Among Avatar's cutest Magic cards proves to be a formidable small contender.

MTG’s special Avatar expansion will not become widely available until later this week, but due to pre-releases over the last few days, one cheap green card saw a sharp rise in price.

From the initial reveals, this small creature drew significant interest. A creature with stats 2/2 priced at G and 1 mana, it includes level 1 earthbending (possibly the strongest of the elemental mechanics available). The major perk with this card is its second ability: If a creature is tapped to produce mana, it provides bonus green mana.

When first listed, this card could be purchased below $30. Post-prerelease, yet, the going rate jumped above $45 including listings priced at sixty dollars. The reason for such high costs for this cute lil guy? Primarily thanks to the rapid resource generation it can produce.

Upon entering the board, Badgermole Cub transforms one land into a creature that has earthbending. Combined with its other power, while it remains on the board, those lands yields two mana instead of one — along with mana-producing creatures you have that generate mana.

The obvious go-to for maximum effect is the classic Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 that taps to generate a green resource. But numerous creatures that make mana out there. Another option is a more expensive alternative a 1/3 creature at a two-mana value as an alternative.

By playing lands, creatures that tap for mana, alongside this card, you can easily get an enormous pricey creature on the battlefield early in the game. And things just keep spiraling out of control if you keep the pressure on after that.

If you dip into an additional hue with this approach, cards like these mana-fixing creatures are excellent picks that can make any color of mana. Another card, this powerful dryad enables playing one extra land each turn plus turns all of your lands so they count as all basics. You can also consider such as the enchantment A Realm Reborn, costing six mana grants all of your permanents the power to produce a mana of any type — including any creature under your control.

This card could be too strong in terms of ramping up your mana generation, but how do you win in such a strategy? An often-seen solution is this legendary creature. Its stats are set by the number of lands you control, and it changes your non-token creatures to be Forests as well as their original types. In other words, every single creature in play can generate two green mana if used for mana.

This additional option is another expensive, beefy creature that thrives with lots of lands (like Ashaya, its stats match the number of lands you control).

This Planeswalker is an excellent fit in this deck. Her static effect makes Forest lands produce extra green. (If you have the cub, so those lands yield three G.) Her plus ability acts as a form of land animation, adding counters to a noncreature land, a useful effect but does not overlap with earthbend. Her ultimate, however, renders all of your lands unbreakable enabling you to put onto the battlefield every Forest left from your library. If you can actually activate that ability, it’s pretty much the game ends.

This card is nearly mandatory in any decks using green and Avatar built around the earthbend mechanic. By including Gruul colors, there’s this legendary card. It possesses level 4 earthbending, and if it hits a player in combat, land creatures become untapped and may attack once more. Even though Bumi has emerged as a fan favorite Commander, this small creature will surely stay one of the most, maybe the sought-after card in the collaboration.

Ashley Buchanan
Ashley Buchanan

A passionate gamer and writer specializing in strategy guides and game analysis.

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