Earthen Goo
This a nice little 2/2 for three mana that has a
place in beatdown decks in limited and possibly
even in constructed. Cumulative Upkeep is
usually the kiss of death for any card, because
it makes the card so much more ultimately
expensive to play. However, Earthen Goo does you
the service of getting BIGGER while it ties up
your red and green mana, serving a beating for a
couple of turns after you play it. In Coldsnap
limited, the good news is that red/green is a
very good color combination, and the better news
is that you can pick up Earthen Goo very late in
the draft, allowing you to use your higher picks
for more important items like the precious red
removal cards. The bad news is the cumulative
upkeep. Cumulative Upkeep is like
renting-to-own, you always end up paying MORE
for the item in question than it is really
worth. So, in Coldsnap limited, Earthen Goo may
be a necessary evil for your deck, a small
beater that doesn't cost much, shows up late in
Coldsnap drafts and might give your deck the
edge in creature battles. Other than that, I
can't say much good about it. On the plus side,
it's probably the best Magic card with "goo" in
its name.
CONSTRUCTED: 2.5
CASUAL: 3.0
LIMITED: 3.0
This card is at least neat. Unfortunately, you
have to be carefully about playing with
cumulative upkeep. It can tie up your mana and
might amount to nothing if the card gets
destroyed during the course of the turn. Earthen
Goo can get quite large very quickly though and
it has Trample. It's an interesting card, but
I'm not sure it's strong enough to find room in
top notch Red and/or Green decks just yet.
A 2/2 trample for 3 seems passable, but
cumulative upkeep is a bit steep for a
less-than-lackluster effect. Yes, it's only one
mana and you get +1/+1, but each turn you gain 1
age counter and then have to pay for ALL the age
counters. If you only had to pay 1 each turn
it'd be awesome, but as it is the promise of a
creature that continues to be relevant in the
late game is soured by the fact that in the late
game, you won't be able to play anything else. A
Gruul Beats deck with heavy mana-acceleration
might take a chance on it, but I'm underwhelmed.
