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the popular card game’s special Avatar expansion won’t get a wider release before the end of the week, however due to early access events this past weekend, a low-cost green spell saw a sharp rise in market worth.

Throughout the spoiler season, the earthbending cub attracted widespread focus. This two-power, two-toughness requiring G and 1 mana, it features Earthbending 1 (possibly the most effective within the elemental mechanics available). The real boon in its design is its second ability: Whenever a creature is tapped to produce mana, it provides bonus green mana.

Initially, the card sold for $26.98. After the pre-release weekend, though, the market price jumped to $49.66 with at least one listed priced at sixty dollars. The reason for such high costs on this adorable card? Primarily due to the incredible mana acceleration it provides.

As it hits the board, Badgermole Cub transforms one land into a creature granting it earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, if it is not removed, those lands generates double mana — plus any creatures on your side that generate mana.

A clear choice to combine with is this one-mana elf, a low-cost creature that taps to generate a green resource. Yet numerous creatures that make mana in the game. This particular druid costs a bit more a 1/3 creature costing two mana in comparison.

Using land cards, creatures that tap for mana, alongside this card, it's simple to summon an enormous high-cost threat into play early in the game. And things just keep spiraling out of control if you keep the pressure on from there.

When adding another color with this approach, cards like these mana-fixing creatures are all great options which produce all five colors. Another card, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove allows you to put an additional land per turn AND makes all of your lands into every basic land type. You can also consider such as this six-mana enchantment, costing six mana provides each permanent you control the capacity to tap and generate any color mana — which covers all creatures in play.

Badgermole Cub might seem overpowered regarding boosting mana production, however what’s the endgame finisher with this archetype? A common and powerful choice is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its stats are both equal to the number of lands you control, and it changes all of your nontoken creatures to be Forests as well as other subtypes. In other words, all your creatures in play is able to produce double green when tapped.

Harmonious Grovestrider is another expensive, beefy creature that thrives with many terrain cards (like Ashaya, P/T match how many lands you have).

Nissa is an excellent fit as a staple. Her passive ability makes Forest lands generate an additional green mana. (Combined with earthbend, so all earthbend forests generate three green mana.) Her main ability is essentially a form of land animation, adding counters on terrain, which is great but does not overlap with earthbending. The minus ability, on the other hand, grants all of your lands unbreakable and allows you to search for all the remaining forests from your library. Should you manage to use the ultimate, it’s pretty much game over.

Badgermole Cub is a must-have for any kind of decks using green and Avatar focusing on earthbend. If you dip into Gruul colors, there’s Bumi Unleashed. It possesses level 4 earthbending, and when he deals combat damage in combat, each animated land are ready again and can attack again. Even though Bumi has become a beloved leader, this small creature is definitely going to remain among the top, possibly the popular pick in the Avatar set.