🔗 Share this article

Magic: The Gathering’s special Avatar expansion isn't set to hit the general market until later this week, yet following prerelease weekends over the last few days, one cheap green card has already exploded in market worth.

Throughout the spoiler season, Badgermole Cub drew significant interest. This two-power, two-toughness that costs one green and one colorless mana, it features Earthbending 1 (possibly the strongest of the elemental mechanics available). Its key advantage here lies in another power: Each time a creature is tapped to produce mana, you gain one extra green mana.

At its cheapest, the card could be purchased below $30. After the pre-release weekend, however, the market price jumped to nearly $50 and one seller offering as high as $60. Why are we seeing premium pricing on this adorable card? Mostly because of the rapid resource generation it provides.

When it arrives play, Badgermole Cub transforms a terrain card to a creature land granting it earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, while it remains on the board, each affected land generates double mana — along with other creatures you have that generate mana.

The obvious go-to to combine with is Llanowar Elves, a low-cost creature that taps to generate a green resource. But there are plenty of alternative mana dorks in the game. This particular druid costs a bit more with stats 1/3 costing two mana in comparison.

Using land cards, dorks that generate resources, plus the cub, you may quickly play a very big pricey monster on the battlefield early in the game. And things just keep spiraling rapidly by maintaining dominance from that point.

If you dip into another color in this strategy, cards like these mana-fixing creatures are excellent picks which produce all five colors. And something like Dryad of the Ilysian Grove enables playing another terrain each turn plus turns your entire land base so they count as all basics. You can also consider something like a card called A Realm Reborn, costing six mana provides all of your permanents the capacity to be tapped for one mana of any color — including any creature you have on the board.

Badgermole Cub might seem overpowered when it comes to accelerating your resources, yet what closes out the game for a deck like this? An often-seen solution is this legendary creature. Power and toughness match the number of lands you control, and it changes each creature you own into Forests in addition to their other types. In other words, each creature you control can produce double green by tapping.

Another creature provides a high-cost, powerful body that benefits from many terrain cards (similar to Ashaya, its stats are equal to your land total).

Nissa works perfectly in this deck. Her passive ability makes Forest lands tap for one more G. (If you have the cub, this results in those lands yield three G.) Her main ability is essentially an early earthbend, adding counters on terrain, which is great though it doesn't stack with the cub's ability. Her -8 ability, however, grants each land you control unbreakable enabling you to draw out your remaining Forests from your library. Should you manage to use this power, it almost certainly you win.

This card is a must-have for any kind of green Avatar deck focusing on earthbend. By including red and green, you can use Bumi Unleashed. He has earthbend 4, plus if he deals combat damage to a player, each animated land become untapped and can attack again. Even though Bumi has become a popular Commander choice, the cub is definitely going to remain one of the most, maybe the popular pick from this expansion.