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the popular card game’s special Avatar expansion won’t hit the general market until later this week, but due to pre-releases this past weekend, a low-cost green spell has already exploded in market worth.

Throughout the spoiler season, Badgermole Cub garnered significant interest. A creature with stats 2/2 priced at one green and one colorless mana, the card has the Earthbend 1 ability (perhaps the most effective of the elemental mechanics available). Its key advantage here lies in an additional effect: Each time mana is generated by tapping a creature, add an additional green mana.

Initially, this card was available below $30. After the pre-release weekend, yet, the market price has shot up above $45 with at least one listed for sale at $60.00. What explains such high costs for this cute lil guy? Primarily because of the explosive mana ramping it enables.

As it hits play, Badgermole Cub turns one land to a creature land with earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, while it is not removed, those lands generates double mana — plus mana-producing creatures on your side that generate mana.

A clear choice for maximum effect includes the classic Llanowar Elves, a low-cost creature that taps to generate a green resource. However many other mana generation creatures available. Another option is a higher-cost choice a 1/3 creature at a two-mana value instead.

By playing lands, mana-producing creatures, and Badgermole Cub, you can easily get a very big and very expensive monster on the battlefield early in the game. Momentum builds out of control if you keep the pressure on after that.

When adding an additional hue using this method, options such as these mana-fixing creatures are excellent picks that generate any mana color. Additionally, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove enables playing one extra land each turn as well as makes every land you control providing all land types. You can also consider something like a card called A Realm Reborn, which for six mana grants every card you own the ability to be tapped for a mana of any type — which covers any creature you have on the board.

Badgermole Cub could be too strong when it comes to ramping up your mana generation, but how do you win with this archetype? A common and powerful choice already is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its power and toughness match the number of lands you control, plus it turns all of your nontoken creatures into Forests as well as other subtypes. This means, every single creature on your board is able to produce double green by tapping.

This additional option provides a high-cost, powerful body that thrives with many terrain cards (as with the previous card, its stats match the number of lands you control).

Nissa fits really well in this deck. One of her abilities causes every Forest produce extra green. (With a Badgermole Cub, so all earthbend forests generate three green mana.) Her main ability functions like a form of land animation, placing counters to a noncreature land, which is great though it doesn't stack with earthbending. Her ultimate, on the other hand, renders each land you control immune to destruction enabling you to search for all the remaining forests in the deck. Once you trigger this power, it’s pretty much the game ends.

The cub is a must-have for any kind of green Avatar deck built around Earthbending. If you dip into red and green, there’s this legendary card. This card features earthbend 4, plus if damage is dealt in combat, all land creatures are ready again and may attack once more. Even though Bumi is a beloved leader, this small creature will surely stay one of, if not the most desired card in the Avatar set.