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Magic: The Gathering’s collaboration with Avatar isn't set to become widely available before the end of the week, but following pre-releases over the last few days, one cheap green card experienced a surge in market worth.

Throughout the spoiler season, this small creature drew significant interest. A creature with stats 2/2 requiring G and 1 mana, Badgermole Cub has level 1 earthbending (perhaps the most effective among the set’s four “bending” mechanics). Its key advantage in its design comes from another power: Whenever a creature is tapped to produce mana, add an additional green mana.

At its cheapest, Badgermole Cub sold below $30. After the pre-release weekend, though, the market price has shot up to nearly $50 including listings for sale at $60.00. What explains premium pricing for this little creature? Primarily thanks to the explosive mana ramping it provides.

Upon entering the battlefield, the cub turns a land so it becomes a creature that has earthbending. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, if it remains on the board, those lands produces twice the mana — plus any creatures you have that generate mana.

The obvious go-to for synergy is this one-mana elf, an inexpensive 1/1 that taps to generate one green mana. Yet many other mana generation creatures in the game. This particular druid is a more expensive alternative that’s a 1/3 at a two-mana value in comparison.

By playing lands, mana-producing creatures, alongside this card, you may quickly play a massive pricey monster on the board early in the game. The situation escalates exponentially with continued aggression from there.

When adding an additional hue in this strategy, options such as Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are all great options that can make all five colors. And something like a useful enchantment creature allows you to put another terrain each turn plus makes every land you control so they count as all basics. You can also consider something like this six-mana enchantment, which for six mana grants all of your permanents the capacity to be tapped for one mana of any color — which covers each creature in play.

The cub could be too strong when it comes to accelerating your resources, yet how do you win for a deck like this? One obvious and popular answer has been Ashaya. Its power and toughness are both equal to your land count, and it makes all of your nontoken creatures Forests as well as their other types. Essentially, every single creature on your board may generate two green mana by tapping.

This additional option provides a high-cost, powerful body which gains from lots of lands (similar to Ashaya, its stats match your land total).

Nissa works perfectly in this deck. Her passive ability causes every Forest produce extra green. (If you have the cub, so each one yield three G.) Her plus ability functions like an early earthbend, placing counters on terrain, a useful effect but it isn't redundant with the cub's ability. Her -8 ability, however, grants each land you control indestructible enabling you to draw out all the remaining forests from your library. Once you trigger this power, it almost certainly game over.

This card is nearly mandatory for any kind of decks using green and Avatar that use Earthbending. By including red-green, you can use Bumi. It possesses earthbend 4, and when he deals combat damage in combat, all land creatures become untapped for another attack. Although this card has emerged as a fan favorite Commander, this small creature will surely stay one of the most, maybe the sought-after card in the Avatar set.