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Magic: The Gathering’s Avatar crossover set will not hit the general market until later this week, but following pre-releases recently, one cheap green card experienced a surge in market worth.

Even during previews, the earthbending cub attracted a lot of attention. A creature with stats 2/2 that costs one green and one colorless mana, it features the Earthbend 1 ability (possibly the most effective of the elemental mechanics available). Its key advantage with this card lies in another power: If you tap a creature for mana, you gain one extra green mana.

Initially, the card was available for $26.98. Post-prerelease, yet, the market price escalated above $45 with at least one listed as high as $60. What explains such high costs for this cute lil guy? Primarily due to the rapid resource generation it can produce.

Upon entering the battlefield, the cub converts a terrain card to a creature land granting it earthbend. And with that second ability, while it remains on the board, every earthbent land generates double mana — plus mana-producing creatures you have which tap for mana.

An ideal partner to combine with is the classic Llanowar Elves, a cheap 1/1 that taps to generate one green mana. Yet there are plenty of creatures that make mana available. Druid of the Cowl costs a bit more that’s a 1/3 costing two mana as an alternative.

Deploying terrain, mana-producing creatures, plus the cub, you may quickly play a very big high-cost threat on the board within a few turns. The situation escalates out of control with continued aggression from that point.

If you dip into an additional hue with this approach, options such as these mana-fixing creatures are all great options that generate any color of mana. Another card, a useful enchantment creature enables playing another terrain per turn AND transforms your entire land base so they count as all basics. Another possibility is for example the enchantment A Realm Reborn, which for six mana grants every card you own the capacity to tap and generate one mana of any color — even any creature under your control.

The cub might seem overpowered when it comes to ramping up your mana generation, but what closes out the game for a deck like this? A common and powerful choice has been Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its stats match the number of lands you control, plus it turns each creature you own into Forests as well as their other types. This means, all your creatures you control can produce double green if used for mana.

Harmonious Grovestrider is a costly, large threat which gains from many terrain cards (similar to Ashaya, its power and toughness are equal to the number of lands you control).

This Planeswalker fits really well as a go-to Planeswalker. Her static effect makes Forest lands produce extra green. (With a Badgermole Cub, this results in those lands yield three G.) One loyalty ability acts as a form of land animation, putting +1/+1 counters on terrain, handy though it doesn't stack with earthbending. Her ultimate, on the other hand, renders your entire land base immune to destruction and lets you draw out all the remaining forests in the deck. Once you trigger the ultimate, it almost certainly you win.

The cub is pretty much essential for all decks using green and Avatar focusing on Earthbending. When branching into red and green, consider this legendary card. It possesses earthbend 4, and if he deals combat damage to a player, all land creatures untap and can attack again. While that version has become a fan favorite Commander, the cub will surely stay one of the most, maybe the desired card in the Avatar set.