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the popular card game’s special Avatar expansion will not get a wider release in the coming days, however after prerelease weekends recently, a low-cost green spell experienced a surge in market worth.

From the initial reveals, the earthbending cub attracted widespread focus. A creature with stats 2/2 priced at G and 1 mana, the card includes the Earthbend 1 ability (perhaps the most effective within the set’s four “bending” mechanics). Its key advantage here lies in an additional effect: If a creature is tapped to produce mana, you gain one extra green mana.

At its cheapest, Badgermole Cub could be purchased at around $27. Post-prerelease, however, its value jumped above $45 and one seller offering as high as $60. Why are we seeing such high costs on this adorable card? Mostly thanks to the explosive mana ramping it provides.

When it arrives the board, the cub converts a land so it becomes a creature that has earthbending. And with that second ability, as long as it remains on the board, each affected land produces twice the mana — along with mana-producing creatures on your side that produce resources.

An ideal partner for synergy includes the classic Llanowar Elves, a cheap 1/1 that taps to generate one green mana. Yet many other mana generation creatures available. Another option is a more expensive alternative that’s a 1/3 costing two mana as an alternative.

Using land cards, dorks that generate resources, alongside this card, it's simple to summon an enormous high-cost monster on the board early in the game. The situation escalates exponentially with continued aggression from there.

When adding an additional hue with this approach, examples including versatile mana producers are excellent picks which produce any color of mana. Another card, this powerful dryad lets you play an additional land per turn as well as makes all of your lands so they count as all basics. It's also worth trying something like a card called A Realm Reborn, at a six-mana investment gives all of your permanents the ability to tap and generate a mana of any type — including all creatures under your control.

Badgermole Cub could be too strong regarding accelerating your resources, however what’s the endgame finisher with this archetype? An often-seen solution has been Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its power and toughness are set by how many lands you have, plus it turns each creature you own to be Forests along with their other types. In other words, every single creature on your board may tap for two G by tapping.

Another creature provides a high-cost, powerful body which gains from lots of lands (as with the previous card, P/T are based on the number of lands you control).

This Planeswalker fits really well as a staple. Her static effect allows Forest lands generate an additional green mana. (Combined with earthbend, that means those lands generate three green mana.) Her plus ability is essentially an early earthbend, adding counters to a noncreature land, handy though it doesn't stack with the cub's ability. The minus ability, on the other hand, grants all of your lands immune to destruction and allows you to search for all the remaining forests in the deck. Once you trigger the ultimate, it’s pretty much the game ends.

The cub is a must-have for any kind of green Avatar deck built around Earthbending. When branching into red and green, consider Bumi. He has earthbend 4, and when he deals combat damage to a player, all land creatures are ready again for another attack. While that version has become a beloved leader, the cute little Badgermole Cub is definitely going to remain among the top, possibly the sought-after card in the Avatar set.