Courtesy of Wizards of the Coast (WotC), check out a new red creature-land coming in Adventures in the Forgotten Realms — Den of the Bugbear!
The new rare creature-land has a special module variant to go along with the normal version. Let’s dive into everything Den of the Bugbear has going on.
If you control two or more other lands, Den of the Bugbear enters the battlefield tapped.
T: Add R.
3R: Until end of turn, Den of the Bugbear becomes a 3/2 red Goblin creature with “Whenever this creature attacks, create a 1/1 red Goblin creature that’s tapped and attacking.” It’s still a land.
Den of the Bugbear is an interesting new take on creature-lands. It’s a creature-land that produces colored mana which normally requires an enters-the-battlefield tapped clause that often limits how many can be played in aggressive decks. Den of the Bugbear, however, can be your first or second land drop and still be untapped with no drawback. Normally mono-red decks play untapped creature-lands like Mutavault or Faceless Haven to avoid the drawback of messing with the mana curve, but that comes at the cost of having enough red mana. Den of the Bugbear not only lets you curve out but have all the red mana you need.
The other benefit Den of the Bugbear offers is the ability to create extra creatures. Creature-lands are great at pressuring control decks by keeping a threat protected from removal until you want to use it, but requires using mana to attack with it. Once you attack with Den of the Bugbear, you get an extra attacking Goblin token that sticks around with no other investment. Not only will decks have to contest with Den of the Bugbear, but also the Goblins it creates.
What do you think of Den of the Bugbear? Can it compete with other creature-lands already in Standard?
Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms is scheduled for release on July 23. View our official preview gallery.