One of Avatar's cutest Magic cards turns out to be a nasty small powerhouse.

MTG’s Avatar crossover set will not hit the general market in the coming days, but after pre-releases this past weekend, one cheap green card has already exploded in value.

Even during previews, Badgermole Cub drew significant interest. This two-power, two-toughness priced at G and 1 mana, it features level 1 earthbending (arguably the strongest within the elemental mechanics available). The major perk with this card is its second ability: Each time a creature is tapped to produce mana, add an additional green mana.

At its cheapest, Badgermole Cub sold below $30. After the pre-release weekend, however, its value has shot up to $49.66 with at least one listed for sale at $60.00. What explains Vivi prices for this little creature? Primarily because of the incredible mana acceleration it provides.

When it arrives the board, this creature transforms a terrain card to a creature land that has earthbending. And with that second ability, while it stays in play, each affected land produces twice the mana — in addition to mana-producing creatures you have which tap for mana.

An ideal partner for synergy is the classic Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 that produces a green resource. Yet numerous creatures that make mana available. This particular druid is a higher-cost choice with stats 1/3 for two mana in comparison.

Using land cards, dorks that generate resources, alongside this card, you may quickly play a massive and very expensive monster into play by round three or four. The situation escalates rapidly with continued aggression from there.

When adding a secondary color using this method, cards like Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are excellent picks that generate all five colors. Another card, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove lets you play another terrain each turn AND transforms all of your lands into every basic land type. It's also worth trying such as this six-mana enchantment, which for six mana gives all of your permanents the ability to tap and generate one mana of any color — which covers all creatures under your control.

This card could be too strong when it comes to accelerating your resources, yet how do you win with this archetype? An often-seen solution is Ashaya. Power and toughness are set by your land count, and it makes all of your nontoken creatures to be Forests in addition to their original types. In other words, all your creatures you control can tap for two G by tapping.

Harmonious Grovestrider is another expensive, beefy creature that thrives with a high land count (similar to Ashaya, its stats match the number of lands you control).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World works perfectly in this deck. Her static effect causes all Forests tap for one more G. (If you have the cub, that means those lands generate three green mana.) Her plus ability is essentially a form of land animation, putting +1/+1 counters to a noncreature land, a useful effect but does not overlap with earthbending. The minus ability, however, grants your entire land base unbreakable and lets you put onto the battlefield all the remaining forests in your deck. If you can actually activate that ability, it’s pretty much game over.

This card is a must-have for any kind of decks using green and Avatar focusing on earthbend. If you dip into red and green, consider this legendary card. This card features level 4 earthbending, and if he deals combat damage to a player, land creatures are ready again and may attack once more. While that version has emerged as a beloved leader, the cub will surely stay one of, if not the most popular pick in the collaboration.

James Alvarez
James Alvarez

A seasoned poker strategist with over a decade of experience in competitive online gaming and coaching.