Among Avatar's cutest collectible cards turns out to be a powerful compact powerhouse.

MTG’s collaboration with Avatar isn't set to become widely available in the coming days, but due to prerelease weekends over the last few days, one cheap green card has already exploded in price.

Even during previews, this small creature garnered significant interest. A creature with stats 2/2 that costs G and 1 mana, the card includes the Earthbend 1 ability (perhaps the most effective within the elemental mechanics available). The major perk here is another power: Each time you tap a creature for mana, it provides bonus green mana.

At its cheapest, Badgermole Cub sold at around $27. After the pre-release weekend, though, the going rate has shot up to $49.66 and one seller offering priced at sixty dollars. The reason for such high costs on this adorable card? Mostly due to the explosive mana ramping it can produce.

As it hits the battlefield, this creature converts one land to a creature land granting it earthbend. And with that second ability, if it is not removed, each affected land produces twice the mana — plus any creatures on your side which tap for mana.

A clear choice for maximum effect includes this one-mana elf, a cheap 1/1 that taps to generate G mana. Yet numerous alternative mana dorks in the game. This particular druid costs a bit more that’s a 1/3 costing two mana as an alternative.

Using land cards, mana-producing creatures, alongside this card, it's simple to summon a massive pricey threat on the board early in the game. Momentum builds out of control with continued aggression from there.

When adding another color using this method, examples including Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid work perfectly that can make any mana color. And something like this powerful dryad lets you play an additional land per turn AND turns all of your lands so they count as all basics. Another possibility is for example this six-mana enchantment, costing six mana provides all of your permanents the capacity to be tapped for one mana of any color — including each creature you have on the board.

Badgermole Cub may be OP in terms of accelerating your resources, but what’s the endgame finisher in such a strategy? An often-seen solution already is this legendary creature. Its stats are set by how many lands you have, and it changes each creature you own into Forests as well as other subtypes. This means, every single creature you control can tap for two G if used for mana.

Another creature is another expensive, beefy creature that thrives with many terrain cards (as with the previous card, P/T are equal to how many lands you have).

This Planeswalker is an excellent fit in this deck. Her static effect causes all Forests produce extra green. (Combined with earthbend, that means those lands generate three green mana.) Her plus ability is essentially a proto-earthbend, adding counters to a noncreature land, a useful effect but does not overlap with earthbending. Her -8 ability, though, grants your entire land base immune to destruction and lets you put onto the battlefield every Forest left in the deck. Once you trigger this power, it almost certainly you win.

The cub is a must-have for all decks using green and Avatar focusing on Earthbending. When branching into Gruul colors, you can use Bumi Unleashed. He has level 4 earthbending, and when damage is dealt to a player, each animated land are ready again for another attack. Even though Bumi has become a fan favorite Commander, this small creature will surely stay one of, if not the most desired card in the Avatar set.

Bruce Scott
Bruce Scott

A passionate esports enthusiast and tech reviewer with years of experience in competitive gaming and hardware analysis.