Earthen Goo MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Creature — Ooze
Abilities	Cumulative upkeep,Trample
Released	2006-07-21
Set symbol
Set name	Coldsnap
Set code	CSP
Power	2
Toughness	2
Number	80
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Nick Percival

Key Takeaways

Earthen Goo offers size growth potential each turn, enhancing battlefield presence significantly.
It demands precise deck construction for optimized mana and graveyard interaction.
Despite its power ramp, there are measures to effectively counteract Earthen Goo.

Text of card

Trample Cumulative upkeep or (At the beginning of your upkeep, put an age counter on this permanent, then sacrifice it unless you pay its upkeep cost for each age counter on it.) Earthen Goo gets +1/+1 for each age counter on it.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Earthen Goo grants a recurring benefit each upkeep, granting the opportunity to grow significantly in power over time. This trait makes it valuable for maintaining pressure and advantageous board state.

Resource Acceleration: With its threshold ability, Earthen Goo can command additional resources from your graveyard, effectively using otherwise inert cards as a springboard for amplifying its threat level.

Instant Speed: While not an instant itself, Earthen Goo synergizes well with instant-speed spells and abilities that manipulate the graveyard, ensuring its size and power can unexpectedly swing in your favor at a crucial moment.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Earthen Goo demands that you sacrifice another card, which might not always be sustainable, especially in a game where each card in hand is precious.

Specific Mana Cost: Earthen Goo’s casting cost requires a precise combination of green and red mana. This can be problematic if you’re playing a multicolor deck and might restrict its inclusion to only certain types of decks that can consistently generate both types of mana.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a need for three mana, including one green and one red, Earthen Goo’s cost is relatively steep for its starting stats and effect. In the current meta, there might be creatures or spells that offer more immediate impact or versatility for the same or lower investment.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Earthen Goo thrives in decks that can manipulate the graveyard, thanks to its unique trample ability that gets stronger with the number of age counters. Its adaptability makes it a good fit for various strategies, particularly ones that work on maximizing the growth and power of creatures.

Combo Potential: This card has excellent synergy with mechanics that manipulate time counters, like suspend or proliferate, allowing for rapid power increases. This opens up a variety of combo possibilities within your deck, especially in those that focus on counter manipulation to overpower opponents.

Meta-Relevance: In a gaming environment where the graveyard is a resource, Earthen Goo can become a recurring threat. Its relevance in the meta is anchored in its capacity to grow and become a significant pressure point for opponents, challenging the way they approach graveyard interaction and creature removal.

How to beat

Earthen Goo holds a unique position within the MTG realm as it thrives with each passing turn, thanks to its threshold ability, which increasingly strengthens it if you have seven or more cards in your graveyard. This accumulating power mirrors mechanics you may see in cards like Scavenging Ooze or Tarmogoyf, where the graveyard plays a pivotal role in the creature’s potency.

To combat Earthen Goo effectively, graveyard management becomes a key strategy. Cards like Relic of Progenitus or Scavenger Grounds effectively exile graveyards, stripping Earthen Goo of its accumulating power. Additionally, since Earthen Goo’s activated ability requires untapped resources, instant-speed removal spells like Path to Exile or Rapid Hybridization can neutralize it before the threshold bonus applies, preventing it from becoming an oversized threat on the board.

Ultimately, understanding the intricacies of your opponent’s deck and the significance of their graveyard can turn the tide against an Earthen Goo. By keeping its growth in check and prioritizing strategic removal, players can ensure that this creeping creature doesn’t overwhelm the battlefield.

Cards like Earthen Goo

Earthen Goo is an intriguing creature within the landscape of Magic: The Gathering. This card shares traits with the likes of Scrounging Bandar, where we see a creature’s power and toughness evolve over time based on certain conditions. Earthen Goo grows more formidable with each upkeep if you control a red or green permanent, similar to the Bandar’s ability to accumulate +1/+1 counters. Unlike Scrounging Bandar, however, Earthen Goo requires a steady flow of cards in the graveyard to maintain its increased power.

Looking at other creatures, we find Lorescale Coatl, which also gets stronger with game progression. Each time you draw a card, Lorescale Coatl gains a +1/+1 counter, highlighting a difference in growth mechanisms compared to Earthen Goo’s graveyard-dependent enhancement. Additionally, in the realm of cumulative upkeep, Mystic Remora and Glacial Chasm are often used for their unique abilities despite their increasing upkeep costs. While these cards don’t grow in power or toughness, they showcase the diversity of cumulative upkeep effects, a key feature that Earthen Goo embraces.

Ultimately, within Magic: The Gathering, Earthen Goo holds its ground as a creature that potentially increases its threat level every turn, a characteristic that can snowball to a significant advantage if left unchecked by opponents.

Cards similar to Earthen Goo by color, type and mana cost

Giant Trap Door Spider - MTG Card versions

Wilderness Elemental - MTG Card versions

Daybreak Ranger // Nightfall Predator - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Earthen Goo MTG card by a specific set like Coldsnap, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Earthen Goo and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Earthen Goo has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Restricted
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal
Penny	Legal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Earthen Goo card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2008-10-01	Paying cumulative upkeep is always optional. If it’s not paid, the permanent with cumulative upkeep is sacrificed. Partial payments of the total cumulative upkeep cost can’t be made. For example, if a permanent with “cumulative upkeep ” has three age counters on it when its cumulative upkeep ability triggers, it gets another age counter and then its controller chooses to either pay or sacrifice the permanent.