🔗 Share this article

the popular card game’s collaboration with Avatar isn't set to become widely available before the end of the week, yet following prerelease weekends recently, an affordable green creature saw a sharp rise in value.

Throughout the spoiler season, Badgermole Cub garnered significant interest. This two-power, two-toughness that costs G and 1 mana, the card features level 1 earthbending (possibly the most effective within the set’s four “bending” mechanics). Its key advantage in its design is another power: Each time mana is generated by tapping a creature, add an additional green mana.

When first listed, the card could be purchased below $30. After the pre-release weekend, however, the market price jumped to $49.66 including listings priced at sixty dollars. The reason for such high costs for this cute lil guy? Primarily thanks to the explosive mana ramping it provides.

When it arrives play, the cub transforms a terrain card to a creature land with earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, while it is not removed, every earthbent land produces twice the mana — plus other creatures on your side which tap for mana.

A clear choice to combine with is this one-mana elf, a low-cost creature which can be tapped for one green mana. However many creatures that make mana available. Another option is a higher-cost choice with stats 1/3 costing two mana instead.

By playing lands, creatures that tap for mana, plus the cub, it's simple to summon a very big and very expensive threat on the battlefield within a few turns. And things just keep spiraling rapidly if you keep the pressure on from that point.

If you dip into a secondary color with this approach, options such as versatile mana producers are excellent picks that generate all five colors. Additionally, this powerful dryad enables playing another terrain each turn as well as transforms all of your lands so they count as all basics. You can also consider for example a card called A Realm Reborn, costing six mana provides every card you own the ability to produce a mana of any type — including any creature you have on the board.

Badgermole Cub might seem overpowered regarding accelerating your resources, but what’s the endgame finisher in such a strategy? A common and powerful choice already is this legendary creature. Its power and toughness are set by the number of lands you control, and it makes each creature you own to be Forests as well as their original types. In other words, all your creatures on your board may generate two green mana by tapping.

Another creature is a costly, large threat that benefits from lots of lands (like Ashaya, its stats are equal to your land total).

This Planeswalker works perfectly in this deck. One of her abilities makes every Forest produce extra green. (Combined with earthbend, that means each one yield three G.) Her main ability functions like an early earthbend, adding counters to a noncreature land, handy though it doesn't stack with earthbending. Her -8 ability, though, makes each land you control unbreakable enabling you to search for all the remaining forests from your library. Should you manage to use this power, it’s pretty much the game ends.

Badgermole Cub is a must-have in any green-based Avatar strategies that use the earthbend mechanic. By including red-green, you can use Bumi. He has level 4 earthbending, and if he deals combat damage in combat, all land creatures are ready again and may attack once more. While that version has emerged as a beloved leader, the cub is definitely going to remain one of the most, maybe the sought-after card in the collaboration.