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the popular card game’s Avatar crossover set will not become widely available before the end of the week, but after early access events over the last few days, an affordable green creature saw a sharp rise in value.

Throughout the spoiler season, the earthbending cub drew a lot of attention. A 2/2 that costs a single green and one generic mana, it has Earthbending 1 (perhaps the best within the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The major perk here comes from an additional effect: Each time mana is generated by tapping a creature, add an additional green mana.

At its cheapest, the card sold below $30. After the pre-release weekend, however, its value jumped above $45 and one seller offering as high as $60. What explains such high costs for this little creature? Mostly thanks to the incredible mana acceleration it can produce.

As it hits play, the cub converts a land so it becomes a creature that has earthbending. Combined with its other power, if it is not removed, those lands produces twice the mana — along with mana-producing creatures on your side that generate mana.

An ideal partner to combine with includes Llanowar Elves, a low-cost creature that taps to generate a green resource. Yet numerous creatures that make mana available. Druid of the Cowl costs a bit more a 1/3 creature for two mana in comparison.

Using land cards, dorks that generate resources, alongside this card, you can easily get a massive pricey monster on the battlefield within a few turns. And things just keep spiraling exponentially if you keep the pressure on after that.

By incorporating an additional hue using this method, examples including versatile mana producers are excellent picks which produce all five colors. Additionally, a useful enchantment creature allows you to put one extra land each turn plus makes every land you control so they count as all basics. You can also consider something like this six-mana enchantment, which for six mana gives each permanent you control the ability to produce one mana of any color — including any creature you have on the board.

Badgermole Cub may be OP in terms of ramping up your mana generation, yet what’s the endgame finisher in such a strategy? A common and powerful choice has been Ashaya. Its power and toughness are set by the number of lands you control, and it changes all of your nontoken creatures to be Forests along with other subtypes. Essentially, each creature on your board is able to produce double green when tapped.

This additional option provides a high-cost, powerful body which gains from many terrain cards (like Ashaya, its power and toughness are equal to how many lands you have).

Nissa works perfectly as a staple. Her passive ability causes Forest lands tap for one more G. (With a Badgermole Cub, so each one generate three green mana.) One loyalty ability is essentially a form of land animation, adding counters on terrain, which is great but it isn't redundant with the cub's ability. The minus ability, however, renders all of your lands unbreakable and allows you to put onto the battlefield all the remaining forests from your library. Once you trigger this power, it almost certainly you win.

This card is pretty much essential in any green-based Avatar strategies that use Earthbending. By including red and green, you can use Bumi. He has earthbend 4, and if it hits a player to an opponent, each animated land are ready again and can attack again. Even though Bumi has emerged as a popular Commander choice, the cub is set to be among the top, possibly the popular pick in the Avatar set.