A standout from the Avatar-themed cutest collectible cards turns out to be a formidable compact force.
Magic: The Gathering’s special Avatar expansion will not hit the general market until later this week, but due to early access events this past weekend, a low-cost green spell saw a sharp rise in market worth.
From the initial reveals, the earthbending cub attracted widespread focus. A 2/2 that costs G and 1 mana, the card features level 1 earthbending (perhaps the best within the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The major perk here comes from an additional effect: Each time mana is generated by tapping a creature, it provides bonus green mana.
When first listed, this card sold below $30. Post-prerelease, however, its value has shot up to $49.66 including listings as high as $60. Why are we seeing premium pricing on this adorable card? Mostly because of the incredible mana acceleration it can produce.
As it hits the board, this creature converts one land to a creature land granting it earthbend. And with that second ability, if it is not removed, those lands yields two mana instead of one — in addition to mana-producing creatures on your side which tap for mana.
A clear choice to combine with includes this one-mana elf, a low-cost creature that produces one green mana. However many alternative mana dorks out there. Another option costs a bit more that’s a 1/3 at a two-mana value as an alternative.
Deploying terrain, mana-producing creatures, alongside this card, you can easily get a very big high-cost creature on the board early in the game. And things just keep spiraling rapidly with continued aggression from that point.
If you dip into a secondary color in this strategy, cards like versatile mana producers work perfectly that generate any color of mana. Additionally, a useful enchantment creature allows you to put an additional land each turn as well as transforms your entire land base into every basic land type. You can also consider such as the enchantment A Realm Reborn, costing six mana grants every card you own the capacity to tap and generate one mana of any color — including each creature in play.
The cub may be OP when it comes to boosting mana production, however what closes out the game in such a strategy? A common and powerful choice is this legendary creature. Power and toughness are set by how many lands you have, and it makes each creature you own to be Forests in addition to their other types. This means, each creature you control may generate two green mana if used for mana.
Another creature provides a high-cost, powerful body which gains from lots of lands (like Ashaya, P/T match how many lands you have).
Nissa is an excellent fit in this deck. Her static effect causes every Forest tap for one more G. (Combined with earthbend, this results in those lands produce triple green.) Her plus ability is essentially an early earthbend, putting +1/+1 counters on terrain, a useful effect but does not overlap with earthbend. The minus ability, though, makes all of your lands unbreakable and lets you put onto the battlefield all the remaining forests from your library. If you can actually activate this power, it’s pretty much the game ends.
This card is pretty much essential for all decks using green and Avatar focusing on the earthbend mechanic. If you dip into Gruul colors, consider Bumi Unleashed. This card features earthbend 4, and if it hits a player to an opponent, each animated land become untapped and may attack once more. Even though Bumi has emerged as a beloved leader, the cub is set to be one of the most, maybe the desired card from this expansion.