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the popular card game’s Avatar crossover set won’t get a wider release until later this week, however following prerelease weekends this past weekend, a low-cost green spell saw a sharp rise in market worth.

From the initial reveals, the earthbending cub attracted a lot of attention. A 2/2 that costs one green and one colorless mana, it features Earthbending 1 (possibly the most effective among the four bending abilities in the set). Its key advantage with this card is another power: If you tap a creature for mana, you gain one extra green mana.

Initially, this card was available for $26.98. Following the early events, though, its value escalated above $45 with at least one listed as high as $60. Why are we seeing premium pricing for this cute lil guy? Primarily because of the incredible mana acceleration it provides.

Upon entering the battlefield, this creature turns one land to a creature land granting it earthbend. And with that second ability, while it stays in play, those lands generates double mana — plus any creatures in your control that generate mana.

The obvious go-to for synergy includes this one-mana elf, an inexpensive 1/1 that produces G mana. But there are plenty of alternative mana dorks in the game. This particular druid is a higher-cost choice with stats 1/3 at a two-mana value in comparison.

Using land cards, creatures that tap for mana, and Badgermole Cub, it's simple to summon an enormous high-cost threat into play early in the game. The situation escalates out of control by maintaining dominance after that.

When adding an additional hue using this method, cards like these mana-fixing creatures are all great options that generate all five colors. And something like Dryad of the Ilysian Grove enables playing one extra land per turn AND transforms all of your lands so they count as all basics. You can also consider something like the enchantment A Realm Reborn, at a six-mana investment gives every card you own the ability to be tapped for a mana of any type — which covers any creature in play.

This card might seem overpowered regarding boosting mana production, yet what’s the endgame finisher with this archetype? One obvious and popular answer already is Ashaya. Its stats match your land count, plus it turns each creature you own Forests as well as their original types. This means, each creature in play can tap for two G when tapped.

Harmonious Grovestrider is another expensive, beefy creature that benefits from many terrain cards (as with the previous card, P/T match how many lands you have).

This Planeswalker fits really well in this deck. One of her abilities makes Forest lands produce extra green. (If you have the cub, that means each one generate three green mana.) Her plus ability is essentially a form of land animation, adding counters on a land, handy but it isn't redundant with earthbend. Her -8 ability, however, makes your entire land base unbreakable enabling you to put onto the battlefield every Forest left in the deck. Should you manage to use that ability, it’s pretty much game over.

The cub is pretty much essential for all green-based Avatar strategies built around earthbend. When branching into Gruul colors, there’s Bumi. This card features earthbend 4, and when damage is dealt to a player, all land creatures untap and may attack once more. Even though Bumi is a fan favorite Commander, the cute little Badgermole Cub will surely stay among the top, possibly the desired card in the collaboration.