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Magic: The Gathering’s Avatar crossover set isn't set to get a wider release in the coming days, but after early access events recently, one cheap green card has already exploded in value.

From the initial reveals, the earthbending cub attracted a lot of attention. A creature with stats 2/2 priced at one green and one colorless mana, Badgermole Cub features level 1 earthbending (arguably the best of the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The major perk here comes from its second ability: If you tap a creature for mana, you gain one extra green mana.

At its cheapest, the card sold below $30. Post-prerelease, yet, the market price has shot up to $49.66 including listings as high as $60. Why are we seeing premium pricing for this little creature? Primarily because of the explosive mana ramping it can produce.

When it arrives the board, Badgermole Cub transforms a land into a creature granting it earthbend. Combined with its other power, as long as it stays in play, those lands yields two mana instead of one — along with other creatures in your control that produce resources.

The obvious go-to to combine with is Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 that produces one green mana. However numerous creatures that make mana available. Druid of the Cowl is a more expensive alternative with stats 1/3 for two mana as an alternative.

Deploying terrain, dorks that generate resources, plus the cub, you can easily get a very big pricey creature on the battlefield early in the game. And things just keep spiraling exponentially with continued aggression from that point.

If you dip into another color in this strategy, cards like these mana-fixing creatures are all great options that can make all five colors. And something like this powerful dryad allows you to put one extra land every round plus transforms every land you control providing all land types. It's also worth trying such as this six-mana enchantment, which for six mana grants all of your permanents the ability to tap and generate any color mana — including all creatures in play.

Badgermole Cub might seem overpowered regarding boosting mana production, however what closes out the game for a deck like this? One obvious and popular answer already is Ashaya. Power and toughness are set by your land count, and it changes each creature you own into Forests in addition to other subtypes. Essentially, each creature in play may tap for two G if used for mana.

Another creature is a costly, large threat that benefits from lots of lands (as with the previous card, P/T match how many lands you have).

Nissa fits really well as a go-to Planeswalker. Her passive ability causes every Forest generate an additional green mana. (If you have the cub, that means all earthbend forests yield three G.) One loyalty ability functions like a proto-earthbend, adding counters to a noncreature land, a useful effect but does not overlap with earthbend. Her -8 ability, though, makes your entire land base indestructible enabling you to search for all the remaining forests from your library. Should you manage to use the ultimate, it almost certainly game over.

This card is a must-have for all green-based Avatar strategies that use earthbend. If you dip into red and green, you can use this legendary card. He has level 4 earthbending, and if it hits a player to a player, all land creatures are ready again and can attack again. Although this card has become a popular Commander choice, the cute little Badgermole Cub is set to be among the top, possibly the popular pick from this expansion.