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MTG’s Avatar crossover set won’t hit the general market in the coming days, however following prerelease weekends recently, an affordable green creature has already exploded in price.

Even during previews, Badgermole Cub drew widespread focus. This two-power, two-toughness priced at a single green and one generic mana, it has Earthbending 1 (arguably the strongest of the four bending abilities in the set). The major perk with this card comes from an additional effect: Each time you tap a creature for mana, it provides bonus green mana.

When first listed, Badgermole Cub was available at around $27. Post-prerelease, yet, the market price escalated to $49.66 and one seller offering for sale at $60.00. Why are we seeing premium pricing for this cute lil guy? Mostly because of the incredible mana acceleration it enables.

Upon entering the battlefield, this creature turns a terrain card 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 any creatures on your side which tap for mana.

The obvious go-to to combine with would be this one-mana elf, a cheap 1/1 that produces a green resource. But numerous other mana generation creatures out there. This particular druid is a higher-cost choice a 1/3 creature costing two mana as an alternative.

Deploying terrain, mana-producing creatures, alongside this card, you may quickly play a massive pricey threat on the board by round three or four. And things just keep spiraling exponentially if you keep the pressure on from there.

If you dip into a secondary color with this approach, examples including Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid work perfectly which produce all five colors. Additionally, a useful enchantment creature lets you play an additional land per turn as well as transforms every land you control so they count as all basics. Another possibility is something like this six-mana enchantment, at a six-mana investment grants all of your permanents the capacity to produce any color mana — which covers each creature you have on the board.

This card could be too strong in terms of accelerating your resources, however what’s the endgame finisher with this archetype? A common and powerful choice has been this legendary creature. Its stats are both equal to how many lands you have, and it makes all of your nontoken creatures to be Forests as well as their original types. This means, each creature in play can generate two green mana by tapping.

Harmonious Grovestrider is another expensive, beefy creature that benefits from a high land count (as with the previous card, P/T match your land total).

This Planeswalker is an excellent fit in this deck. Her static effect allows every Forest generate an additional green mana. (If you have the cub, that means those lands yield three G.) Her main ability functions like an early earthbend, putting +1/+1 counters on a land, handy but it isn't redundant with the cub's ability. The minus ability, however, makes each land you control unbreakable enabling you to put onto the battlefield your remaining Forests in your deck. Once you trigger this power, this typically means you win.

This card is nearly mandatory in any green-based Avatar strategies focusing on earthbend. By including red and green, consider Bumi Unleashed. It possesses level 4 earthbending, and if damage is dealt in combat, land creatures untap and can attack again. Although this card has emerged as a beloved leader, the cute little Badgermole Cub is definitely going to remain one of, if not the most desired card from this expansion.