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the popular card game’s collaboration with Avatar will not become widely available until later this week, however due to pre-releases over the last few days, a low-cost green spell has already exploded in market worth.

Throughout the spoiler season, this small creature garnered a lot of attention. This two-power, two-toughness priced at a single green and one generic mana, Badgermole Cub has Earthbending 1 (possibly the most effective among the set’s four “bending” mechanics). Its key advantage in its design is its second ability: If mana is generated by tapping a creature, add an additional green mana.

When first listed, the card could be purchased below $30. After the pre-release weekend, however, the going rate escalated to nearly $50 including listings for sale at $60.00. What explains Vivi prices for this cute lil guy? Primarily due to the explosive mana ramping it provides.

Upon entering play, this creature turns a terrain card so it becomes a creature with earthbend. Combined with its other power, as long as it stays in play, each affected land yields two mana instead of one — plus mana-producing creatures on your side that generate mana.

An ideal partner for synergy includes the classic Llanowar Elves, a low-cost creature that taps to generate a green resource. However many other mana generation creatures in the game. Druid of the Cowl is a higher-cost choice that’s a 1/3 for two mana instead.

Deploying terrain, creatures that tap for mana, plus the cub, you may quickly play a massive high-cost creature on the board early in the game. Momentum builds out of control by maintaining dominance from there.

If you dip into another color in this strategy, options such as these mana-fixing creatures are excellent picks that can make all five colors. And something like Dryad of the Ilysian Grove enables playing another terrain each turn AND transforms all of your lands providing all land types. You can also consider such as a card called A Realm Reborn, at a six-mana investment gives each permanent you control the power to tap and generate one mana of any color — including all creatures in play.

Badgermole Cub may be OP when it comes to boosting mana production, however what’s the endgame finisher in such a strategy? A common and powerful choice is Ashaya. Its stats match the number of lands you control, and it changes each creature you own Forests as well as other subtypes. This means, each creature in play can generate two green mana if used for mana.

Harmonious Grovestrider provides a high-cost, powerful body which gains from a high land count (like Ashaya, its power and toughness are equal to how many lands you have).

Nissa works perfectly as a go-to Planeswalker. Her passive ability allows every Forest generate an additional green mana. (If you have the cub, so those lands produce triple green.) One loyalty ability functions like a form of land animation, placing counters on terrain, which is great though it doesn't stack with earthbend. Her ultimate, on the other hand, renders your entire land base immune to destruction and lets you draw out all the remaining forests in your deck. If you can actually activate the ultimate, this typically means game over.

This card is a must-have for any kind of decks using green and Avatar focusing on the earthbend mechanic. By including red-green, there’s this legendary card. This card features earthbend 4, and when it hits a player to an opponent, all land creatures are ready again and may attack once more. While that version is a popular Commander choice, the cub will surely stay among the top, possibly the popular pick from this expansion.