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Magic: The Gathering’s collaboration with Avatar will not hit the general market before the end of the week, however following pre-releases over the last few days, one cheap green card saw a sharp rise in market worth.

From the initial reveals, the earthbending cub attracted significant interest. A 2/2 that costs a single green and one generic mana, it features level 1 earthbending (possibly the most effective among the four bending abilities in the set). The major perk here comes from an additional effect: If a creature is tapped to produce mana, it provides bonus green mana.

When first listed, the card was available for $26.98. Post-prerelease, yet, its value jumped to nearly $50 including listings for sale at $60.00. The reason for such high costs for this little creature? Mainly because of the incredible mana acceleration it provides.

Upon entering the battlefield, the cub transforms one land so it becomes a creature granting it earthbend. And with that second ability, as long as it stays in play, each affected land generates double mana — along with any creatures in your control that produce resources.

An ideal partner for synergy includes this one-mana elf, a cheap 1/1 that taps to generate one green mana. However numerous alternative mana dorks out there. Another option is a higher-cost choice a 1/3 creature at a two-mana value in comparison.

By playing lands, creatures that tap for mana, plus the cub, you can easily get a massive and very expensive monster on the battlefield within a few turns. And things just keep spiraling exponentially if you keep the pressure on after that.

By incorporating an additional hue with this approach, examples including versatile mana producers are excellent picks which produce any color of mana. Additionally, this powerful dryad allows you to put an additional land every round plus transforms every land you control into every basic land type. It's also worth trying something like this six-mana enchantment, at a six-mana investment grants all of your permanents the power to tap and generate any color mana — even any creature under your control.

The cub might seem overpowered in terms of accelerating your resources, yet what’s the endgame finisher in such a strategy? An often-seen solution is Ashaya. Power and toughness match your land count, and it changes each creature you own into Forests in addition to other subtypes. This means, each creature on your board is able to generate two green mana by tapping.

Harmonious Grovestrider is another expensive, beefy creature that thrives with a high land count (like Ashaya, its stats are based on how many lands you have).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World is an excellent fit as a go-to Planeswalker. Her passive ability makes Forest lands generate an additional green mana. (With a Badgermole Cub, this results in those lands generate three green mana.) Her plus ability acts as a form of land animation, placing counters on a land, which is great but it isn't redundant with earthbending. The minus ability, however, renders your entire land base unbreakable and allows you to draw out all the remaining forests in your deck. Once you trigger that ability, it’s pretty much game over.

Badgermole Cub is a must-have for all green Avatar deck built around earthbend. When branching into Gruul colors, there’s Bumi Unleashed. This card features level 4 earthbending, plus if he deals combat damage to a player, all land creatures untap and can attack again. Although this card is a beloved leader, the cub will surely stay one of, if not the most popular pick in the collaboration.