One of Avatar's most adorable MTG cards turns out to be a nasty compact force.
the popular card game’s collaboration with Avatar isn't set to become widely available in the coming days, but following early access events this past weekend, one cheap green card has already exploded in price.
Even during previews, Badgermole Cub drew widespread focus. A creature with stats 2/2 requiring one green and one colorless mana, it includes level 1 earthbending (perhaps the strongest among the four bending abilities in the set). Its key advantage in its design comes from an additional effect: Whenever a creature is tapped to produce mana, it provides bonus green mana.
When first listed, this card could be purchased below $30. Post-prerelease, though, the market price has shot up above $45 including listings for sale at $60.00. Why are we seeing premium pricing for this cute lil guy? Mainly due to the explosive mana ramping it enables.
When it arrives play, Badgermole Cub converts a terrain card to a creature land that has earthbending. And with that second ability, while it remains on the board, every earthbent land generates double mana — plus other creatures in your control that produce resources.
A clear choice for synergy includes this one-mana elf, a low-cost creature that taps to generate G mana. Yet there are plenty of alternative mana dorks available. Druid of the Cowl costs a bit more that’s a 1/3 for two mana instead.
By playing lands, dorks that generate resources, and Badgermole Cub, you can easily get an enormous pricey monster on the battlefield early in the game. Momentum builds out of control if you keep the pressure on from that point.
When adding another color in this strategy, examples including Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are excellent picks that generate any mana color. And something like a useful enchantment creature lets you play an additional land every round plus turns your entire land base providing all land types. You can also consider for example the enchantment A Realm Reborn, costing six mana provides each permanent you control the capacity to tap and generate a mana of any type — including each creature under your control.
Badgermole Cub could be too strong regarding ramping up your mana generation, but what’s the endgame finisher in such a strategy? A common and powerful choice has been Ashaya. Power and toughness are set by your land count, plus it turns each creature you own into Forests as well as their other types. This means, each creature you control can tap for two G if used for mana.
Another creature provides a high-cost, powerful body that benefits from lots of lands (as with the previous card, its stats are equal to how many lands you have).
This Planeswalker works perfectly in this deck. Her static effect causes all Forests generate an additional green mana. (If you have the cub, that means each one yield three G.) Her main ability is essentially a form of land animation, adding counters to a noncreature land, handy but does not overlap with earthbending. Her -8 ability, though, makes all of your lands indestructible and allows you to put onto the battlefield all the remaining forests from your library. If you can actually activate this power, it almost certainly game over.
This card is a must-have for all decks using green and Avatar that use Earthbending. If you dip into red-green, consider Bumi Unleashed. He has earthbend 4, and when he deals combat damage to a player, all land creatures are ready again and can attack again. While that version has emerged as a fan favorite Commander, the cute little Badgermole Cub will surely stay one of, if not the most desired card from this expansion.