Badgermole Cub Delivers Landslide Value: 5 Absurdly Efficient Plays

Magic: The Gathering’s Avatar set has been out during prerelease week for a while now, and it’s finally launching tomorrow. Even though the community’s morale about Universes Beyond has been on the lower end since Spider-Man’s debacle and the announcement that next year will feature four UB Standard sets total, Avatar has a lot of hype surrounding it, and it has been received very well. With interesting mechanics that perfectly encapsulate what the Avatar IP is all about, the new Magic: The Gathering set has a lot of potential for interesting gameplay and cool combos. One of the new outstanding cards is already clear, and it’s Badgermole Cub.

If there is something that MTG players learned during the prerelease period of the Avatar set is that some cards and mechanics can be incredibly broken with a dedicated deck, which is especially true for airbending and earthbending. Waterbending is a powerful mechanic, but it may be less game-changing than others. Firebending is extremely powerful with the right mana outlets, such as MTG’s Zhao, the Moon Slayer, who can get a counter on itself for 7 mana and turn all nonbasic lands into Mountains. However, airbending and earthbending can dramatically reshape a game, and Badgermole Cub is the perfect example of the latter.

The Best Badgermole Cub Combos in Magic: The Gathering Explained

Badgermole Cub Breaks Fetchlands

Fetchlands are land cards that allow you to sacrifice them, pay 1 life, search your library for a basic land, and put it into play. This is a great way to thin the deck and have the exact land type you need at all times, and it’s particularly strong because the newly played lands enter untapped. Avatar’s earthbend mechanic in MTG allows you to turn any given land into a creature with haste and a number of +1/+1 counters on it equal to the earthbend value, and when the land creature dies, it comes back to the battlefield tapped. So yes, this means you can play Badgermole Cub and earthbend a fetchland, sacrifice it to get a basic land into play, and then the fetchland returns to the field for you to use again next turn.

Badgermole Cub + Llanowar Elves Can Reshape Standard

Badgermole Cub has an ability that reads “Whenever you tap a creature for mana, add an additional Green mana,” which means that you can effectively cast Llanowar Elves on turn 1, then Badgermole Cub on turn 2, and instantly have another two mana to cast anything else. This works on all mana dorks, which means creatures that can tap for mana, like the iconic Birds of Paradise, found in MTG’s Final Fantasy Chocobo Bundle. Since both Llanowar Elves and Badgermole Cub are legal in Standard, this could be the core of a new Green Stompy deck.

How Badgermole Cub Can Make Commander’s Most Hated Playstyle Worse

Depending on who is asked, one of the most heinous crimes in a Commander game is when a player at the table uses mass land destruction, as it can take a given game back many turns, making the game longer and ruining combos for others. However, tools like Strip Mine and Wasteland are more socially acceptable because they target a specific land. The problem is that you can earthbend both Strip Mine and Wasteland with Badgermole Cub, meaning they can be used twice to destroy opposing lands because they return to the field after being used.

Badgermole Cub Gives Your Urza’s Saga A Lot More Value

Urza’s Saga is arguably one of the most iconic cards in the game right now, and it’s extremely powerful in artifacts matter decks. Since this is both a land and a saga, it can be the target of earthbend, meaning it comes back to the field once its third chapter is complete. The powerful effect of this is that players can create the token from Urza’s Saga twice (once on chapter 2 and then on chapter 3), and then repeat the process once the land comes back into play, thanks to earthbend. This can be further enhanced with cards like Life from the Loam or Edge of Eternities’ Icetill Explorer, repeatedly cycling Urza’s Saga back into play.

Two Commander Staples Create a Powerful Infinite Combo With Badgermole Cub

There are many cards that either break Badgermole Cub or that are broken by it, and this includes the popular Ashaya, Soul of the Wild, and Zuran Orb. These are powerful cards in MTG Commander decks on their own, but they are often part of some combo strategy. In this case, if both are on the field and you cast Badgermole Cub, it can earthbend itself due to being a Forest, thanks to Ashaya. Then, Zuran Orb can be activated by sacrificing the earthbent Badgermole Cub to gain 2 life, meaning that Badgermole Cub comes back into play, its ETB earthbend ability triggers again, and since it’s still a Forest, it can trigger itself to repeat the cycle over and over. Achieving this awards you with:

Infinite life

Infinite gain life triggers

Infinite ETB (enter the battlefield) triggers

Infinite LTB (leave the battlefield) triggers

Infinite death triggers

Infinite sacrifice triggers

Infinite landfall triggers