Using an NPC directly from Planescape: Torment for this one.

Why only nonbasic? Of all parts of Ramunap Excavator to downgrade in a rarity shift, that part seems weird, since I expect most times (especially with this set's nonbasic land theme) a player would choose to play a nonbasic from their graveyard over a basic anyway.

I wasn't aware of that card! This still happens to me because I basically missed out on about a decade of MTG after about the year 2002. And I don't really actively keep track of newer sets or normally play MTG in recent years either. So I still find myself looking up cards and mechanics I missed and sometimes have to be told about something that already exists.

The only reason I chose nonbasic was relative to the set's theme. But this definitely felt like one of the more iffy designs I've come up with.

There's a ton of mMagic cards, no worry if you weren't aware of a card (lord knows I'm unaware more often than not).

Yea, quite a ridiculous amount of cards and sets over the years, hard to keep track!