One of Avatar's cutest collectible cards is a nasty compact force.

Magic: The Gathering’s collaboration with Avatar won’t hit the general market before the end of the week, but due to pre-releases over the last few days, one cheap green card saw a sharp rise in market worth.

From the initial reveals, Badgermole Cub drew widespread focus. A creature with stats 2/2 priced at one green and one colorless mana, Badgermole Cub features the Earthbend 1 ability (arguably the most effective of the set’s four “bending” mechanics). Its key advantage in its design comes from its second ability: Each time a creature is tapped to produce mana, add an additional green mana.

Initially, the card was available below $30. Following the early events, however, its value escalated above $45 including listings for sale at $60.00. The reason for Vivi prices for this little creature? Mostly due to the incredible mana acceleration it can produce.

Upon entering play, the cub converts a land to a creature land with earthbend. Combined with its other power, if it remains on the board, each affected land produces twice the mana — plus any creatures in your control that produce resources.

The obvious go-to for maximum effect includes the classic Llanowar Elves, a cheap 1/1 that produces a green resource. Yet there are plenty of alternative mana dorks in the game. Another option is a more expensive alternative a 1/3 creature costing two mana instead.

Using land cards, dorks that generate resources, alongside this card, you can easily get a massive and very expensive monster on the board within a few turns. And things just keep spiraling out of control with continued aggression from there.

When adding an additional hue using this method, examples including Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are all great options that can make any mana color. And something like this powerful dryad allows you to put another terrain each turn plus transforms all of your lands providing all land types. It's also worth trying for example the enchantment A Realm Reborn, at a six-mana investment provides every card you own the ability to tap and generate one mana of any color — including any creature you have on the board.

Badgermole Cub may be OP in terms of ramping up your mana generation, yet what’s the endgame finisher in such a strategy? A common and powerful choice already is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its power and toughness match how many lands you have, and it makes each creature you own Forests in addition to their other types. This means, each creature you control is able to produce double green when tapped.

Harmonious Grovestrider is a costly, large threat which gains from many terrain cards (as with the previous card, its stats are equal to the number of lands you control).

This Planeswalker fits really well as a staple. One of her abilities allows Forest lands tap for one more G. (If you have the cub, so each one yield three G.) Her main ability functions like a proto-earthbend, putting +1/+1 counters on a land, a useful effect though it doesn't stack with earthbend. The minus ability, however, makes all of your lands unbreakable enabling you to put onto the battlefield all the remaining forests from your library. Once you trigger this power, this typically means game over.

This card is a must-have in any green-based Avatar strategies built around Earthbending. When branching into red-green, there’s Bumi. This card features earthbend 4, plus if it hits a player to a player, all land creatures become untapped for another attack. Although this card is a beloved leader, the cub is definitely going to remain one of the most, maybe the sought-after card in the collaboration.

Edward Lopez
Edward Lopez

A seasoned writer and lifestyle consultant with a passion for sharing actionable tips and personal growth strategies.