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Magic: The Gathering’s Avatar crossover set isn't set to get a wider release until later this week, yet due to prerelease weekends this past weekend, one cheap green card saw a sharp rise in market worth.

Even during previews, Badgermole Cub drew widespread focus. A creature with stats 2/2 priced at a single green and one generic mana, Badgermole Cub includes level 1 earthbending (perhaps the best within the elemental mechanics available). Its key advantage with this card comes from another power: Each time mana is generated by tapping a creature, you gain one extra green mana.

Initially, this card could be purchased at around $27. Post-prerelease, though, the market price jumped to $49.66 with at least one listed as high as $60. The reason for such high costs for this cute lil guy? Mainly thanks to the rapid resource generation it provides.

When it arrives the board, Badgermole Cub turns a terrain card so it becomes a creature with earthbend. And with that second ability, while it is not removed, each affected land produces twice the mana — along with mana-producing creatures on your side that generate mana.

A clear choice for maximum effect would be this one-mana elf, a low-cost creature that taps to generate a green resource. Yet there are plenty of other mana generation creatures in the game. Druid of the Cowl is a higher-cost choice a 1/3 creature for two mana as an alternative.

Deploying terrain, dorks that generate resources, and Badgermole Cub, it's simple to summon a very big and very expensive threat on the battlefield within a few turns. Momentum builds out of control if you keep the pressure on from there.

By incorporating an additional hue in this strategy, examples including these mana-fixing creatures work perfectly that can make any color of mana. Another card, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove allows you to put one extra land every round as well as transforms every land you control into every basic land type. Another possibility is such as this six-mana enchantment, at a six-mana investment grants each permanent you control the power to be tapped for any color mana — even each creature in play.

This card could be too strong regarding accelerating your resources, however what’s the endgame finisher for a deck like this? One obvious and popular answer is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its power and toughness are set by the number of lands you control, plus it turns each creature you own to be Forests along with other subtypes. In other words, every single creature in play is able to generate two green mana by tapping.

Harmonious Grovestrider is another expensive, beefy creature which gains from lots of lands (like Ashaya, its stats are equal to the number of lands you control).

This Planeswalker works perfectly as a staple. Her passive ability makes all Forests generate an additional green mana. (With a Badgermole Cub, that means those lands produce triple green.) One loyalty ability acts as a proto-earthbend, placing counters on terrain, which is great but does not overlap with the cub's ability. Her -8 ability, however, grants each land you control indestructible and lets you draw out your remaining Forests in the deck. Once you trigger the ultimate, this typically means the game ends.

This card is nearly mandatory for any kind of green-based Avatar strategies that use the earthbend mechanic. When branching into red and green, you can use this legendary card. He has earthbend 4, plus if it hits a player to an opponent, each animated land become untapped for another attack. Even though Bumi is a beloved leader, the cub is set to be one of the most, maybe the popular pick in the collaboration.