Magic: The Gathering’s Avatar crossover set won’t get a wider release until later this week, but following pre-releases this past weekend, one cheap green card has already exploded in value.
Even during previews, Badgermole Cub attracted a lot of attention. A 2/2 that costs one green and one colorless mana, Badgermole Cub has Earthbending 1 (arguably the best among the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The real boon here is its second ability: Whenever you tap a creature for mana, add an additional green mana.
At its cheapest, the card sold on TCGplayer for $26.98. After the pre-release weekend, however, the market price has shot up to $49.66 with at least one listed for sale at $60.00. Why are we seeing Vivi prices for this cute lil guy? Mainly because of the explosive mana ramping it can produce.
Upon entering, Badgermole Cub transforms a land into a creature with earthbend. And with that second ability, as long as it remains on the board, every earthbent land produces twice the mana — along with any creatures you have that generate mana.
The obvious go-to for synergy is Llanowar Elves, a cheap 1/1 that taps to generate one green mana. But there are plenty of other mana generation creatures out there. Druid of the Cowl is a more expensive alternative that’s a 1/3 for two mana instead.
By playing lands, creatures that tap for mana, and Badgermole Cub, you can easily get a very big and very expensive creature on the board by round three or four. And things just keep spiraling out of control if you keep the pressure on from there.
If you dip into a secondary color with this approach, cards like Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are all great options that generate any mana color. And something like Dryad of the Ilysian Grove lets you play an additional land each turn AND transforms all of your lands into every basic land type. You can also consider something like the enchantment A Realm Reborn, which for six mana gives all of your permanents the ability to tap and generate one mana of any color — including any creature you have on the board.
Badgermole Cub may be OP in terms of ramping up your mana generation, but what’s the endgame finisher for a deck like this? One obvious and popular answer already is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its power and toughness are both equal to the number of lands you control, and it makes all of your nontoken creatures Forests in addition to their other types. In other words, every single creature on your board is able to generate two green mana by tapping.
Harmonious Grovestrider is another expensive, beefy creature that benefits from lots of lands (like Ashaya, its power and toughness are equal to the number of lands you control).
Nissa, Who Shakes the World fits really well as a go-to Planeswalker. Her passive ability makes all Forests generate an additional green mana. (With a Badgermole Cub, that means all earthbend forests generate three green mana.) Her main ability is essentially a proto-earthbend, adding counters to a noncreature land, which is great but does not overlap with earthbending. Her -8 ability, however, makes all of your lands indestructible and allows you to draw out all the remaining forests in your deck. If you can actually activate that ability, it’s pretty much game over.
Badgermole Cub is pretty much essential for any kind of green Avatar deck focusing on Earthbending. If you dip into red-green, there’s Bumi Unleashed. He has earthbend 4, and if he deals combat damage to a player, all land creatures untap and can attack again. While that version of Bumi has emerged as a fan favorite Commander, the cute little Badgermole Cub is definitely going to remain one of, if not the most sought-after card in the Avatar set.
