🔗 Share this article

Magic: The Gathering’s Avatar crossover set isn't set to hit the general market in the coming days, yet due to pre-releases over the last few days, an affordable green creature experienced a surge in market worth.

From the initial reveals, the earthbending cub garnered widespread focus. A 2/2 that costs one green and one colorless mana, the card includes Earthbending 1 (possibly the strongest of the set’s four “bending” mechanics). Its key advantage here lies in its second ability: If mana is generated by tapping a creature, it provides bonus green mana.

When first listed, this card was available below $30. Following the early events, however, the going rate jumped to nearly $50 with at least one listed as high as $60. What explains premium pricing for this cute lil guy? Mostly due to the rapid resource generation it can produce.

As it hits the board, Badgermole Cub converts a terrain card to a creature land granting it earthbend. And with that second ability, while it remains on the board, each affected land yields two mana instead of one — plus any creatures you have which tap for mana.

A clear choice for synergy is Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 that taps to generate G mana. But there are plenty of alternative mana dorks in the game. Druid of the Cowl costs a bit more that’s a 1/3 for two mana as an alternative.

Deploying terrain, creatures that tap for mana, and Badgermole Cub, you can easily get a very big pricey monster into play early in the game. The situation escalates out of control by maintaining dominance after that.

When adding another color using this method, options such as Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are excellent picks which produce any color of mana. And something like this powerful dryad enables playing an additional land each turn AND transforms your entire land base so they count as all basics. You can also consider for example this six-mana enchantment, at a six-mana investment grants every card you own the power to be tapped for one mana of any color — even each creature under your control.

Badgermole Cub might seem overpowered in terms of ramping up your mana generation, yet what closes out the game with this archetype? One obvious and popular answer is Ashaya. Power and toughness are both equal to how many lands you have, and it makes your non-token creatures into Forests along with their other types. In other words, every single creature on your board is able to generate two green mana when tapped.

This additional option provides a high-cost, powerful body that thrives with lots of lands (like Ashaya, its power and toughness are based on your land total).

Nissa fits really well in this deck. Her passive ability makes all Forests generate an additional green mana. (With a Badgermole Cub, this results in all earthbend forests produce triple green.) One loyalty ability acts as a form of land animation, placing counters on terrain, a useful effect but it isn't redundant with earthbend. Her ultimate, however, makes all of your lands indestructible and lets you search for your remaining Forests in the deck. Once you trigger the ultimate, it almost certainly the game ends.

This card is pretty much essential in any green Avatar deck focusing on earthbend. By including red and green, consider Bumi Unleashed. It possesses level 4 earthbending, and if it hits a player to a player, each animated land untap and may attack once more. Although this card has become a beloved leader, this small creature is definitely going to remain one of, if not the most sought-after card from this expansion.