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the popular card game’s special Avatar expansion won’t become widely available until later this week, yet following early access events this past weekend, a low-cost green spell has already exploded in market worth.

From the initial reveals, the earthbending cub garnered widespread focus. A 2/2 priced at a single green and one generic mana, the card features level 1 earthbending (perhaps the most effective among the elemental mechanics available). Its key advantage with this card lies in another power: Each time mana is generated by tapping a creature, it provides bonus green mana.

Initially, Badgermole Cub could be purchased below $30. Post-prerelease, yet, the going rate has shot up to nearly $50 including listings for sale at $60.00. Why are we seeing such high costs for this cute lil guy? Mainly because of the explosive mana ramping it can produce.

As it hits the battlefield, this creature transforms a terrain card to a creature land that has earthbending. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, while it is not removed, those lands generates double mana — plus mana-producing creatures in your control that produce resources.

The obvious go-to to combine with includes the classic Llanowar Elves, a low-cost creature which can be tapped for a green resource. But there are plenty of creatures that make mana out there. Druid of the Cowl is a higher-cost choice with stats 1/3 for two mana instead.

Using land cards, creatures that tap for mana, alongside this card, you can easily get a very big and very expensive creature on the battlefield by round three or four. The situation escalates exponentially with continued aggression after that.

By incorporating another color with this approach, examples including Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are all great options that can make all five colors. Additionally, this powerful dryad lets you play another terrain each turn AND transforms every land you control providing all land types. It's also worth trying such as this six-mana enchantment, which for six mana gives all of your permanents the power to produce a mana of any type — even all creatures in play.

This card may be OP regarding boosting mana production, however how do you win for a deck like this? One obvious and popular answer already is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its power and toughness are set by how many lands you have, and it makes all of your nontoken creatures to be Forests in addition to their other types. Essentially, every single creature you control can produce double green when tapped.

This additional option is another expensive, beefy creature that benefits from many terrain cards (like Ashaya, P/T are based on the number of lands you control).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World works perfectly in this deck. One of her abilities causes Forest lands tap for one more G. (If you have the cub, that means all earthbend forests generate three green mana.) Her plus ability acts as a form of land animation, putting +1/+1 counters to a noncreature land, handy though it doesn't stack with the cub's ability. Her -8 ability, however, makes all of your lands immune to destruction enabling you to put onto the battlefield all the remaining forests in your deck. Once you trigger the ultimate, it almost certainly you win.

Badgermole Cub is a must-have for any kind of green-based Avatar strategies built around earthbend. By including Gruul colors, consider Bumi. This card features level 4 earthbending, and if it hits a player to a player, all land creatures untap for another attack. Even though Bumi has become a fan favorite Commander, this small creature is set to be one of, if not the most desired card from this expansion.