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Magic: The Gathering’s collaboration with Avatar will not hit the general market in the coming days, however due to early access events recently, one cheap green card saw a sharp rise in price.

Throughout the spoiler season, the earthbending cub attracted a lot of attention. This two-power, two-toughness that costs one green and one colorless mana, Badgermole Cub includes level 1 earthbending (possibly the best of the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The major perk with this card lies in its second ability: Each time mana is generated by tapping a creature, it provides bonus green mana.

At its cheapest, the card could be purchased for $26.98. Post-prerelease, yet, the market price jumped above $45 and one seller offering priced at sixty dollars. What explains premium pricing for this cute lil guy? Mainly thanks to the rapid resource generation it provides.

Upon entering play, this creature converts a terrain card to a creature land granting it earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, while it remains on the board, every earthbent land yields two mana instead of one — in addition to other creatures in your control which tap for mana.

The obvious go-to for synergy would be the classic Llanowar Elves, a low-cost creature that taps to generate G mana. However numerous creatures that make mana in the game. Another option is a more expensive alternative that’s a 1/3 at a two-mana value in comparison.

Using land cards, creatures that tap for mana, plus the cub, you can easily get an enormous high-cost monster into play early in the game. Momentum builds exponentially with continued aggression after that.

If you dip into an additional hue with this approach, cards like these mana-fixing creatures are all great options that generate all five colors. Additionally, a useful enchantment creature lets you play an additional land every round plus turns all of your lands into every basic land type. Another possibility is such as this six-mana enchantment, costing six mana provides each permanent you control the power to be tapped for a mana of any type — even any creature you have on the board.

This card could be too strong in terms of boosting mana production, however how do you win with this archetype? A common and powerful choice already is this legendary creature. Power and toughness match your land count, and it makes all of your nontoken creatures into Forests as well as other subtypes. This means, every single creature on your board is able to tap for two G if used for mana.

This additional option is a costly, large threat that thrives with a high land count (similar to Ashaya, its power and toughness match how many lands you have).

This Planeswalker works perfectly as a go-to Planeswalker. Her static effect makes Forest lands produce extra green. (With a Badgermole Cub, that means each one produce triple green.) Her main ability functions like an early earthbend, adding counters on a land, which is great but does not overlap with the cub's ability. Her ultimate, however, renders all of your lands unbreakable enabling you to draw out all the remaining forests in your deck. Should you manage to use that ability, it’s pretty much the game ends.

Badgermole Cub is nearly mandatory for any kind of green Avatar deck built around Earthbending. If you dip into Gruul colors, consider Bumi. This card features level 4 earthbending, and when damage is dealt in combat, land creatures are ready again and may attack once more. Although this card is a beloved leader, the cute little Badgermole Cub will surely stay one of the most, maybe the sought-after card from this expansion.