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the popular card game’s collaboration with Avatar will not become widely available before the end of the week, yet after prerelease weekends recently, a low-cost green spell saw a sharp rise in price.

From the initial reveals, the earthbending cub garnered significant interest. This two-power, two-toughness priced at one green and one colorless mana, Badgermole Cub has the Earthbend 1 ability (arguably the best within the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The real boon with this card comes from its second ability: If a creature is tapped to produce mana, add an additional green mana.

Initially, the card sold for $26.98. Following the early events, yet, the market price has shot up above $45 and one seller offering for sale at $60.00. What explains premium pricing for this little creature? Primarily thanks to the rapid resource generation it enables.

As it hits the board, Badgermole Cub converts a terrain card so it becomes a creature granting it earthbend. And with that second ability, as long as it remains on the board, every earthbent land produces twice the mana — along with mana-producing creatures in your control which tap for mana.

The obvious go-to for synergy would be this one-mana elf, a cheap 1/1 that taps to generate one green mana. Yet many other mana generation creatures in the game. This particular druid costs a bit more that’s a 1/3 at a two-mana value as an alternative.

Deploying terrain, creatures that tap for mana, and Badgermole Cub, it's simple to summon a very big pricey creature on the battlefield by round three or four. Momentum builds rapidly if you keep the pressure on from that point.

By incorporating a secondary color in this strategy, options such as versatile mana producers are all great options which produce any color of mana. And something like this powerful dryad lets you play an additional land each turn as well as transforms every land you control into every basic land type. It's also worth trying such as the enchantment A Realm Reborn, which for six mana provides all of your permanents the capacity to be tapped for any color mana — even each creature under your control.

This card could be too strong in terms of boosting mana production, yet how do you win with this archetype? A common and powerful choice is Ashaya. Its power and toughness 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. Essentially, each creature on your board is able to generate two green mana if used for mana.

Harmonious Grovestrider is another expensive, beefy creature that thrives with many terrain cards (similar to Ashaya, its stats are based on the number of lands you control).

Nissa fits really well as a go-to Planeswalker. Her static effect makes all Forests generate an additional green mana. (If you have the cub, this results in each one generate three green mana.) One loyalty ability acts as a form of land animation, placing counters on a land, which is great but it isn't redundant with the cub's ability. Her -8 ability, though, grants your entire land base indestructible and lets you put onto the battlefield every Forest left in the deck. Should you manage to use the ultimate, it’s pretty much you win.

The cub is a must-have in any decks using green and Avatar focusing on earthbend. When branching into red-green, consider Bumi. This card features earthbend 4, and if damage is dealt to an opponent, land creatures become untapped and may attack once more. While that version has emerged as a fan favorite Commander, the cute little Badgermole Cub will surely stay one of, if not the most desired card in the Avatar set.