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the popular card game’s collaboration with Avatar will not become widely available in the coming days, however after pre-releases this past weekend, a low-cost green spell experienced a surge in market worth.

Throughout the spoiler season, Badgermole Cub attracted significant interest. This two-power, two-toughness that costs one green and one colorless mana, the card features Earthbending 1 (possibly the best of the elemental mechanics available). The major perk with this card lies in an additional effect: Each time you tap a creature for mana, it provides bonus green mana.

When first listed, Badgermole Cub could be purchased for $26.98. Following the early events, yet, the going rate has shot up to nearly $50 with at least one listed priced at sixty dollars. The reason for premium pricing on this adorable card? Mainly due to the explosive mana ramping it enables.

As it hits play, Badgermole Cub transforms one land into a creature granting it earthbend. Combined with its other power, if it remains on the board, every earthbent land produces twice the mana — in addition to other creatures in your control which tap for mana.

The obvious go-to for maximum effect includes this one-mana elf, an inexpensive 1/1 which can be tapped for one green mana. However numerous alternative mana dorks in the game. Another option costs a bit more a 1/3 creature for two mana instead.

By playing lands, creatures that tap for mana, plus the cub, you can easily get a massive and very expensive monster on the board by round three or four. The situation escalates exponentially if you keep the pressure on from there.

When adding another color with this approach, options such as Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are all great options that can make all five colors. Additionally, a useful enchantment creature allows you to put another terrain every round as well as turns all of your lands providing all land types. Another possibility is for example a card called A Realm Reborn, at a six-mana investment grants every card you own the ability to be tapped for one mana of any color — including any creature in play.

Badgermole Cub may be OP in terms of boosting mana production, yet what’s the endgame finisher in such a strategy? An often-seen solution has been Ashaya. Power and toughness are both equal to your land count, plus it turns all of your nontoken creatures Forests along with other subtypes. This means, every single creature you control is able to produce double green when tapped.

Another creature provides a high-cost, powerful body that thrives with many terrain cards (as with the previous card, P/T are equal to the number of lands you control).

This Planeswalker is an excellent fit in this deck. One of her abilities allows all Forests tap for one more G. (With a Badgermole Cub, this results in each one produce triple green.) Her plus ability is essentially a proto-earthbend, adding counters to a noncreature land, handy but it isn't redundant with earthbend. Her -8 ability, on the other hand, makes each land you control immune to destruction enabling you to search for all the remaining forests in the deck. Once you trigger that ability, this typically means the game ends.

The cub is nearly mandatory in any green Avatar deck that use Earthbending. By including red and green, there’s Bumi. He has earthbend 4, plus if damage is dealt in combat, each animated land become untapped and can attack again. Even though Bumi is a beloved leader, the cub is definitely going to remain one of, if not the most sought-after card in the Avatar set.