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the popular card game’s special Avatar expansion isn't set to hit the general market until later this week, but following prerelease weekends recently, an affordable green creature has already exploded in price.

Throughout the spoiler season, Badgermole Cub garnered a lot of attention. This two-power, two-toughness requiring one green and one colorless mana, Badgermole Cub features Earthbending 1 (perhaps the best of the four bending abilities in the set). Its key advantage here comes from another power: If you tap a creature for mana, add an additional green mana.

Initially, Badgermole Cub was available at around $27. After the pre-release weekend, yet, its value escalated above $45 with at least one listed priced at sixty dollars. The reason for such high costs for this little creature? Mainly due to the explosive mana ramping it can produce.

When it arrives the board, the cub converts a land to a creature land with earthbend. And with that second ability, as long as it stays in play, every earthbent land generates double mana — in addition to any creatures in your control that generate mana.

The obvious go-to for maximum effect includes Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 that taps to generate one green mana. But numerous other mana generation creatures available. This particular druid costs a bit more that’s a 1/3 costing two mana in comparison.

Deploying terrain, dorks that generate resources, and Badgermole Cub, you may quickly play a very big high-cost monster on the board early in the game. The situation escalates rapidly if you keep the pressure on from there.

When adding a secondary color with this approach, cards like versatile mana producers are all great options that can make any color of mana. And something like this powerful dryad lets you play another terrain each turn as well as turns all of your lands so they count as all basics. You can also consider such as a card called A Realm Reborn, costing six mana gives every card you own the ability to tap and generate any color mana — which covers each creature you have on the board.

The cub might seem overpowered in terms of boosting mana production, yet what closes out the game for a deck like this? One obvious and popular answer is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Power and toughness are set by your land count, and it changes all of your nontoken creatures Forests as well as their other types. In other words, all your creatures in play is able to tap for two G if used for mana.

Harmonious Grovestrider is a costly, large threat which gains from many terrain cards (as with the previous card, P/T are equal to how many lands you have).

Nissa is an excellent fit as a go-to Planeswalker. One of her abilities makes every Forest tap for one more G. (Combined with earthbend, that means all earthbend forests generate three green mana.) Her plus ability acts as a proto-earthbend, adding counters on a land, which is great but it isn't redundant with earthbend. Her -8 ability, on the other hand, renders all of your lands indestructible and lets you put onto the battlefield every Forest left from your library. Once you trigger the ultimate, it almost certainly game over.

The cub is pretty much essential for all decks using green and Avatar that use Earthbending. If you dip into red and green, you can use this legendary card. He has earthbend 4, and if damage is dealt in combat, each animated land become untapped and may attack once more. Even though Bumi has become a popular Commander choice, this small creature will surely stay among the top, possibly the desired card in the Avatar set.