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the popular card game’s collaboration with Avatar isn't set to become widely available before the end of the week, but following prerelease weekends recently, a low-cost green spell saw a sharp rise in value.

Even during previews, this small creature drew a lot of attention. This two-power, two-toughness that costs one green and one colorless mana, Badgermole Cub has level 1 earthbending (perhaps the strongest within the four bending abilities in the set). Its key advantage here comes from another power: If you tap a creature for mana, it provides bonus green mana.

When first listed, the card could be purchased for $26.98. Following the early events, yet, its value jumped to $49.66 with at least one listed as high as $60. The reason for premium pricing for this cute lil guy? Mainly thanks to the rapid resource generation it can produce.

When it arrives the board, Badgermole Cub turns a land so it becomes a creature that has earthbending. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, while it stays in play, each affected land produces twice the mana — in addition to any creatures on your side that produce resources.

An ideal partner for maximum effect includes this one-mana elf, a cheap 1/1 which can be tapped for a green resource. But many other mana generation creatures out there. Druid of the Cowl is a higher-cost choice that’s a 1/3 costing two mana instead.

By playing lands, creatures that tap for mana, and Badgermole Cub, you may quickly play a very big and very expensive creature into play within a few turns. Momentum builds out of control with continued aggression from there.

When adding a secondary color using this method, cards like versatile mana producers work perfectly that can make any mana color. And something like Dryad of the Ilysian Grove enables playing one extra land every round plus transforms every land you control so they count as all basics. You can also consider for example this six-mana enchantment, costing six mana grants every card you own the ability to be tapped for one mana of any color — even all creatures under your control.

This card may be OP regarding boosting mana production, yet how do you win in such a strategy? One obvious and popular answer has been this legendary creature. Its stats match how many lands you have, and it makes your non-token creatures Forests as well as their original types. This means, every single creature in play may produce double green if used for mana.

Another creature provides a high-cost, powerful body that thrives with a high land count (like Ashaya, its stats match how many lands you have).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World is an excellent fit in this deck. One of her abilities makes all Forests tap for one more G. (If you have the cub, so each one generate three green mana.) One loyalty ability acts as an early earthbend, adding counters on terrain, which is great but does not overlap with earthbending. The minus ability, though, makes all of your lands immune to destruction enabling you to put onto the battlefield all the remaining forests from your library. Should you manage to use this power, it almost certainly game over.

The cub is pretty much essential for any kind of green-based Avatar strategies built around the earthbend mechanic. When branching into Gruul colors, you can use Bumi Unleashed. It possesses earthbend 4, and if it hits a player to an opponent, all land creatures are ready again and may attack once more. Even though Bumi has become a beloved leader, the cub is set to be one of the most, maybe the desired card in the Avatar set.