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the popular card game’s special Avatar expansion won’t get a wider release until later this week, but due to prerelease weekends this past weekend, a low-cost green spell has already exploded in market worth.

Throughout the spoiler season, this small creature attracted significant interest. A 2/2 priced at a single green and one generic mana, the card has level 1 earthbending (perhaps the most effective among the elemental mechanics available). The real boon with this card comes from an additional effect: Whenever you tap a creature for mana, add an additional green mana.

When first listed, Badgermole Cub could be purchased at around $27. Following the early events, though, the going rate escalated to nearly $50 and one seller offering for sale at $60.00. What explains premium pricing for this little creature? Mainly because of the incredible mana acceleration it provides.

Upon entering play, this creature transforms a land so it becomes a creature with earthbend. Combined with its other power, if it stays in play, each affected land yields two mana instead of one — in addition to any creatures in your control that produce resources.

The obvious go-to for synergy includes this one-mana elf, a cheap 1/1 that taps to generate G mana. However many other mana generation creatures available. This particular druid is a more expensive alternative a 1/3 creature at a two-mana value instead.

Using land cards, creatures that tap for mana, and Badgermole Cub, it's simple to summon a massive and very expensive threat on the battlefield within a few turns. The situation escalates exponentially with continued aggression from there.

If you dip into an additional hue in this strategy, cards like these mana-fixing creatures are excellent picks which produce all five colors. And something like a useful enchantment creature allows you to put one extra land each turn as well as transforms every land you control so they count as all basics. Another possibility is such as a card called A Realm Reborn, which for six mana gives each permanent you control the capacity to tap and generate a mana of any type — even any creature under your control.

Badgermole Cub could be too strong regarding ramping up your mana generation, yet what closes out the game in such a strategy? An often-seen solution has been this legendary creature. Its stats match your land count, and it changes all of your nontoken creatures to be Forests as well as other subtypes. This means, all your creatures in play may generate two green mana when tapped.

Another creature is another expensive, beefy creature which gains from a high land count (as with the previous card, its power and toughness are based on your land total).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World works perfectly as a go-to Planeswalker. Her passive ability causes Forest lands tap for one more G. (If you have the cub, that means each one yield three G.) One loyalty ability is essentially a proto-earthbend, adding counters to a noncreature land, which is great but it isn't redundant with earthbending. Her -8 ability, however, grants your entire land base indestructible and allows you to draw out all the remaining forests in the deck. Should you manage to use that ability, this typically means the game ends.

This card is nearly mandatory in any green-based Avatar strategies focusing on the earthbend mechanic. If you dip into red and green, there’s Bumi Unleashed. It possesses earthbend 4, and when he deals combat damage to a player, all land creatures become untapped for another attack. Even though Bumi is a beloved leader, the cub is definitely going to remain one of the most, maybe the popular pick in the collaboration.