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MTG’s collaboration with Avatar won’t hit the general market in the coming days, yet after pre-releases over the last few days, one cheap green card experienced a surge in value.

Even during previews, this small creature attracted a lot of attention. A creature with stats 2/2 requiring a single green and one generic mana, it features Earthbending 1 (arguably the best of the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The major perk in its design comes from another power: Each time a creature is tapped to produce mana, you gain one extra green mana.

Initially, the card was available for $26.98. Post-prerelease, though, the market price has shot up to nearly $50 with at least one listed priced at sixty dollars. Why are we seeing such high costs on this adorable card? Mainly due to the explosive mana ramping it enables.

As it hits the battlefield, the cub converts a terrain card so it becomes a creature granting it earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, if it stays in play, each affected land produces twice the mana — in addition to any creatures you have that produce resources.

A clear choice for synergy includes Llanowar Elves, a cheap 1/1 that produces G mana. But there are plenty of other mana generation creatures out there. Another option costs a bit more a 1/3 creature costing two mana instead.

By playing lands, creatures that tap for mana, plus the cub, you may quickly play a massive pricey threat into play by round three or four. Momentum builds rapidly if you keep the pressure on from that point.

If you dip into a secondary color in this strategy, options such as versatile mana producers are all great options that generate any color of mana. Additionally, this powerful dryad allows you to put one extra land every round AND turns your entire land base providing all land types. You can also consider something like a card called A Realm Reborn, costing six mana gives every card you own the capacity to produce one mana of any color — which covers each creature you have on the board.

Badgermole Cub might seem overpowered regarding accelerating your resources, but what closes out the game for a deck like this? One obvious and popular answer is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its power and toughness are both equal to how many lands you have, and it changes your non-token creatures into Forests in addition to their original types. This means, all your creatures you control may produce double green when tapped.

This additional option is a costly, large threat that benefits from many terrain cards (as with the previous card, P/T are based on your land total).

Nissa works perfectly in this deck. One of her abilities allows Forest lands produce extra green. (With a Badgermole Cub, that means each one generate three green mana.) Her main ability is essentially a proto-earthbend, placing counters on a land, which is great though it doesn't stack with the cub's ability. The minus ability, however, renders each land you control unbreakable and allows you to search for every Forest left in your deck. Once you trigger this power, this typically means the game ends.

The cub is a must-have for all green-based Avatar strategies that use the earthbend mechanic. When branching into red-green, consider this legendary card. This card features earthbend 4, and when damage is dealt in combat, each animated land untap for another attack. Even though Bumi is a beloved leader, the cub is definitely going to remain one of the most, maybe the sought-after card in the Avatar set.