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MTG’s Avatar crossover set will not become widely available until later this week, yet following early access events over the last few days, one cheap green card experienced a surge in market worth.

From the initial reveals, the earthbending cub drew a lot of attention. A creature with stats 2/2 requiring a single green and one generic mana, Badgermole Cub features the Earthbend 1 ability (perhaps the strongest within the elemental mechanics available). Its key advantage here is its second ability: Whenever a creature is tapped to produce mana, add an additional green mana.

When first listed, Badgermole Cub was available for $26.98. Following the early events, though, the market price escalated to $49.66 including listings as high as $60. Why are we seeing such high costs for this little creature? Primarily thanks to the explosive mana ramping it enables.

When it arrives the battlefield, Badgermole Cub transforms one land into a creature that has earthbending. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, as long as it stays in play, those lands generates double mana — in addition to other creatures in your control that produce resources.

A clear choice to combine with would be Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 which can be tapped for a green resource. But there are plenty of other mana generation creatures in the game. Another option costs a bit more a 1/3 creature for two mana instead.

By playing lands, dorks that generate resources, and Badgermole Cub, you can easily get a massive and very expensive threat on the battlefield early in the game. And things just keep spiraling out of control if you keep the pressure on from there.

If you dip into an additional hue in this strategy, examples including Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are all great options that generate any color of mana. And something like this powerful dryad allows you to put another terrain every round as well as transforms all of your lands into every basic land type. You can also consider something like the enchantment A Realm Reborn, costing six mana provides each permanent you control the power to be tapped for any color mana — including each creature in play.

This card may be OP regarding accelerating your resources, yet what’s the endgame finisher for a deck like this? A common and powerful choice already is Ashaya. Its stats are set by the number of lands you control, plus it turns all of your nontoken creatures Forests as well as their original types. This means, all your creatures in play can produce double green by tapping.

Harmonious Grovestrider provides a high-cost, powerful body that thrives with lots of lands (like Ashaya, P/T are based on how many lands you have).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World fits really well as a staple. Her static effect causes every Forest produce extra green. (With a Badgermole Cub, that means those lands generate three green mana.) One loyalty ability functions like a proto-earthbend, adding counters to a noncreature land, handy though it doesn't stack with earthbend. The minus ability, though, grants your entire land base indestructible and lets you search for all the remaining forests in the deck. Once you trigger that ability, it almost certainly game over.

This card is pretty much essential for all decks using green and Avatar that use the earthbend mechanic. By including red-green, you can use this legendary card. This card features level 4 earthbending, and if he deals combat damage to a player, all land creatures become untapped for another attack. Although this card has become a popular Commander choice, this small creature is set to be one of, if not the most sought-after card in the Avatar set.