🔗 Share this article

the popular card game’s Avatar crossover set will not get a wider release in the coming days, however after pre-releases over the last few days, an affordable green creature experienced a surge in market worth.

Even during previews, this small creature drew a lot of attention. A 2/2 that costs G and 1 mana, the card features the Earthbend 1 ability (arguably the strongest within the four bending abilities in the set). The major perk with this card comes from another power: Each time a creature is tapped to produce mana, you gain one extra green mana.

At its cheapest, the card sold at around $27. After the pre-release weekend, though, the market price jumped to $49.66 including listings as high as $60. The reason for premium pricing for this cute lil guy? Mostly thanks to the incredible mana acceleration it can produce.

Upon entering play, Badgermole Cub converts a land to a creature land that has earthbending. And with that second ability, if it remains on the board, those lands yields two mana instead of one — plus other creatures in your control that produce resources.

A clear choice for maximum effect would be the classic Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 that taps to generate a green resource. However numerous alternative mana dorks out there. This particular druid is a higher-cost choice a 1/3 creature at a two-mana value in comparison.

By playing lands, mana-producing creatures, and Badgermole Cub, you may quickly play a very big high-cost threat on the board early in the game. The situation escalates out of control by maintaining dominance after that.

If you dip into another color using this method, options such as versatile mana producers are all great options which produce any mana color. Another card, this powerful dryad lets you play one extra land every round plus turns every land you control into every basic land type. You can also consider for example this six-mana enchantment, costing six mana gives all of your permanents the power to tap and generate any color mana — including any creature in play.

This card could be too strong regarding accelerating your resources, yet what closes out the game in such a strategy? A common and powerful choice is this legendary creature. Power and toughness are both equal to how many lands you have, plus it turns all of your nontoken creatures Forests in addition to their original types. Essentially, every single creature in play may tap for two G when tapped.

Another creature provides a high-cost, powerful body that benefits from lots of lands (as with the previous card, P/T match the number of lands you control).

Nissa is an excellent fit as a staple. Her static effect makes all Forests produce extra green. (Combined with earthbend, that means each one produce triple green.) Her plus ability acts as a proto-earthbend, adding counters to a noncreature land, a useful effect but it isn't redundant with earthbending. Her ultimate, though, makes your entire land base indestructible and lets you draw out all the remaining forests in your deck. If you can actually activate that ability, it’s pretty much the game ends.

Badgermole Cub is nearly mandatory for all decks using green and Avatar built around earthbend. If you dip into red and green, there’s Bumi Unleashed. This card features level 4 earthbending, plus if damage is dealt to an opponent, land creatures become untapped and can attack again. While that version is a fan favorite Commander, the cub will surely stay one of the most, maybe the popular pick from this expansion.