🔗 Share this article

MTG’s Avatar crossover set will not get a wider release before the end of the week, but due to pre-releases this past weekend, one cheap green card has already exploded in value.

Even during previews, Badgermole Cub attracted significant interest. A creature with stats 2/2 that costs one green and one colorless mana, Badgermole Cub has Earthbending 1 (possibly the best of the elemental mechanics available). The real boon here is its second ability: Whenever you tap a creature for mana, you gain one extra green mana.

At its cheapest, Badgermole Cub could be purchased at around $27. Post-prerelease, though, the market price has shot up to $49.66 with at least one listed for sale at $60.00. What explains such high costs on this adorable card? Mainly due to the rapid resource generation it can produce.

When it arrives the board, the cub turns one land into a creature with earthbend. And with that second ability, while it is not removed, each affected land yields two mana instead of one — along with other creatures you have which tap for mana.

The obvious go-to to combine with includes Llanowar Elves, a low-cost creature that produces G mana. Yet many alternative mana dorks available. This particular druid costs a bit more a 1/3 creature for two mana instead.

Deploying terrain, creatures that tap for mana, plus the cub, you may quickly play an enormous pricey monster on the board within a few turns. The situation escalates rapidly by maintaining dominance from that point.

By incorporating another color using this method, cards like Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid work perfectly that generate all five colors. Another card, this powerful dryad allows you to put another terrain per turn AND makes all of your lands so they count as all basics. Another possibility is such as the enchantment A Realm Reborn, at a six-mana investment grants each permanent you control the power to tap and generate any color mana — including all creatures you have on the board.

Badgermole Cub might seem overpowered in terms of accelerating your resources, however how do you win in such a strategy? A common and powerful choice has been Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its stats match how many lands you have, plus it turns your non-token creatures Forests as well as other subtypes. This means, each creature on your board may generate two green mana if used for mana.

Harmonious Grovestrider is another expensive, beefy creature that thrives with a high land count (similar to Ashaya, its power and toughness are equal to how many lands you have).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World works perfectly in this deck. Her passive ability causes all Forests produce extra green. (With a Badgermole Cub, this results in those lands yield three G.) Her plus ability is essentially an early earthbend, placing counters on terrain, a useful effect though it doesn't stack with earthbend. Her -8 ability, however, grants each land you control immune to destruction and lets you put onto the battlefield your remaining Forests in the deck. Once you trigger that ability, it’s pretty much game over.

The cub is a must-have for all decks using green and Avatar built around earthbend. By including red and green, there’s Bumi. It possesses earthbend 4, and if damage is dealt in combat, each animated land untap for another attack. Even though Bumi has emerged as a popular Commander choice, the cub is definitely going to remain one of, if not the most sought-after card in the collaboration.