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Magic: The Gathering’s special Avatar expansion will not hit the general market before the end of the week, yet due to pre-releases this past weekend, one cheap green card saw a sharp rise in market worth.

Throughout the spoiler season, Badgermole Cub garnered a lot of attention. A 2/2 requiring one green and one colorless mana, the card has level 1 earthbending (arguably the most effective within the four bending abilities in the set). The major perk with this card comes from its second ability: If a creature is tapped to produce mana, add an additional green mana.

When first listed, Badgermole Cub sold at around $27. After the pre-release weekend, yet, the market price escalated to $49.66 with at least one listed priced at sixty dollars. The reason for such high costs for this little creature? Mainly due to the incredible mana acceleration it provides.

As it hits play, this creature transforms a land into a creature that has earthbending. And with that second ability, as long as it remains on the board, those lands generates double mana — plus any creatures in your control that produce resources.

The obvious go-to for maximum effect includes the classic Llanowar Elves, a cheap 1/1 that taps to generate a green resource. But there are plenty of alternative mana dorks out there. Druid of the Cowl is a more expensive alternative with stats 1/3 for two mana as an alternative.

By playing lands, dorks that generate resources, and Badgermole Cub, it's simple to summon an enormous pricey creature on the battlefield early in the game. The situation escalates rapidly by maintaining dominance after that.

When adding another color with this approach, cards like these mana-fixing creatures are all great options that can make any mana color. And something like a useful enchantment creature enables playing one extra land each turn as well as turns every land you control providing all land types. You can also consider something like a card called A Realm Reborn, costing six mana provides every card you own the capacity to produce any color mana — which covers all creatures in play.

Badgermole Cub could be too strong when it comes to boosting mana production, however what’s the endgame finisher for a deck like this? One obvious and popular answer already is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its stats match how many lands you have, plus it turns each creature you own to be Forests along with their original types. In other words, all your creatures you control is able to produce double green when tapped.

This additional option provides a high-cost, powerful body that benefits from a high land count (like Ashaya, its stats match how many lands you have).

Nissa fits really well as a go-to Planeswalker. Her static effect allows all Forests tap for one more G. (Combined with earthbend, this results in each one generate three green mana.) One loyalty ability is essentially a form of land animation, placing counters on a land, handy though it doesn't stack with the cub's ability. Her -8 ability, on the other hand, renders all of your lands unbreakable and lets you put onto the battlefield every Forest left in your deck. Once you trigger this power, it’s pretty much you win.

Badgermole Cub is pretty much essential for any kind of green Avatar deck that use earthbend. When branching into red-green, you can use Bumi. He has level 4 earthbending, and when he deals combat damage to a player, land creatures are ready again and can attack again. Although this card has emerged as a popular Commander choice, the cub will surely stay one of the most, maybe the desired card in the collaboration.