🔗 Share this article

MTG’s Avatar crossover set won’t get a wider release before the end of the week, yet due to pre-releases recently, an affordable green creature saw a sharp rise in market worth.

Even during previews, the earthbending cub drew a lot of attention. A creature with stats 2/2 requiring a single green and one generic mana, the card features Earthbending 1 (possibly the strongest among the elemental mechanics available). The major perk with this card comes from its second ability: Each time a creature is tapped to produce mana, you gain one extra green mana.

When first listed, this card could be purchased below $30. Following the early events, however, its value escalated above $45 and one seller offering priced at sixty dollars. The reason for premium pricing for this little creature? Mainly because of the rapid resource generation it enables.

Upon entering the battlefield, Badgermole Cub transforms a terrain card so it becomes a creature that has earthbending. Combined with its other power, if it is not removed, each affected land produces twice the mana — along with mana-producing creatures on your side that generate mana.

The obvious go-to to combine with would be the classic Llanowar Elves, a low-cost creature which can be tapped for one green mana. Yet there are plenty of creatures that make mana out there. Another option is a more expensive alternative that’s a 1/3 costing two mana instead.

Deploying terrain, mana-producing creatures, alongside this card, you may quickly play a very big high-cost threat into play by round three or four. Momentum builds rapidly with continued aggression from there.

By incorporating another color with this approach, options such as Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid work perfectly that can make all five colors. And something like a useful enchantment creature lets you play another terrain each turn AND transforms every land you control providing all land types. You can also consider something like this six-mana enchantment, which for six mana gives every card you own the capacity to produce a mana of any type — even each creature in play.

This card might seem overpowered in terms of ramping up your mana generation, but what’s the endgame finisher for a deck like this? A common and powerful choice has been Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its power and toughness are set by how many lands you have, plus it turns each creature you own to be Forests in addition to other subtypes. This means, all your creatures in play can tap for two G if used for mana.

This additional option is a costly, large threat which gains from many terrain cards (as with the previous card, its power and toughness are equal to your land total).

This Planeswalker is an excellent fit as a go-to Planeswalker. One of her abilities causes every Forest produce extra green. (If you have the cub, so all earthbend forests yield three G.) One loyalty ability functions like a form of land animation, putting +1/+1 counters to a noncreature land, which is great but does not overlap with earthbending. The minus ability, though, renders your entire land base indestructible and lets you put onto the battlefield your remaining Forests in your deck. Once you trigger the ultimate, it’s pretty much game over.

This card is nearly mandatory for all green Avatar deck that use Earthbending. By including Gruul colors, consider Bumi. This card features level 4 earthbending, and when damage is dealt to a player, all land creatures become untapped and may attack once more. While that version has emerged as a popular Commander choice, the cute little Badgermole Cub is set to be one of, if not the most desired card in the Avatar set.