One of the Avatar-themed most charming MTG cards is a formidable small contender.

the popular card game’s Avatar crossover set will not get a wider release in the coming days, however after prerelease weekends over the last few days, an affordable green creature has already exploded in price.

From the initial reveals, Badgermole Cub drew a lot of attention. A 2/2 priced at one green and one colorless mana, it features the Earthbend 1 ability (perhaps the best within the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The real boon here lies in another power: Whenever a creature is tapped to produce mana, you gain one extra green mana.

Initially, Badgermole Cub was available below $30. Post-prerelease, however, the market price escalated to nearly $50 with at least one listed as high as $60. The reason for Vivi prices for this little creature? Mostly due to the incredible mana acceleration it provides.

As it hits the board, the cub transforms a terrain card to a creature land granting it earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, while it stays in play, those lands produces twice the mana — along with other creatures in your control which tap for mana.

The obvious go-to to combine with includes this one-mana elf, a low-cost creature that produces one green mana. However there are plenty of alternative mana dorks out there. Druid of the Cowl is a more expensive alternative with stats 1/3 at a two-mana value as an alternative.

Deploying terrain, mana-producing creatures, plus the cub, you may quickly play an enormous pricey creature on the board by round three or four. Momentum builds out of control by maintaining dominance from there.

If you dip into a secondary color in this strategy, options such as these mana-fixing creatures are excellent picks that can make all five colors. And something like a useful enchantment creature allows you to put another terrain every round plus turns all of your lands into every basic land type. You can also consider such as the enchantment A Realm Reborn, which for six mana gives every card you own the ability to tap and generate any color mana — even each creature you have on the board.

This card might seem overpowered when it comes to ramping up your mana generation, but what closes out the game for a deck like this? A common and powerful choice has been Ashaya. Its power and toughness are set by the number of lands you control, plus it turns your non-token creatures Forests along with their original types. Essentially, all your creatures you control may produce double green by tapping.

Harmonious Grovestrider provides a high-cost, powerful body that thrives with many terrain cards (as with the previous card, its stats are equal to your land total).

This Planeswalker works perfectly as a go-to Planeswalker. One of her abilities allows every Forest generate an additional green mana. (With a Badgermole Cub, this results in those lands produce triple green.) Her plus ability is essentially a proto-earthbend, adding counters on a land, a useful effect but it isn't redundant with earthbend. Her -8 ability, however, grants each land you control immune to destruction and lets you search for every Forest left from your library. Should you manage to use this power, it’s pretty much you win.

This card is nearly mandatory in any decks using green and Avatar that use earthbend. When branching into red-green, consider Bumi Unleashed. He has earthbend 4, and when damage is dealt to a player, all land creatures are ready again for another attack. Even though Bumi is a fan favorite Commander, the cub will surely stay one of the most, maybe the desired card from this expansion.

Timothy Riley
Timothy Riley

A seasoned travel writer and luxury consultant with over a decade of experience exploring the world's most exclusive destinations.