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MTG’s collaboration with Avatar won’t hit the general market before the end of the week, yet due to pre-releases recently, an affordable green creature has already exploded in value.

Throughout the spoiler season, the earthbending cub attracted a lot of attention. A creature with stats 2/2 priced at a single green and one generic mana, the card has Earthbending 1 (arguably the strongest of the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The major perk here is its second ability: Each time mana is generated by tapping a creature, you gain one extra green mana.

When first listed, Badgermole Cub was available below $30. After the pre-release weekend, yet, the market price escalated to $49.66 with at least one listed for sale at $60.00. What explains Vivi prices on this adorable card? Primarily thanks to the incredible mana acceleration it can produce.

When it arrives the battlefield, Badgermole Cub turns a land into a creature granting it earthbend. Combined with its other power, if it is not removed, those lands yields two mana instead of one — along with any creatures you have which tap for mana.

An ideal partner for maximum effect would be this one-mana elf, a low-cost creature that produces a green resource. But numerous other mana generation creatures available. Druid of the Cowl is a more expensive alternative with stats 1/3 at a two-mana value instead.

By playing lands, mana-producing creatures, and Badgermole Cub, you may quickly play a very big pricey creature into play early in the game. And things just keep spiraling out of control with continued aggression from that point.

When adding another color using this method, examples including Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid work perfectly that generate any color of mana. Additionally, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove allows you to put another terrain every round plus transforms all of your lands so they count as all basics. Another possibility is such as a card called A Realm Reborn, costing six mana grants all of your permanents the power to tap and generate a mana of any type — even all creatures you have on the board.

Badgermole Cub could be too strong in terms of boosting mana production, but how do you win in such a strategy? A common and powerful choice already is Ashaya. Power and toughness are set by the number of lands you control, plus it turns each creature you own to be Forests in addition to their original types. In other words, all your creatures on your board is able to tap for two G by tapping.

Another creature provides a high-cost, powerful body that thrives with many terrain cards (like Ashaya, its power and toughness are equal to your land total).

Nissa fits really well in this deck. Her passive ability makes every Forest generate an additional green mana. (Combined with earthbend, that means all earthbend forests yield three G.) Her plus ability acts as a proto-earthbend, putting +1/+1 counters on terrain, a useful effect but does not overlap with earthbending. The minus ability, though, renders your entire land base unbreakable and allows you to put onto the battlefield all the remaining forests from your library. Once you trigger this power, this typically means you win.

This card is pretty much essential in any decks using green and Avatar focusing on the earthbend mechanic. When branching into Gruul colors, there’s this legendary card. He has earthbend 4, plus if it hits a player to a player, all land creatures untap and can attack again. Although this card is a fan favorite Commander, the cute little Badgermole Cub is set to be one of the most, maybe the desired card from this expansion.