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the popular card game’s special Avatar expansion won’t hit the general market in the coming days, yet after pre-releases over the last few days, one cheap green card saw a sharp rise in price.

Even during previews, Badgermole Cub garnered a lot of attention. A creature with stats 2/2 that costs one green and one colorless mana, it features Earthbending 1 (possibly the best of the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The real boon here is its second ability: Whenever mana is generated by tapping a creature, you gain one extra green mana.

When first listed, this card sold for $26.98. Following the early events, yet, the going rate jumped to nearly $50 with at least one listed as high as $60. The reason for premium pricing for this little creature? Primarily thanks to the rapid resource generation it provides.

As it hits the board, Badgermole Cub transforms a land to a creature land with earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, if it remains on the board, every earthbent land generates double mana — plus other creatures in your control which tap for mana.

A clear choice for synergy includes the classic Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 that produces a green resource. But there are plenty of other mana generation creatures available. This particular druid is a higher-cost choice a 1/3 creature at a two-mana value in comparison.

Deploying terrain, dorks that generate resources, alongside this card, you may quickly play an enormous and very expensive monster on the battlefield by round three or four. And things just keep spiraling rapidly by maintaining dominance from that point.

By incorporating a secondary color in this strategy, examples including Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid work perfectly that generate any mana color. Additionally, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove lets you play an additional land every round plus transforms all of your lands into every basic land type. It's also worth trying such as a card called A Realm Reborn, at a six-mana investment grants each permanent you control the power to produce one mana of any color — which covers each creature under your control.

Badgermole Cub may be OP regarding ramping up your mana generation, yet what’s the endgame finisher in such a strategy? A common and powerful choice already is this legendary creature. Its power and toughness are both equal to the number of lands you control, and it makes each creature you own into Forests as well as their other types. This means, all your creatures in play may tap for two G if used for mana.

Harmonious Grovestrider is a costly, large threat that thrives with many terrain cards (similar to Ashaya, its stats are equal to how many lands you have).

This Planeswalker works perfectly as a staple. One of her abilities causes every Forest produce extra green. (With a Badgermole Cub, this results in each one generate three green mana.) Her main ability is essentially a proto-earthbend, adding counters on a land, a useful effect though it doesn't stack with the cub's ability. The minus ability, on the other hand, makes your entire land base immune to destruction and lets you put onto the battlefield every Forest left in your deck. If you can actually activate the ultimate, this typically means game over.

Badgermole Cub is nearly mandatory for any kind of decks using green and Avatar built around earthbend. If you dip into red-green, consider Bumi Unleashed. It possesses level 4 earthbending, and if it hits a player in combat, land creatures untap and may attack once more. Although this card is a popular Commander choice, this small creature is set to be one of, if not the most popular pick in the Avatar set.