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the popular card game’s special Avatar expansion will not get a wider release before the end of the week, however following prerelease weekends this past weekend, an affordable green creature has already exploded in price.

Even during previews, Badgermole Cub attracted a lot of attention. This two-power, two-toughness that costs G and 1 mana, it features Earthbending 1 (perhaps the strongest among the four bending abilities in the set). The major perk here comes from another power: If a creature is tapped to produce mana, you gain one extra green mana.

At its cheapest, this card sold below $30. After the pre-release weekend, yet, its value jumped to nearly $50 with at least one listed as high as $60. Why are we seeing such high costs for this cute lil guy? Primarily due to the rapid resource generation it enables.

Upon entering the battlefield, the cub turns a terrain card into a creature that has earthbending. Combined with its other power, as long as it remains on the board, those lands produces twice the mana — in addition to any creatures you have that generate mana.

An ideal partner for synergy is the classic Llanowar Elves, a low-cost creature that taps to generate one green mana. Yet many creatures that make mana out there. Another option is a higher-cost choice that’s a 1/3 costing two mana in comparison.

By playing lands, dorks that generate resources, alongside this card, you may quickly play a massive high-cost threat on the board by round three or four. And things just keep spiraling exponentially by maintaining dominance from there.

If you dip into a secondary color in this strategy, options such as versatile mana producers work perfectly that generate all five colors. Additionally, a useful enchantment creature allows you to put an additional land every round plus transforms your entire land base into every basic land type. It's also worth trying something like the enchantment A Realm Reborn, at a six-mana investment gives each permanent you control the capacity to be tapped for one mana of any color — even all creatures in play.

The cub might seem overpowered in terms of boosting mana production, however what’s the endgame finisher with this archetype? A common and powerful choice is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its power and toughness match your land count, and it changes your non-token creatures Forests as well as their other types. In other words, every single creature on your board can produce double green when tapped.

Another creature is a costly, large threat that thrives with many terrain cards (as with the previous card, its stats are equal to how many lands you have).

This Planeswalker works perfectly in this deck. Her static effect makes all Forests tap for one more G. (With a Badgermole Cub, this results in those lands produce triple green.) Her plus ability acts as an early earthbend, adding counters on terrain, which is great though it doesn't stack with earthbending. The minus ability, however, grants all of your lands immune to destruction enabling you to search for all the remaining forests in your deck. Should you manage to use this power, it’s pretty much game over.

The cub is a must-have for any kind of green Avatar deck built around earthbend. When branching into Gruul colors, consider Bumi. It possesses earthbend 4, and if he deals combat damage to an opponent, land creatures untap and can attack again. Even though Bumi is a beloved leader, this small creature is set to be one of the most, maybe the popular pick from this expansion.