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Magic: The Gathering’s special Avatar expansion will not get a wider release until later this week, yet after early access events recently, an affordable green creature experienced a surge in market worth.

Even during previews, Badgermole Cub attracted a lot of attention. A creature with stats 2/2 that costs one green and one colorless mana, the card features the Earthbend 1 ability (perhaps the best within the four bending abilities in the set). The major perk in its design is its second ability: If you tap a creature for mana, add an additional green mana.

Initially, the card could be purchased for $26.98. Post-prerelease, yet, its value has shot up above $45 with at least one listed as high as $60. Why are we seeing premium pricing on this adorable card? Mainly because of the incredible mana acceleration it enables.

As it hits the battlefield, this creature transforms one land into a creature with earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, if it remains on the board, each affected land generates double mana — in addition to any creatures in your control that produce resources.

An ideal partner for synergy would be this one-mana elf, a cheap 1/1 that produces G mana. Yet many alternative mana dorks available. This particular druid costs a bit more that’s a 1/3 costing two mana as an alternative.

Deploying terrain, mana-producing creatures, and Badgermole Cub, it's simple to summon a massive pricey creature into play by round three or four. Momentum builds exponentially by maintaining dominance after that.

By incorporating an additional hue using this method, examples including these mana-fixing creatures work perfectly that can make all five colors. Additionally, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove allows you to put one extra land every round plus makes every land you control so they count as all basics. It's also worth trying such as this six-mana enchantment, which for six mana grants every card you own the capacity to be tapped for a mana of any type — including any creature under your control.

This card could be too strong in terms of accelerating your resources, but how do you win for a deck like this? A common and powerful choice is this legendary creature. Power and toughness match how many lands you have, plus it turns your non-token creatures to be Forests as well as other subtypes. This means, every single creature you control may generate two green mana if used for mana.

Harmonious Grovestrider is another expensive, beefy creature that benefits from lots of lands (as with the previous card, its stats are based on how many lands you have).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World is an excellent fit in this deck. Her static effect causes every Forest tap for one more G. (With a Badgermole Cub, this results in each one generate three green mana.) Her plus ability acts as an early earthbend, putting +1/+1 counters to a noncreature land, handy but it isn't redundant with earthbend. The minus ability, though, makes all of your lands unbreakable enabling you to put onto the battlefield all the remaining forests in the deck. Once you trigger that ability, it almost certainly game over.

Badgermole Cub is a must-have in any green-based Avatar strategies that use the earthbend mechanic. When branching into Gruul colors, consider this legendary card. This card features earthbend 4, and when he deals combat damage to an opponent, each animated land become untapped and can attack again. While that version is a beloved leader, the cub is definitely going to remain among the top, possibly the sought-after card in the Avatar set.