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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 over the last few days, a low-cost green spell has already exploded in market worth.

Even during previews, Badgermole Cub garnered widespread focus. A 2/2 priced at a single green and one generic mana, it has Earthbending 1 (possibly the strongest of the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The major perk here comes from another power: If you tap a creature for mana, add an additional green mana.

At its cheapest, this card could be purchased at around $27. Post-prerelease, however, the going rate has shot up to nearly $50 including listings priced at sixty dollars. The reason for premium pricing for this little creature? Primarily thanks to the incredible mana acceleration it can produce.

When it arrives play, this creature transforms one land to a creature land that has earthbending. Combined with its other power, as long as it remains on the board, every earthbent land generates double mana — in addition to other creatures in your control which tap for mana.

An ideal partner to combine with is this one-mana elf, a low-cost creature that produces a green resource. Yet many creatures that make mana out there. Druid of the Cowl costs a bit more that’s a 1/3 for two mana as an alternative.

Using land cards, dorks that generate resources, alongside this card, you may quickly play a massive pricey threat into play early in the game. The situation escalates rapidly if you keep the pressure on from that point.

When adding another color with this approach, cards like Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are all great options which produce any mana color. Another card, this powerful dryad lets you play an additional land each turn as well as transforms all of your lands so they count as all basics. It's also worth trying for example the enchantment A Realm Reborn, which for six mana grants each permanent you control the power to tap and generate a mana of any type — even any creature under your control.

Badgermole Cub could be too strong when it comes to ramping up your mana generation, but how do you win with this archetype? A common and powerful choice has been Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its stats are set by your land count, and it changes your non-token creatures to be Forests along with other subtypes. This means, each creature on your board can produce double green if used for mana.

This additional option is a costly, large threat which gains from many terrain cards (as with the previous card, its power and toughness are equal to your land total).

Nissa is an excellent fit as a staple. Her static effect causes all Forests generate an additional green mana. (With a Badgermole Cub, so each one generate three green mana.) Her plus ability functions like a proto-earthbend, adding counters on a land, which is great but does not overlap with the cub's ability. Her -8 ability, though, renders each land you control immune to destruction and lets you draw out all the remaining forests from your library. Once you trigger the ultimate, it’s pretty much game over.

Badgermole Cub is nearly mandatory for any kind of green Avatar deck focusing on earthbend. By including Gruul colors, consider Bumi. This card features level 4 earthbending, plus if it hits a player in combat, each animated land become untapped for another attack. While that version has become a popular Commander choice, this small creature is set to be one of the most, maybe the popular pick from this expansion.