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MTG’s Avatar crossover set won’t become widely available in the coming days, however due to pre-releases recently, an affordable green creature has already exploded in market worth.

Even during previews, Badgermole Cub drew a lot of attention. A creature with stats 2/2 requiring G and 1 mana, it has level 1 earthbending (arguably the strongest of the four bending abilities in the set). The major perk here lies in an additional effect: If you tap a creature for mana, add an additional green mana.

Initially, the card could be purchased below $30. After the pre-release weekend, however, the market price escalated above $45 including listings as high as $60. The reason for such high costs for this little creature? Primarily thanks to the explosive mana ramping it enables.

When it arrives play, this creature transforms a land to a creature land that has earthbending. Combined with its other power, as long as it stays in play, each affected land generates double mana — plus any creatures you have that produce resources.

The obvious go-to for synergy includes Llanowar Elves, a low-cost creature which can be tapped for one green mana. Yet numerous creatures that make mana available. Another option is a higher-cost choice with stats 1/3 at a two-mana value as an alternative.

By playing lands, dorks that generate resources, and Badgermole Cub, you can easily get a very big and very expensive creature into play within a few turns. The situation escalates exponentially by maintaining dominance after that.

By incorporating another color in this strategy, cards like versatile mana producers are excellent picks which produce any color of mana. Additionally, this powerful dryad enables playing another terrain per turn plus transforms your entire land base so they count as all basics. Another possibility is something like this six-mana enchantment, costing six mana grants each permanent you control the power to tap and generate one mana of any color — even any creature you have on the board.

Badgermole Cub could be too strong in terms of ramping up your mana generation, yet how do you win for a deck like this? An often-seen solution has been Ashaya. Power and toughness are both equal to your land count, plus it turns all of your nontoken creatures to be Forests as well as their original types. This means, each creature you control may generate two green mana if used for mana.

Harmonious Grovestrider provides a high-cost, powerful body that benefits from many terrain cards (like Ashaya, P/T are based on how many lands you have).

This Planeswalker works perfectly as a go-to Planeswalker. Her passive ability causes all Forests generate an additional green mana. (If you have the cub, this results in all earthbend forests produce triple green.) One loyalty ability acts as an early earthbend, putting +1/+1 counters on terrain, handy but it isn't redundant with earthbend. Her -8 ability, however, makes your entire land base indestructible and allows you to search for your remaining Forests in the deck. If you can actually activate that ability, it almost certainly you win.

This card is nearly mandatory for all green-based Avatar strategies built around earthbend. By including red and green, there’s Bumi Unleashed. This card features earthbend 4, and when damage is dealt in combat, all land creatures untap and can attack again. Although this card is a popular Commander choice, the cute little Badgermole Cub is set to be among the top, possibly the desired card in the Avatar set.