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the popular card game’s special Avatar expansion isn't set to become widely available before the end of the week, however due to pre-releases over the last few days, one cheap green card experienced a surge in value.

Even during previews, the earthbending cub drew widespread focus. A 2/2 priced at a single green and one generic mana, it has level 1 earthbending (possibly the strongest of the four bending abilities in the set). The real boon here is its second ability: If mana is generated by tapping a creature, you gain one extra green mana.

Initially, Badgermole Cub sold below $30. Post-prerelease, though, the going rate jumped to $49.66 with at least one listed as high as $60. The reason for such high costs for this cute lil guy? Mostly thanks to the incredible mana acceleration it enables.

When it arrives the battlefield, this creature turns a terrain card to a creature land granting it earthbend. And with that second ability, if it remains on the board, each affected land produces twice the mana — along with any creatures in your control that generate mana.

A clear choice for maximum effect is Llanowar Elves, a low-cost creature that produces one green mana. Yet there are plenty of other mana generation creatures out there. This particular druid is a more expensive alternative with stats 1/3 for two mana as an alternative.

Deploying terrain, dorks that generate resources, alongside this card, you can easily get a very big and very expensive monster on the board within a few turns. The situation escalates rapidly by maintaining dominance from that point.

By incorporating another color in this strategy, examples including Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are excellent picks which produce all five colors. Another card, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove lets you play an additional land each turn plus turns all of your lands into every basic land type. Another possibility is such as the enchantment A Realm Reborn, at a six-mana investment gives every card you own the ability to be tapped for any color mana — including each creature you have on the board.

Badgermole Cub could be too strong in terms of accelerating your resources, yet how do you win in such a strategy? A common and powerful choice has been this legendary creature. Its stats match your land count, and it changes all of your nontoken creatures to be Forests in addition to their other types. Essentially, all your creatures in play may tap for two G if used for mana.

This additional option provides a high-cost, powerful body that thrives with many terrain cards (like Ashaya, its stats match your land total).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World fits really well as a go-to Planeswalker. One of her abilities causes Forest lands generate an additional green mana. (If you have the cub, that means those lands yield three G.) Her plus ability functions like an early earthbend, placing counters to a noncreature land, a useful effect though it doesn't stack with earthbend. The minus ability, on the other hand, grants your entire land base unbreakable and lets you put onto the battlefield your remaining Forests from your library. Once you trigger this power, this typically means game over.

Badgermole Cub is pretty much essential in any green-based Avatar strategies that use earthbend. When branching into red and green, you can use Bumi Unleashed. He has level 4 earthbending, and when he deals combat damage in combat, each animated land untap and may attack once more. While that version has become a fan favorite Commander, the cub will surely stay among the top, possibly the desired card from this expansion.