One of the Avatar-themed most adorable MTG cards proves to be a powerful little force.
Magic: The Gathering’s Avatar crossover set won’t hit the general market in the coming days, however following pre-releases this past weekend, one cheap green card has already exploded in market worth.
Even during previews, the earthbending cub drew widespread focus. A 2/2 that costs one green and one colorless mana, Badgermole Cub has the Earthbend 1 ability (arguably the strongest among the four bending abilities in the set). The real boon here comes from another power: If a creature is tapped to produce mana, add an additional green mana.
Initially, Badgermole Cub was available below $30. Following the early events, however, its value jumped above $45 including listings as high as $60. The reason for such high costs for this cute lil guy? Primarily because of the incredible mana acceleration it can produce.
As it hits the battlefield, this creature turns a land so it becomes a creature granting it earthbend. Combined with its other power, if it is not removed, each affected land generates double mana — plus mana-producing creatures in your control that generate mana.
The obvious go-to for maximum effect is this one-mana elf, an inexpensive 1/1 that taps to generate G mana. However numerous creatures that make mana out there. Druid of the Cowl costs a bit more that’s a 1/3 for two mana as an alternative.
Using land cards, dorks that generate resources, and Badgermole Cub, you can easily get a very big and very expensive creature on the battlefield within a few turns. And things just keep spiraling out of control by maintaining dominance from there.
If you dip into a secondary color in this strategy, cards like Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid work perfectly that can make any color of mana. And something like this powerful dryad allows you to put an additional land every round AND turns your entire land base providing all land types. You can also consider for example this six-mana enchantment, costing six mana grants all of your permanents the ability to produce any color mana — which covers each creature you have on the board.
The cub could be too strong in terms of ramping up your mana generation, however what’s the endgame finisher for a deck like this? An often-seen solution has been this legendary creature. Its power and toughness are set by your land count, and it makes all of your nontoken creatures Forests in addition to their other types. In other words, every single creature in play may produce double green by tapping.
Harmonious Grovestrider provides a high-cost, powerful body that benefits from a high land count (like Ashaya, its power and toughness are equal to how many lands you have).
This Planeswalker fits really well as a staple. Her static effect allows Forest lands generate an additional green mana. (Combined with earthbend, that means those lands produce triple green.) Her plus ability is essentially a form of land animation, putting +1/+1 counters on a land, handy but does not overlap with earthbend. Her ultimate, on the other hand, renders each land you control indestructible and lets you draw out your remaining Forests in the deck. If you can actually activate the ultimate, it almost certainly game over.
Badgermole Cub is pretty much essential for any kind of decks using green and Avatar that use the earthbend mechanic. If you dip into red and green, consider Bumi. It possesses earthbend 4, and when it hits a player to a player, each animated land become untapped and can attack again. Even though Bumi is a popular Commander choice, the cub is definitely going to remain one of the most, maybe the sought-after card from this expansion.