3 power for 2 mana and a lot of potential ramp seems cool. I wouldn't have imagined that a "Badgermole Cub" would've been a mythic rare in TLA, but here we are. Going wide + having haste is really good vs monarch / initiative, and you can get double activations out of Strip Mine / Horizon Canopy variants too. Or just get extra value off a fetchland if you really want to.
This interaction is a strong one. It's very versatile, but not overly strong in any one area. It's aggro if you want (at the cost of not being able to use that land for mana), it's ramp if you want, and it's synergy if you want. Interesting.
Another interesting interaction with earthbending is MDFC lands. If you turn Witch-Blessed Meadow into a land and then it dies, it would come back face up as Witch Enchanter.
I like that Badgermole Cub does interesting stuff as a standalone card and that it helps the broader cube environment:
Standalone ramp creature: Statically adding a Wild Growth to the land creature to create a Fyndhorn Elder is quite strong.
Buildaround for green creature ramp decks: If you first pick this and then draft all the Llanowar Elves, they will each tap for two mana, which makes it much more realistic to ramp to endgame Eldrazi and Craterhooves as a gameplan. Color pie wise, in cube green's core elf ramp strategy often gets eclipsed by artifact mana rocks, which can be used in any non-green deck and are less vulnerable to removal. This is especially true in powered cubes where some of the best cards are free colorless mana acceleration like Moxen, Black Lotus, and Mana Crypt, which really eat green's strategic lunch when green is trying to be THE ramp color. Big picture, I like how Badgermole Cub might help green in cube re-center its identity as a strategy revolving around mana creatures (basically) only found in green. Designing support pieces that make green-heavy elf ramp strategies more explosive than Talismans or Signets is a fun, and hopefully effective, way to boost green's power level overall in cube.
Stat monster: 1G for a 2/2 and a 1/1 is still a great rate in 2025.
Minor synergy for +1/+1 counters decks: I love Hardened Scales strategies, so interacting with that strategy is a small bonus.
Synergy for land decks: As noted above, the way Earthbend is worded allows you to use a fetchland or Wasteland effect twice. There is also some trickiness with creaturelands; for instance, even if you Earthbend a different land, after you animate Soulstone Sanctuary or attack with Celestial Colonnade, you can tap them for 2 mana. Badgermole Cub doubles the value of untapeffects on cheap-to-activate creaturelands like Mutavault. If you decide to Earthbend a creatureland itself, you can later activate it to increase its base stats from 0/0 to the creatureland's stats while making use of the +1/+1 counter.
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Staff3 power for 2 mana and a lot of potential ramp seems cool. I wouldn't have imagined that a "Badgermole Cub" would've been a mythic rare in TLA, but here we are. Going wide + having haste is really good vs monarch / initiative, and you can get double activations out of Strip Mine / Horizon Canopy variants too. Or just get extra value off a fetchland if you really want to.
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This interaction is a strong one. It's very versatile, but not overly strong in any one area. It's aggro if you want (at the cost of not being able to use that land for mana), it's ramp if you want, and it's synergy if you want. Interesting.
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StaffAssuming you play a land every turn and had a turn 1 mana dork / turn 2 Badgermole Cub, you'd have 6 mana on turn 3.
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- Standalone ramp creature: Statically adding a Wild Growth to the land creature to create a Fyndhorn Elder is quite strong.
- Buildaround for green creature ramp decks: If you first pick this and then draft all the Llanowar Elves, they will each tap for two mana, which makes it much more realistic to ramp to endgame Eldrazi and Craterhooves as a gameplan. Color pie wise, in cube green's core elf ramp strategy often gets eclipsed by artifact mana rocks, which can be used in any non-green deck and are less vulnerable to removal. This is especially true in powered cubes where some of the best cards are free colorless mana acceleration like Moxen, Black Lotus, and Mana Crypt, which really eat green's strategic lunch when green is trying to be THE ramp color. Big picture, I like how Badgermole Cub might help green in cube re-center its identity as a strategy revolving around mana creatures (basically) only found in green. Designing support pieces that make green-heavy elf ramp strategies more explosive than Talismans or Signets is a fun, and hopefully effective, way to boost green's power level overall in cube.
- Stat monster: 1G for a 2/2 and a 1/1 is still a great rate in 2025.
- Minor synergy for +1/+1 counters decks: I love Hardened Scales strategies, so interacting with that strategy is a small bonus.
- Synergy for land decks: As noted above, the way Earthbend is worded allows you to use a fetchland or Wasteland effect twice. There is also some trickiness with creaturelands; for instance, even if you Earthbend a different land, after you animate Soulstone Sanctuary or attack with Celestial Colonnade, you can tap them for 2 mana. Badgermole Cub doubles the value of untap effects on cheap-to-activate creaturelands like Mutavault. If you decide to Earthbend a creatureland itself, you can later activate it to increase its base stats from 0/0 to the creatureland's stats while making use of the +1/+1 counter.
I am excited to cube with Badgermole Cube.Slamming itGently placing it into my cube.