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Magic: The Gathering’s collaboration with Avatar will not become widely available in the coming days, but following prerelease weekends this past weekend, a low-cost green spell experienced a surge in price.

Throughout the spoiler season, this small creature garnered significant interest. A 2/2 that costs G and 1 mana, Badgermole Cub has Earthbending 1 (possibly the most effective of the elemental mechanics available). Its key advantage in its design is an additional effect: If mana is generated by tapping a creature, it provides bonus green mana.

When first listed, this card could be purchased at around $27. Post-prerelease, though, the market price has shot up above $45 and one seller offering as high as $60. Why are we seeing such high costs on this adorable card? Mostly thanks to the explosive mana ramping it enables.

Upon entering the battlefield, this creature converts one land into a creature that has earthbending. Combined with its other power, if it remains on the board, each affected land yields two mana instead of one — along with any creatures on your side that generate mana.

A clear choice to combine with is Llanowar Elves, a cheap 1/1 that produces G mana. However numerous alternative mana dorks in the game. This particular druid is a more expensive alternative with stats 1/3 costing two mana instead.

By playing lands, mana-producing creatures, and Badgermole Cub, it's simple to summon a massive high-cost monster on the board early in the game. The situation escalates rapidly by maintaining dominance after that.

If you dip into another color with this approach, examples including these mana-fixing creatures are all great options which produce any color of mana. And something like a useful enchantment creature lets you play an additional land per turn as well as turns every land you control into every basic land type. Another possibility is something like this six-mana enchantment, at a six-mana investment provides all of your permanents the capacity to be tapped for any color mana — including each creature you have on the board.

Badgermole Cub could be too strong regarding accelerating your resources, yet what’s the endgame finisher in such a strategy? One obvious and popular answer is this legendary creature. Power and toughness are set by the number of lands you control, and it changes your non-token creatures to be Forests along with other subtypes. In other words, every single creature on your board can generate two green mana if used for mana.

Another creature provides a high-cost, powerful body which gains from a high land count (similar to Ashaya, P/T are based on the number of lands you control).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World works perfectly as a staple. Her static effect allows all Forests generate an additional green mana. (Combined with earthbend, this results in all earthbend forests produce triple green.) Her main ability functions like a proto-earthbend, placing counters to a noncreature land, which is great though it doesn't stack with the cub's ability. Her -8 ability, on the other hand, grants all of your lands immune to destruction and allows you to put onto the battlefield your remaining Forests in the deck. Once you trigger that ability, this typically means the game ends.

This card is nearly mandatory for any kind of green-based Avatar strategies focusing on earthbend. By including red and green, you can use Bumi Unleashed. He has earthbend 4, plus if he deals combat damage to an opponent, each animated land untap for another attack. While that version is a beloved leader, the cute little Badgermole Cub is set to be among the top, possibly the desired card in the Avatar set.