🔗 Share this article

the popular card game’s Avatar crossover set isn't set to hit the general market in the coming days, however following prerelease weekends recently, one cheap green card experienced a surge in price.

From the initial reveals, the earthbending cub drew significant interest. A creature with stats 2/2 priced at one green and one colorless mana, the card features level 1 earthbending (perhaps the best of the elemental mechanics available). The real boon with this card is its second ability: If a creature is tapped to produce mana, you gain one extra green mana.

When first listed, this card was available below $30. Following the early events, yet, the going rate jumped to nearly $50 including listings priced at sixty dollars. What explains Vivi prices on this adorable card? Mostly thanks to the explosive mana ramping it enables.

Upon entering play, Badgermole Cub turns a land so it becomes a creature with earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, while it stays in play, each affected land yields two mana instead of one — plus any creatures you have that produce resources.

A clear choice for maximum effect includes Llanowar Elves, a cheap 1/1 which can be tapped for G mana. Yet numerous alternative mana dorks available. This particular druid costs a bit more that’s a 1/3 for two mana instead.

By playing lands, mana-producing creatures, plus the cub, it's simple to summon an enormous and very expensive creature into play by round three or four. Momentum builds out of control if you keep the pressure on after that.

By incorporating an additional hue using this method, options such as versatile mana producers are all great options that generate any mana color. Additionally, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove allows you to put an additional land each turn AND turns your entire land base into every basic land type. It's also worth trying such as the enchantment A Realm Reborn, which for six mana gives all of your permanents the ability to tap and generate any color mana — which covers any creature in play.

Badgermole Cub could be too strong in terms of ramping up your mana generation, however what closes out the game for a deck like this? An often-seen solution already is this legendary creature. Its power and toughness match your land count, and it makes each creature you own to be Forests along with their other types. Essentially, every single creature in play is able to generate two green mana by tapping.

Another creature is a costly, large threat that thrives with lots of lands (like Ashaya, its power and toughness are based on the number of lands you control).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World works perfectly as a go-to Planeswalker. Her passive ability makes all Forests tap for one more G. (With a Badgermole Cub, that means all earthbend forests yield three G.) Her plus ability functions like a form of land animation, placing counters on a land, a useful effect but does not overlap with earthbend. The minus ability, on the other hand, renders each land you control unbreakable and allows you to search for all the remaining forests in your deck. If you can actually activate that ability, it almost certainly the game ends.

Badgermole Cub is nearly mandatory for all green Avatar deck built around the earthbend mechanic. When branching into red-green, you can use Bumi Unleashed. He has earthbend 4, plus if damage is dealt to an opponent, all land creatures untap and can attack again. Even though Bumi has emerged as a fan favorite Commander, the cute little Badgermole Cub will surely stay among the top, possibly the popular pick in the Avatar set.