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the popular card game’s special Avatar expansion isn't set to hit the general market before the end of the week, however after early access events this past weekend, an affordable green creature has already exploded in market worth.

Throughout the spoiler season, the earthbending cub garnered significant interest. This two-power, two-toughness that costs one green and one colorless mana, the card includes the Earthbend 1 ability (possibly the best of the elemental mechanics available). The major perk in its design is another power: If a creature is tapped to produce mana, add an additional green mana.

At its cheapest, this card sold for $26.98. After the pre-release weekend, yet, its value escalated to nearly $50 including listings as high as $60. The reason for such high costs on this adorable card? Primarily because of the rapid resource generation it enables.

When it arrives the board, the cub converts one land into a creature with earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, while it stays in play, each affected land generates double mana — along with other creatures in your control which tap for mana.

An ideal partner to combine with is this one-mana elf, an inexpensive 1/1 that produces one green mana. However numerous other mana generation creatures out there. Druid of the Cowl costs a bit more a 1/3 creature at a two-mana value in comparison.

By playing lands, mana-producing creatures, alongside this card, you may quickly play a massive and very expensive creature into play within a few turns. The situation escalates exponentially with continued aggression after that.

By incorporating an additional hue in this strategy, options such as Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are excellent picks that can make any color of mana. And something like a useful enchantment creature allows you to put one extra land each turn AND turns all of your lands so they count as all basics. Another possibility is for example this six-mana enchantment, costing six mana provides all of your permanents the power to tap and generate any color mana — even each creature in play.

The cub might seem overpowered in terms of accelerating your resources, but how do you win in such a strategy? One obvious and popular answer has been Ashaya. Power and toughness match how many lands you have, and it changes all of your nontoken creatures Forests in addition to their other types. Essentially, all your creatures you control can generate two green mana when tapped.

This additional option is a costly, large threat that benefits from lots of lands (similar to Ashaya, its power and toughness are equal to how many lands you have).

This Planeswalker works perfectly in this deck. Her static effect allows every Forest tap for one more G. (Combined with earthbend, so those lands generate three green mana.) Her plus ability is essentially a proto-earthbend, placing counters to a noncreature land, handy but does not overlap with earthbending. Her ultimate, however, renders your entire land base immune to destruction and lets you draw out all the remaining forests in your deck. Once you trigger this power, it almost certainly you win.

Badgermole Cub is a must-have for all decks using green and Avatar focusing on Earthbending. If you dip into Gruul colors, there’s Bumi Unleashed. This card features level 4 earthbending, and if damage is dealt in combat, land creatures become untapped and may attack once more. While that version is a beloved leader, the cute little Badgermole Cub is definitely going to remain one of the most, maybe the popular pick in the Avatar set.