🔗 Share this article

the popular card game’s collaboration with Avatar won’t become widely available before the end of the week, but after pre-releases this past weekend, one cheap green card experienced a surge in price.

Even during previews, the earthbending cub drew widespread focus. A 2/2 that costs one green and one colorless mana, it features level 1 earthbending (possibly the best within the four bending abilities in the set). Its key advantage in its design is an additional effect: If mana is generated by tapping a creature, you gain one extra green mana.

Initially, this card sold for $26.98. Post-prerelease, yet, the market price escalated to nearly $50 and one seller offering for sale at $60.00. Why are we seeing premium pricing for this little creature? Mainly thanks to the rapid resource generation it provides.

When it arrives the board, this creature turns one land into a creature granting it earthbend. And with that second ability, if it remains on the board, those lands yields two mana instead of one — along with other creatures on your side that generate mana.

A clear choice for synergy is the classic Llanowar Elves, a cheap 1/1 which can be tapped for G mana. Yet many other mana generation creatures in the game. Another option is a more expensive alternative that’s a 1/3 for two mana instead.

Deploying terrain, mana-producing creatures, alongside this card, you may quickly play a very big high-cost threat into play by round three or four. Momentum builds exponentially with continued aggression from there.

When adding another color using this method, examples including versatile mana producers are all great options which produce any mana color. And something like Dryad of the Ilysian Grove enables playing another terrain every round AND transforms all of your lands into every basic land type. Another possibility is such as this six-mana enchantment, which for six mana provides each permanent you control the power to tap and generate a mana of any type — which covers any creature under your control.

The cub might seem overpowered regarding ramping up your mana generation, but what closes out the game for a deck like this? An often-seen solution is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Power and toughness are both equal to the number of lands you control, plus it turns your non-token creatures into Forests along with other subtypes. Essentially, every single creature on your board can produce double green when tapped.

Another creature is a costly, large threat that benefits from lots of lands (like Ashaya, its power and toughness are based on your land total).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World fits really well as a go-to Planeswalker. Her passive ability allows Forest lands tap for one more G. (With a Badgermole Cub, this results in all earthbend forests produce triple green.) Her main ability functions like an early earthbend, placing counters on terrain, which is great but does not overlap with earthbend. The minus ability, however, renders each land you control unbreakable and allows you to put onto the battlefield your remaining Forests from your library. If you can actually activate the ultimate, it’s pretty much the game ends.

The cub is nearly mandatory in any green Avatar deck focusing on the earthbend mechanic. By including red-green, there’s this legendary card. It possesses earthbend 4, and if he deals combat damage to a player, all land creatures are ready again and may attack once more. Even though Bumi has emerged as a fan favorite Commander, the cute little Badgermole Cub is set to be one of, if not the most sought-after card in the collaboration.