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Magic: The Gathering’s Avatar crossover set isn't set to get a wider release before the end of the week, yet due to prerelease weekends this past weekend, an affordable green creature experienced a surge in price.

Even during previews, Badgermole Cub garnered widespread focus. A 2/2 that costs G and 1 mana, it includes Earthbending 1 (possibly the best among the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The real boon with this card comes from its second ability: Whenever mana is generated by tapping a creature, it provides bonus green mana.

At its cheapest, Badgermole Cub sold below $30. After the pre-release weekend, however, the going rate escalated to $49.66 including listings for sale at $60.00. What explains premium pricing for this cute lil guy? Primarily thanks to the incredible mana acceleration it can produce.

Upon entering the board, this creature transforms a land so it becomes a creature with earthbend. Combined with its other power, as long as it is not removed, those lands generates double mana — in addition to mana-producing creatures on your side that produce resources.

An ideal partner for synergy is the classic Llanowar Elves, a low-cost creature that produces G mana. But there are plenty of creatures that make mana available. Druid of the Cowl is a more expensive alternative that’s a 1/3 costing two mana as an alternative.

Using land cards, dorks that generate resources, plus the cub, you may quickly play an enormous high-cost creature on the battlefield within a few turns. Momentum builds out of control by maintaining dominance from that point.

If you dip into an additional hue in this strategy, examples including these mana-fixing creatures are all great options that can make all five colors. Another card, this powerful dryad lets you play another terrain every round AND turns all of your lands so they count as all basics. It's also worth trying such as the enchantment A Realm Reborn, which for six mana provides every card you own the capacity to produce any color mana — including all creatures in play.

Badgermole Cub might seem overpowered regarding accelerating your resources, yet how do you win with this archetype? A common and powerful choice is this legendary creature. Its power and toughness are both equal to how many lands you have, and it changes each creature you own to be Forests as well as other subtypes. Essentially, every single creature you control can generate two green mana by tapping.

Harmonious Grovestrider provides a high-cost, powerful body which gains from lots of lands (like Ashaya, its stats match the number of lands you control).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World fits really well as a staple. One of her abilities allows every Forest generate an additional green mana. (With a Badgermole Cub, that means all earthbend forests produce triple green.) One loyalty ability is essentially a proto-earthbend, placing counters on a land, a useful effect but it isn't redundant with earthbending. Her -8 ability, however, makes your entire land base indestructible and allows you to search for your remaining Forests from your library. Should you manage to use that ability, this typically means you win.

Badgermole Cub is a must-have for any kind of decks using green and Avatar focusing on the earthbend mechanic. If you dip into red and green, there’s this legendary card. He has earthbend 4, and when it hits a player to an opponent, each animated land are ready again and may attack once more. Even though Bumi has emerged as a popular Commander choice, the cub will surely stay among the top, possibly the sought-after card from this expansion.