MTG’s special Avatar expansion isn't set to become widely available until later this week, yet after pre-releases over the last few days, an affordable green creature saw a sharp rise in value.
From the initial reveals, this small creature attracted a lot of attention. A 2/2 requiring a single green and one generic mana, it features the Earthbend 1 ability (perhaps the most effective among the four bending abilities in the set). Its key advantage in its design lies in an additional effect: Each time you tap a creature for mana, you gain one extra green mana.
At its cheapest, this card was available below $30. Following the early events, yet, the going rate escalated above $45 including listings for sale at $60.00. Why are we seeing such high costs for this cute lil guy? Mostly because of the rapid resource generation it can produce.
Upon entering play, the cub turns one land to a creature land with earthbend. Combined with its other power, while it stays in play, each affected land produces twice the mana — in addition to any creatures on your side which tap for mana.
The obvious go-to to combine with would be this one-mana elf, a low-cost creature that taps to generate a green resource. But there are plenty of alternative mana dorks out there. This particular druid is a higher-cost choice that’s a 1/3 for two mana as an alternative.
Deploying terrain, creatures that tap for mana, alongside this card, you can easily get a massive high-cost threat into play within a few turns. Momentum builds rapidly by maintaining dominance after that.
If you dip into a secondary color with this approach, cards like Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are all great options which produce any color of mana. Additionally, a useful enchantment creature enables playing one extra land every round as well as turns all of your lands into every basic land type. Another possibility is something like a card called A Realm Reborn, which for six mana provides all of your permanents the power to produce one mana of any color — which covers any creature you have on the board.
The cub might seem overpowered when it comes to boosting mana production, yet what closes out the game for a deck like this? One obvious and popular answer has been Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its power and toughness match how many lands you have, plus it turns your non-token creatures Forests as well as their other types. In other words, each creature in play may tap for two G if used for mana.
This additional option provides a high-cost, powerful body that thrives with lots of lands (like Ashaya, its power and toughness match the number of lands you control).
This Planeswalker is an excellent fit as a go-to Planeswalker. Her passive ability makes all Forests generate an additional green mana. (If you have the cub, this results in each one produce triple green.) Her main ability is essentially a form of land animation, putting +1/+1 counters on terrain, which is great though it doesn't stack with earthbend. Her -8 ability, on the other hand, renders all of your lands indestructible and lets you draw out your remaining Forests from your library. Once you trigger that ability, it’s pretty much game over.
Badgermole Cub is a must-have in any green Avatar deck that use Earthbending. By including Gruul colors, you can use Bumi Unleashed. It possesses earthbend 4, and if it hits a player in combat, each animated land become untapped and may attack once more. While that version is a fan favorite Commander, this small creature will surely stay among the top, possibly the desired card in the Avatar set.
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