🔗 Share this article

the popular card game’s Avatar crossover set isn't set to get a wider release until later this week, yet after early access events this past weekend, one cheap green card experienced a surge in value.

Throughout the spoiler season, the earthbending cub attracted a lot of attention. A 2/2 requiring a single green and one generic mana, the card includes Earthbending 1 (possibly the strongest of the four bending abilities in the set). The major perk with this card lies in another power: If you tap a creature for mana, add an additional green mana.

Initially, this card was available at around $27. Post-prerelease, yet, its value jumped above $45 and one seller offering priced at sixty dollars. What explains premium pricing for this little creature? Mostly due to the incredible mana acceleration it provides.

As it hits play, Badgermole Cub converts a terrain card into a creature with earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, as long as it is not removed, each affected land produces twice the mana — in addition to other creatures on your side that generate mana.

An ideal partner for maximum effect would be the classic Llanowar Elves, a low-cost creature that taps to generate a green resource. But numerous other mana generation creatures in the game. Another option is a higher-cost choice with stats 1/3 costing two mana instead.

Deploying terrain, creatures that tap for mana, alongside this card, you may quickly play an enormous pricey threat on the board within a few turns. And things just keep spiraling out of control with continued aggression from that point.

By incorporating an additional hue with this approach, options such as Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are all great options that generate all five colors. And something like this powerful dryad enables playing an additional land per turn as well as transforms your entire land base into every basic land type. It's also worth trying such as the enchantment A Realm Reborn, at a six-mana investment grants each permanent you control the ability to tap and generate a mana of any type — even each creature in play.

This card might seem overpowered regarding ramping up your mana generation, yet how do you win with this archetype? An often-seen solution already is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its power and toughness match how many lands you have, plus it turns all of your nontoken creatures Forests along with their original types. In other words, all your creatures you control is able to produce double green if used for mana.

This additional option provides a high-cost, powerful body that thrives with lots of lands (like Ashaya, P/T are equal to your land total).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World works perfectly as a go-to Planeswalker. Her passive ability causes every Forest produce extra green. (With a Badgermole Cub, that means those lands produce triple green.) Her main ability is essentially an early earthbend, adding counters to a noncreature land, which is great but does not overlap with the cub's ability. The minus ability, on the other hand, makes all of your lands indestructible and allows you to draw out all the remaining forests from your library. Should you manage to use this power, it’s pretty much you win.

This card is nearly mandatory for all green Avatar deck built around earthbend. When branching into red and green, there’s Bumi. This card features earthbend 4, plus if he deals combat damage in combat, each animated land untap and may attack once more. Even though Bumi has emerged as a popular Commander choice, the cub is set to be one of, if not the most desired card from this expansion.