A standout from the Avatar-themed most adorable collectible cards proves to be a powerful compact contender.
MTG’s collaboration with Avatar will not get a wider release in the coming days, yet following pre-releases this past weekend, one cheap green card saw a sharp rise in price.
Throughout the spoiler season, the earthbending cub garnered widespread focus. This two-power, two-toughness that costs G and 1 mana, the card features the Earthbend 1 ability (perhaps the best within the elemental mechanics available). The real boon here is another power: If mana is generated by tapping a creature, you gain one extra green mana.
At its cheapest, the card could be purchased for $26.98. Post-prerelease, however, the going rate escalated to nearly $50 with at least one listed priced at sixty dollars. Why are we seeing Vivi prices on this adorable card? Mostly thanks to the incredible mana acceleration it can produce.
When it arrives the battlefield, the cub turns a land so it becomes a creature granting it earthbend. And with that second ability, while it is not removed, each affected land yields two mana instead of one — plus mana-producing creatures you have that generate mana.
A clear choice to combine with includes Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 that produces a green resource. Yet numerous other mana generation creatures in the game. Druid of the Cowl costs a bit more that’s a 1/3 costing two mana as an alternative.
Deploying terrain, mana-producing creatures, alongside this card, you may quickly play a massive and very expensive monster into play early in the game. The situation escalates exponentially by maintaining dominance from there.
When adding another color with this approach, cards like these mana-fixing creatures are excellent picks which produce any mana color. Additionally, a useful enchantment creature allows you to put an additional land each turn plus turns every land you control so they count as all basics. It's also worth trying such as a card called A Realm Reborn, costing six mana grants each permanent you control the power to produce any color mana — which covers each creature you have on the board.
Badgermole Cub could be too strong in terms of accelerating your resources, but how do you win for a deck like this? One obvious and popular answer is Ashaya. Its stats are both equal to the number of lands you control, plus it turns each creature you own into Forests along with their original types. This means, each creature on your board is able to produce double green by tapping.
This additional option provides a high-cost, powerful body which gains from a high land count (like Ashaya, its power and toughness are based on your land total).
Nissa works perfectly as a go-to Planeswalker. One of her abilities allows Forest lands produce extra green. (With a Badgermole Cub, this results in all earthbend forests produce triple green.) Her plus ability is essentially a form of land animation, putting +1/+1 counters on a land, a useful effect but it isn't redundant with earthbend. The minus ability, on the other hand, grants your entire land base unbreakable and allows you to put onto the battlefield every Forest left in the deck. If you can actually activate this power, it almost certainly game over.
The cub is nearly mandatory for all decks using green and Avatar that use Earthbending. If you dip into red-green, you can use this legendary card. It possesses earthbend 4, plus if he deals combat damage to an opponent, land creatures are ready again for another attack. Although this card has become a fan favorite Commander, this small creature is set to be among the top, possibly the popular pick in the collaboration.