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the popular card game’s special Avatar expansion won’t become widely available in the coming days, but after early access events recently, a low-cost green spell has already exploded in price.

Even during previews, this small creature attracted a lot of attention. A 2/2 that costs one green and one colorless mana, it includes Earthbending 1 (possibly the most effective of the elemental mechanics available). The real boon with this card is its second ability: Whenever a creature is tapped to produce mana, add an additional green mana.

At its cheapest, Badgermole Cub was available for $26.98. Post-prerelease, though, the market price has shot up to nearly $50 including listings priced at sixty dollars. Why are we seeing such high costs for this cute lil guy? Primarily due to the incredible mana acceleration it enables.

Upon entering play, Badgermole Cub turns a land so it becomes a creature granting it earthbend. And with that second ability, as long as it is not removed, those lands yields two mana instead of one — plus other creatures in your control that produce resources.

The obvious go-to to combine with is the classic Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 that produces a green resource. However there are plenty of creatures that make mana available. Druid of the Cowl is a higher-cost choice a 1/3 creature for two mana as an alternative.

By playing lands, dorks that generate resources, and Badgermole Cub, it's simple to summon a massive pricey monster into play within a few turns. The situation escalates out of control if you keep the pressure on after that.

If you dip into an additional hue in this strategy, examples including Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are all great options that generate any mana color. Another card, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove enables playing one extra land every round plus makes all of your lands providing all land types. Another possibility is something like a card called A Realm Reborn, at a six-mana investment grants all of your permanents the capacity to be tapped for a mana of any type — including any creature you have on the board.

The cub might seem overpowered in terms of ramping up your mana generation, yet what closes out the game for a deck like this? One obvious and popular answer is Ashaya. Its stats are both equal to how many lands you have, and it changes all of your nontoken creatures into Forests in addition to their original types. In other words, each creature on your board is able to produce double green when tapped.

This additional option is a costly, large threat which gains from a high land count (as with the previous card, its power and toughness match your land total).

Nissa fits really well as a go-to Planeswalker. One of her abilities makes all Forests tap for one more G. (Combined with earthbend, this results in each one produce triple green.) Her plus ability is essentially a proto-earthbend, putting +1/+1 counters to a noncreature land, a useful effect though it doesn't stack with the cub's ability. The minus ability, however, grants all of your lands unbreakable and lets you search for all the remaining forests in your deck. Once you trigger this power, this typically means the game ends.

This card is a must-have in any decks using green and Avatar that use Earthbending. If you dip into red and green, you can use this legendary card. This card features earthbend 4, and if he deals combat damage in combat, land creatures become untapped and may attack once more. Although this card has become a fan favorite Commander, the cub is set to be among the top, possibly the desired card from this expansion.