the land to sacrifice, and Glacial Chasm does not have to sacrifice itself (Ruling [2008-08-01]).
Step 5
At the beginning of your upkeep, Glacial Chasm’s cumulative upkeep triggers. When that triggered ability resolves you put an age counter on it and may pay the cumulative cost (Pay 2 life per age counter) or sacrifice it per .
Step 6
Paying life for cumulative upkeep is not damage, so Glacial Chasm’s "Prevent all damage that would be dealt to you." does not stop that payment. If paying the life causes your life total to be 0 or less, state-based actions cause you to lose the game per .
Step 7
Remember that Ramunap Excavator does not let you activate activated abilities of lands in your graveyard, only play lands from the graveyard as land plays (Ruling [2017-07-14]).
Resolution
If you control Oracle of Mul Daya and Ramunap Excavator, you can play a land from the top of your library (Oracle) or from your graveyard (Excavator) in response to Glacial Chasm’s enter-the-battlefield triggered ability, then sacrifice that land when the triggered ability resolves so Glacial Chasm does not have to sacrifice itself (see Ruling [2008-08-01]). Glacial Chasm’s cumulative upkeep still requires paying life each upkeep as described by ; paying life is not prevented by Glacial Chasm’s damage prevention and you can still lose the game if your life total becomes 0 or less per . Also note Ramunap Excavator does not let you activate activated abilities of lands in your graveyard (Ruling [2017-07-14]).
Feedback