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the popular card game’s collaboration with Avatar will not hit the general market until later this week, however after pre-releases this past weekend, one cheap green card experienced a surge in price.

From the initial reveals, this small creature garnered significant interest. A 2/2 that costs one green and one colorless mana, the card includes Earthbending 1 (arguably the strongest among the four bending abilities in the set). The real boon here comes from another power: Each time mana is generated by tapping a creature, you gain one extra green mana.

When first listed, Badgermole Cub could be purchased at around $27. Following the early events, though, the market price jumped to $49.66 and one seller offering as high as $60. What explains such high costs on this adorable card? Primarily due to the rapid resource generation it can produce.

As it hits the board, Badgermole Cub turns one land so it becomes a creature that has earthbending. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, as long as it stays in play, every earthbent land produces twice the mana — plus any creatures you have that produce resources.

An ideal partner for synergy includes this one-mana elf, a cheap 1/1 that produces a green resource. However numerous other mana generation creatures in the game. This particular druid is a higher-cost choice that’s a 1/3 costing two mana instead.

By playing lands, dorks that generate resources, plus the cub, you can easily get a massive high-cost monster into play early in the game. And things just keep spiraling out of control with continued aggression from there.

By incorporating a secondary color with this approach, examples including these mana-fixing creatures work perfectly which produce all five colors. Additionally, this powerful dryad allows you to put an additional land per turn plus transforms your entire land base so they count as all basics. You can also consider for example a card called A Realm Reborn, costing six mana gives all of your permanents the ability to produce one mana of any color — which covers all creatures under your control.

Badgermole Cub could be too strong regarding ramping up your mana generation, yet how do you win for a deck like this? One obvious and popular answer is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its power and toughness are both equal to how many lands you have, and it makes your non-token creatures to be Forests in addition to their original types. In other words, every single creature you control is able to produce double green when tapped.

This additional option provides a high-cost, powerful body that benefits from many terrain cards (like Ashaya, its power and toughness are based on how many lands you have).

Nissa is an excellent fit in this deck. Her passive ability makes every Forest tap for one more G. (If you have the cub, that means each one generate three green mana.) Her main ability is essentially a form of land animation, putting +1/+1 counters on terrain, handy though it doesn't stack with the cub's ability. Her -8 ability, on the other hand, renders your entire land base immune to destruction and allows you to put onto the battlefield every Forest left in your deck. Once you trigger this power, this typically means you win.

This card is a must-have for any kind of green Avatar deck that use earthbend. By including Gruul colors, there’s Bumi. This card features earthbend 4, and if it hits a player in combat, each animated land untap for another attack. Although this card is a popular Commander choice, the cute little Badgermole Cub is definitely going to remain one of, if not the most popular pick in the Avatar set.