A standout from the Avatar-themed most charming collectible cards turns out to be a formidable small contender.

Magic: The Gathering’s collaboration with Avatar isn't set to hit the general market in the coming days, yet due to pre-releases this past weekend, one cheap green card saw a sharp rise in value.

Throughout the spoiler season, this small creature garnered widespread focus. This two-power, two-toughness priced at one green and one colorless mana, Badgermole Cub has the Earthbend 1 ability (possibly the best among the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The real boon here comes from its second ability: If a creature is tapped to produce mana, it provides bonus green mana.

Initially, this card sold for $26.98. Following the early events, however, its value jumped to $49.66 with at least one listed for sale at $60.00. Why are we seeing premium pricing on this adorable card? Mostly thanks to the rapid resource generation it can produce.

When it arrives the board, the cub turns a terrain card to a creature land granting it earthbend. And with that second ability, if it is not removed, those lands generates double mana — plus any creatures on your side that generate mana.

The obvious go-to to combine with is Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 that produces one green mana. Yet many alternative mana dorks in the game. Druid of the Cowl is a more expensive alternative with stats 1/3 for two mana instead.

Deploying terrain, mana-producing creatures, and Badgermole Cub, it's simple to summon an enormous and very expensive creature into play within a few turns. Momentum builds exponentially with continued aggression after that.

By incorporating a secondary color in this strategy, options such as these mana-fixing creatures work perfectly that can make any mana color. Additionally, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove allows you to put another terrain per turn as well as makes your entire land base providing all land types. It's also worth trying something like this six-mana enchantment, which for six mana grants every card you own the power to tap and generate any color mana — including each creature in play.

Badgermole Cub might seem overpowered when it comes to accelerating your resources, yet what’s the endgame finisher in such a strategy? One obvious and popular answer has been Ashaya. Its stats match how many lands you have, plus it turns your non-token creatures into Forests along with their other types. This means, every single creature in play can tap for two G when tapped.

Harmonious Grovestrider is another expensive, beefy creature that thrives with many terrain cards (as with the previous card, its stats are based on your land total).

This Planeswalker is an excellent fit in this deck. Her passive ability causes Forest lands generate an additional green mana. (With a Badgermole Cub, so each one generate three green mana.) One loyalty ability functions like a form of land animation, adding counters to a noncreature land, which is great but does not overlap with earthbend. Her -8 ability, on the other hand, makes each land you control unbreakable enabling you to put onto the battlefield all the remaining forests in the deck. Should you manage to use this power, this typically means the game ends.

The cub is pretty much essential for all green Avatar deck that use Earthbending. If you dip into red-green, there’s this legendary card. He has earthbend 4, and if damage is dealt to an opponent, each animated land untap for another attack. Although this card is a fan favorite Commander, the cub is set to be one of the most, maybe the desired card in the Avatar set.

William Williams
William Williams

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