One of Avatar's most charming Magic cards is a powerful small powerhouse.

the popular card game’s collaboration with Avatar will not get a wider release before the end of the week, however following early access events over the last few days, one cheap green card saw a sharp rise in price.

Throughout the spoiler season, the earthbending cub drew widespread focus. A 2/2 requiring a single green and one generic mana, it features the Earthbend 1 ability (arguably the strongest within the elemental mechanics available). Its key advantage with this card comes from an additional effect: Each time you tap a creature for mana, it provides bonus green mana.

Initially, this card sold at around $27. Following the early events, however, its value has shot up to nearly $50 with at least one listed as high as $60. Why are we seeing such high costs for this cute lil guy? Primarily due to the explosive mana ramping it enables.

When it arrives the board, Badgermole Cub turns one land so it becomes a creature with earthbend. Combined with its other power, as long as it is not removed, those lands produces twice the mana — along with any creatures you have which tap for mana.

A clear choice for synergy is the classic Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 that produces G mana. But there are plenty of alternative mana dorks out there. Druid of the Cowl is a higher-cost choice a 1/3 creature for two mana as an alternative.

By playing lands, dorks that generate resources, plus the cub, you may quickly play a very big and very expensive monster on the board by round three or four. Momentum builds out of control with continued aggression from there.

By incorporating a secondary color in this strategy, examples including these mana-fixing creatures are all great options that generate any mana color. And something like this powerful dryad allows you to put another terrain each turn plus transforms all of your lands into every basic land type. Another possibility is something like the enchantment A Realm Reborn, which for six mana grants all of your permanents the ability to tap and generate one mana of any color — even all creatures in play.

The cub could be too strong in terms of accelerating your resources, but what’s the endgame finisher in such a strategy? One obvious and popular answer already is this legendary creature. Its power and toughness are set by the number of lands you control, plus it turns each creature you own Forests in addition to their original types. In other words, all your creatures on your board is able to tap for two G by tapping.

This additional option is a costly, large threat that thrives with lots of lands (similar to Ashaya, its power and toughness are based on the number of lands you control).

This Planeswalker fits really well as a go-to Planeswalker. Her static effect makes all Forests generate an additional green mana. (If you have the cub, so each one yield three G.) Her plus ability is essentially a proto-earthbend, adding counters on a land, handy but it isn't redundant with the cub's ability. Her -8 ability, on the other hand, renders each land you control indestructible and lets you put onto the battlefield all the remaining forests in your deck. Should you manage to use that ability, it almost certainly you win.

This card is a must-have in any green Avatar deck built around the earthbend mechanic. When branching into Gruul colors, there’s Bumi. He has earthbend 4, and when damage is dealt to a player, all land creatures untap and can attack again. While that version has emerged as a popular Commander choice, this small creature will surely stay one of the most, maybe the popular pick in the collaboration.

Jared Jenkins
Jared Jenkins

Maya is a tech enthusiast and lifestyle blogger with a passion for sharing innovative ideas and practical advice.