Magic’s Avatar: The Last Airbender spoiler season is now in full swing, and it’s refreshing to see some extremely powerful cards that are set to make an impact across formats. It’s certainly a breath of fresh air after MTG Spider Man made many MTG fans extremely skeptical of Universes Beyond’s future.
Even among the series of stronger spoilers, however, there are a few different cards that have tons of potential. Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, for instance, certainly looks like it will mix things up in Modern and Commander. Badgermole Cub, meanwhile, looks like an incredible new addition to any Commander deck that wants to tap creatures for mana. On top of that, the little guy is capable of pulling off some lightning-fast kills in Standard.
Setting Up Turn 3 Kills
For two mana, Badgermole Cub offers a massive burst of mana extremely quickly. At worst, the card will refund you one mana on entry, provided you have an untapped land that didn’t enter on the same turn. The real value of this card, however, is when you play it on an already established board.
If you’re going for speed, Badgermole Cub works best with small mana dorks like Llanowar Elves and Molt Tender. If you open with a mana dork on turn one, Badgermole Cub grants you access to four mana on turn two. Cast another dork with that mana, and you have eight mana to play with on turn three, provided you hit all your land drops.
With a few mana dorks in play, Badgermole Cub can easily create some explosive sequences. It’s not impossible for this card to outright kill your opponent on turn three. If you open with a mana dork, and have another to deploy on turn two, you can cast Craterhoof Behemoth on turn three. You’ll need an extra creature in play if you want to kill your opponent with Craterhoof on that turn, but even with a two mana-dork start, you’ll be pushing 17 damage across the table. Preposterous Proportions can accomplish a similar early turn kill, depending on how fast you get out of the gate.
As exciting as it is to try and run out death combos quickly, this won’t be the best way to maximize your extra mana from Badgermole Cub. The card, instead, performs best alongside archetypes that don’t totally rely on Badgermole Cub being in play to function.
Accelerate What Works
One archetype that can absolutely maximize the amount of mana that Badgermole Cub can provide is Standard Insidious Roots combo. The archetype already naturally runs eight mana dorks since it needs to get ahead on mana early to establish a stable board state.On top of that, the Plant Tokens themselves tap for mana, which can also be doubled by Badgermole Cub.
From here, it’s extremely easy to set up an infinite combo with Enduring Courage, and doing so as early as turn three is not out of the question. Courage will give your Plants Haste, so long as you have an exile outlet like Scavenging Ooze, you’ll be able to churn out Plants and swing for 20 damage or more. Stacking eight mana on bigger turns isn’t out of the question, either, making this an ideal home for the silly Craterhoof Behemoth kills.
Notably, you don’t need to go for splashy wins with Badgermole Cub in this deck. All of the extra mana lets you cast your consistency spells, like Cache Grab and Overlord of the Balemurk, more efficiently. You’ll be able to cast whatever spells you find afterward as well, allowing you to gain a ton of value from Badgermole Cub’s ability. With this way of thinking, running out spells like Stock Up, or The Endstone can alternatively lead to better results. An early Endstone, in particular, can be very difficult to beat outside of artifact removal.
All of that said, if you’re dead set on explosive early turns with Badgermole Cub, you could hedge your bets on something a bit more consistent than cheap mana dorks. Effects that let all of your creatures tap for mana can do wonders. An aggressive strategy using Badgermole Cub and Enduring Vitality, for example, can likely play a big mana plan with a more consistent plan B.
Another ‘Removal Check’ Card
Ultimately, Badgermole Cub offers a similar conundrum to your opponents as Vivi Ornitier was supposed to: remove this creature or die. Fortunately, Badgermole Cub doesn’t break the game when put under an Agatha’s Soul Cauldron, and is much easier to remove thanks to its two toughness.
Even if Badgermole Cub becomes popular in Standard, there will likely be enough cheap removal to keep the card under control. Dying to Burst Lightning, in particular, is a big knock to the card’s viability, even if it can kill players on turn three uninterrupted.
This puts the turn three Standard combo in a place where it should be: possible but preventable. We’re currently living in a format where a much more consistent and difficult-to-interact-with combo exists, and everyone can’t wait for Vivi Ornitier to leave the format as a result of it.
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