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MTG’s special Avatar expansion will not get a wider release before the end of the week, but due to pre-releases over the last few days, an affordable green creature has already exploded in market worth.

Even during previews, the earthbending cub drew a lot of attention. This two-power, two-toughness that costs one green and one colorless mana, it features level 1 earthbending (arguably the strongest among the set’s four “bending” mechanics). Its key advantage here lies in an additional effect: If mana is generated by tapping a creature, add an additional green mana.

At its cheapest, the card sold for $26.98. After the pre-release weekend, though, the market price escalated to nearly $50 with at least one listed priced at sixty dollars. What explains such high costs for this little creature? Mostly thanks to the rapid resource generation it can produce.

Upon entering the board, this creature transforms a land to a creature land with earthbend. And with that second ability, if it remains on the board, those lands generates double mana — along with other creatures on your side that produce resources.

An ideal partner for synergy includes this one-mana elf, an inexpensive 1/1 that taps to generate one green mana. However numerous creatures that make mana out there. Another option is a higher-cost choice with stats 1/3 for two mana in comparison.

By playing lands, dorks that generate resources, alongside this card, it's simple to summon a very big and very expensive monster on the battlefield within a few turns. And things just keep spiraling out of control if you keep the pressure on from there.

By incorporating another color using this method, options such as versatile mana producers work perfectly which produce any color of mana. And something like Dryad of the Ilysian Grove enables playing another terrain every round AND turns every land you control so they count as all basics. You can also consider for example a card called A Realm Reborn, at a six-mana investment gives every card you own the ability to be tapped for one mana of any color — which covers any creature under your control.

The cub may be OP regarding boosting mana production, however what closes out the game for a deck like this? An often-seen solution already is Ashaya. Its stats are set by the number of lands you control, plus it turns all of your nontoken creatures into Forests as well as their original types. This means, every single creature in play is able to produce double green when tapped.

Another creature provides a high-cost, powerful body that benefits from a high land count (similar to Ashaya, its stats are equal to how many lands you have).

This Planeswalker fits really well as a staple. Her static effect allows every Forest produce extra green. (Combined with earthbend, so all earthbend forests generate three green mana.) One loyalty ability is essentially a form of land animation, placing counters to a noncreature land, which is great but does not overlap with the cub's ability. Her -8 ability, on the other hand, renders your entire land base indestructible and allows you to draw out every Forest left from your library. Should you manage to use this power, it’s pretty much you win.

Badgermole Cub is pretty much essential for any kind of green-based Avatar strategies built around earthbend. If you dip into red-green, there’s this legendary card. This card features earthbend 4, and if damage is dealt to a player, each animated land untap and can attack again. Although this card has become a fan favorite Commander, this small creature is definitely going to remain one of, if not the most popular pick in the collaboration.