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the popular card game’s Avatar crossover set won’t get a wider release in the coming days, yet after prerelease weekends recently, one cheap green card has already exploded in value.

Even during previews, Badgermole Cub drew widespread focus. A 2/2 requiring a single green and one generic mana, the card includes Earthbending 1 (perhaps the best among the elemental mechanics available). The real boon in its design comes from its second ability: Each time mana is generated by tapping a creature, you gain one extra green mana.

When first listed, this card sold below $30. Following the early events, however, its value escalated above $45 with at least one listed priced at sixty dollars. What explains premium pricing on this adorable card? Primarily thanks to the rapid resource generation it can produce.

Upon entering play, this creature converts one land into a creature granting it earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, if it stays in play, each affected land generates double mana — along with any creatures on your side that produce resources.

A clear choice to combine with would be this one-mana elf, a low-cost creature that taps to generate one green mana. However numerous other mana generation creatures in the game. Another option is a higher-cost choice with stats 1/3 for two mana as an alternative.

Using land cards, mana-producing creatures, and Badgermole Cub, it's simple to summon a very big and very expensive creature into play by round three or four. The situation escalates out of control if you keep the pressure on after that.

If you dip into a secondary color with this approach, examples including these mana-fixing creatures are excellent picks which produce all five colors. Additionally, a useful enchantment creature lets you play an additional land per turn plus makes every land you control into every basic land type. You can also consider something like a card called A Realm Reborn, at a six-mana investment provides all of your permanents the capacity to tap and generate one mana of any color — which covers any creature under your control.

This card could be too strong in terms of ramping up your mana generation, however how do you win for a deck like this? One obvious and popular answer has been Ashaya. Its power and toughness are set by your land count, and it makes your non-token creatures Forests as well as other subtypes. In other words, every single creature you control can produce double green by tapping.

Another creature is a costly, large threat that thrives with lots of lands (as with the previous card, its stats are based on how many lands you have).

This Planeswalker is an excellent fit as a go-to Planeswalker. One of her abilities allows all Forests generate an additional green mana. (Combined with earthbend, this results in all earthbend forests generate three green mana.) Her plus ability is essentially a form of land animation, placing counters to a noncreature land, which is great but does not overlap with earthbend. Her ultimate, though, grants your entire land base immune to destruction enabling you to search for every Forest left in the deck. If you can actually activate the ultimate, this typically means game over.

This card is pretty much essential in any green-based Avatar strategies that use Earthbending. When branching into Gruul colors, consider this legendary card. This card features earthbend 4, and when it hits a player to an opponent, each animated land become untapped and can attack again. While that version has become a fan favorite Commander, this small creature is set to be one of, if not the most sought-after card in the collaboration.