🔗 Share this article

the popular card game’s special Avatar expansion will not hit the general market in the coming days, yet after pre-releases over the last few days, a low-cost green spell has already exploded in value.

Throughout the spoiler season, the earthbending cub attracted widespread focus. This two-power, two-toughness that costs one green and one colorless mana, the card features the Earthbend 1 ability (perhaps the most effective within the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The real boon in its design lies in its second ability: Each time a creature is tapped to produce mana, you gain one extra green mana.

At its cheapest, the card sold below $30. Following the early events, yet, the market price escalated to $49.66 including listings priced at sixty dollars. The reason for Vivi prices on this adorable card? Mostly due to the rapid resource generation it provides.

As it hits the battlefield, Badgermole Cub transforms one land to a creature land with earthbend. And with that second ability, while it stays in play, every earthbent land generates double mana — plus any creatures on your side which tap for mana.

The obvious go-to to combine with includes Llanowar Elves, a low-cost creature that taps to generate G mana. Yet numerous creatures that make mana available. Another option costs a bit more with stats 1/3 at a two-mana value as an alternative.

By playing lands, mana-producing creatures, plus the cub, you may quickly play an enormous and very expensive creature on the board early in the game. And things just keep spiraling exponentially if you keep the pressure on from there.

By incorporating another color using this method, options such as versatile mana producers work perfectly which produce all five colors. Another card, this powerful dryad lets you play another terrain per turn as well as turns all of your lands providing all land types. You can also consider for example this six-mana enchantment, which for six mana gives each permanent you control the power to be tapped for a mana of any type — even each creature in play.

The cub could be too strong in terms of ramping up your mana generation, but what’s the endgame finisher for a deck like this? A common and powerful choice already is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Power and toughness are both equal to your land count, plus it turns all of your nontoken creatures to be Forests as well as their original types. Essentially, every single creature on your board can tap for two G if used for mana.

Harmonious Grovestrider provides a high-cost, powerful body that benefits from a high land count (like Ashaya, P/T are equal to how many lands you have).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World fits really well in this deck. Her static effect makes all Forests generate an additional green mana. (If you have the cub, this results in all earthbend forests produce triple green.) One loyalty ability is essentially an early earthbend, placing counters to a noncreature land, a useful effect but does not overlap with the cub's ability. Her ultimate, though, renders all of your lands unbreakable and allows you to search for every Forest left in the deck. Should you manage to use the ultimate, it’s pretty much the game ends.

Badgermole Cub is pretty much essential in any green-based Avatar strategies that use Earthbending. By including red-green, you can use Bumi. This card features earthbend 4, and when it hits a player in combat, each animated land untap and can attack again. While that version has emerged as a beloved leader, the cub is set to be one of, if not the most desired card in the collaboration.