🔗 Share this article

MTG’s special Avatar expansion will not hit the general market until later this week, but due to prerelease weekends over the last few days, an affordable green creature saw a sharp rise in price.

Throughout the spoiler season, this small creature attracted a lot of attention. A 2/2 that costs a single green and one generic mana, it has Earthbending 1 (possibly the best within the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The major perk in its design is its second ability: If mana is generated by tapping a creature, you gain one extra green mana.

When first listed, the card could be purchased below $30. After the pre-release weekend, yet, its value has shot up to nearly $50 including listings priced at sixty dollars. What explains Vivi prices on this adorable card? Mostly thanks to the explosive mana ramping it provides.

Upon entering the battlefield, Badgermole Cub transforms a land so it becomes a creature granting it earthbend. And with that second ability, if it is not removed, each affected land yields two mana instead of one — along with other creatures on your side that generate mana.

An ideal partner for maximum effect includes the classic Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 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 higher-cost choice a 1/3 creature for two mana in comparison.

Using land cards, dorks that generate resources, plus the cub, you may quickly play an enormous high-cost monster on the battlefield by round three or four. And things just keep spiraling rapidly by maintaining dominance from there.

By incorporating another color using this method, cards like Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid work perfectly which produce all five colors. Additionally, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove lets you play an additional land every round AND turns every land you control providing all land types. Another possibility is something like this six-mana enchantment, at a six-mana investment provides every card you own the ability to produce any color mana — including any creature you have on the board.

This card might seem overpowered in terms of boosting mana production, but how do you win in such a strategy? A common and powerful choice already is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its stats match your land count, and it changes all of your nontoken creatures Forests along with their original types. This means, each creature you control may produce double green when tapped.

This additional option is another expensive, beefy creature that thrives with many terrain cards (similar to Ashaya, its power and toughness match how many lands you have).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World fits really well as a staple. One of her abilities causes Forest lands tap for one more G. (If you have the cub, that means all earthbend forests yield three G.) One loyalty ability is essentially a proto-earthbend, placing counters to a noncreature land, a useful effect but does not overlap with earthbending. Her -8 ability, though, renders your entire land base indestructible and lets you draw out every Forest left from your library. If you can actually activate that ability, it’s pretty much game over.

Badgermole Cub is nearly mandatory for all green-based Avatar strategies built around Earthbending. If you dip into red and green, consider this legendary card. This card features earthbend 4, and when he deals combat damage in combat, all land creatures become untapped and may attack once more. Even though Bumi has emerged as a popular Commander choice, this small creature will surely stay one of, if not the most sought-after card in the Avatar set.