🔗 Share this article

Magic: The Gathering’s collaboration with Avatar isn't set to become widely available before the end of the week, yet following prerelease weekends over the last few days, an affordable green creature has already exploded in price.

Throughout the spoiler season, the earthbending cub garnered widespread focus. A creature with stats 2/2 priced at a single green and one generic mana, Badgermole Cub has level 1 earthbending (possibly the best of the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The major perk with this card comes from another power: If a creature is tapped to produce mana, you gain one extra green mana.

At its cheapest, Badgermole Cub could be purchased for $26.98. Following the early events, yet, the going rate has shot up above $45 with at least one listed as high as $60. What explains such high costs for this cute lil guy? Mostly because of the explosive mana ramping it enables.

Upon entering the board, the cub transforms one land so it becomes a creature with earthbend. And with that second ability, as long as it is not removed, those lands produces twice the mana — plus mana-producing creatures on your side that generate mana.

A clear choice for synergy would be Llanowar Elves, a low-cost creature which can be tapped for a green resource. But many other mana generation creatures available. This particular druid is a more expensive alternative with stats 1/3 for two mana instead.

By playing lands, mana-producing creatures, plus the cub, you may quickly play a very big high-cost monster on the battlefield early in the game. And things just keep spiraling out of control by maintaining dominance after that.

By incorporating an additional hue using this method, cards like versatile mana producers are all great options which produce any mana color. Another card, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove lets you play one extra land every round as well as transforms every land you control into every basic land type. It's also worth trying something like the enchantment A Realm Reborn, at a six-mana investment grants all of your permanents the ability to be tapped for any color mana — even any creature under your control.

Badgermole Cub may be OP when it comes to boosting mana production, 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 match your land count, and it makes your non-token creatures to be Forests as well as other subtypes. Essentially, every single creature you control is able to produce double green if used for mana.

This additional option is a costly, large threat that thrives with a high land count (like Ashaya, P/T are based on the number of lands you control).

Nissa works perfectly as a staple. Her static effect allows all Forests tap for one more G. (Combined with earthbend, this results in all earthbend forests produce triple green.) One loyalty ability functions like a form of land animation, putting +1/+1 counters on terrain, which is great but does not overlap with the cub's ability. Her -8 ability, on the other hand, renders each land you control unbreakable enabling you to draw out every Forest left in the deck. Should you manage to use that ability, it’s pretty much game over.

The cub is pretty much essential in any decks using green and Avatar that use the earthbend mechanic. When branching into Gruul colors, you can use this legendary card. It possesses level 4 earthbending, plus if damage is dealt to an opponent, land creatures become untapped and may attack once more. Even though Bumi is a popular Commander choice, the cub will surely stay among the top, possibly the desired card in the Avatar set.