One Minecraft player has taken drastic measures to find the game’s exceedingly rare deepslate emerald ore block, sharing a funny picture of the aftermath of their thorough mining strategy. Already one of the biggest gaming franchises in the world, Mojang Studios’ blocky building title is set to grow even larger when the RTS-influenced Minecraft Legends releases on April 18.
Although countless videos shared online of unique and sometimes staggeringly complex player-made creations helped Minecraft attract the viral fame that turned the game into a worldwide hit, at least in Survival mode none of them would be possible without players spending countless hours toiling away to mine the special blocks needed to bring their ideas to life. Nearly every fan of Mojang’s popular title has their own strategy for finding the best ore in Minecraft, but some gamers go to some truly extreme lengths in order to unearth the game’s rarest resources. One of the most elusive of these blocks is deepslate emerald ore, which only forms in blobs of tuff and deepslate far below the surface.
Showcasing some remarkably efficient excavation skills, Reddit user WiselyO shared a funny picture to the r/Minecraft subreddit of their ingenious, if undeniably tedious, strategy for finding deepslate emerald ore. The picture shows their character proudly holding a piece of the elusive deepslate emerald ore as they stand perched atop a towering, 2-block-wide patch of Minecraft’s deepslate blocks with dozens of similar structures stretching into the cavernous expanse behind them. While the impressive logistics of this amateur mining operation may seem like overkill to some Minecraft players, it’s hard to deny its effectiveness when viewing this screenshot of the glittering green results of the complicated process.
Fans of Minecraft responding to the amusing screenshot complimented WiselyO on their impressive find, with some commenters sharing stories of their own struggles to unearth the rare deepslate emerald ore. One Redditor brought up how the meticulous mining strategy could have easily gone awry had a regular pickaxe been used, leading WiselyO to respond that they made sure to use a pickaxe enchanted with Silk Touch in order to avoid inadvertently destroying the precious ore. Other responses featured tips on how to more efficiently mine deepslate emerald ore, while one commenter simply stated admiringly that “I like this mining method and will promptly ape it.”
Even though this labor-intensive mining strategy may not be the fastest way for Minecraft fans to build up a cache of deepslate emerald ore, judging by some of the responses to the screenshot it’s a strategy some other players are already eager to adopt. And while WiselyO’s exceedingly thorough technique for finding the rare blocks may be tedious, at least it should take less time than trying to mine an entire Minecraft map.
Minecraft is available on Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
