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MTG’s collaboration with Avatar will not become widely available in the coming days, yet after prerelease weekends over the last few days, an affordable green creature saw a sharp rise in market worth.

Throughout the spoiler season, Badgermole Cub attracted a lot of attention. A creature with stats 2/2 that costs G and 1 mana, it has level 1 earthbending (perhaps the best among the elemental mechanics available). The major perk with this card is an additional effect: Each time mana is generated by tapping a creature, it provides bonus green mana.

Initially, this card was available for $26.98. Following the early events, yet, the going rate has shot up to $49.66 and one seller offering priced at sixty dollars. The reason for Vivi prices for this cute lil guy? Primarily because of the incredible mana acceleration it provides.

When it arrives play, the cub transforms a terrain card to a creature land with earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, if it remains on the board, every earthbent land generates double mana — in addition to mana-producing creatures in your control that generate mana.

A clear choice for synergy includes the classic Llanowar Elves, a cheap 1/1 which can be tapped for a green resource. Yet there are plenty of alternative mana dorks out there. Druid of the Cowl costs a bit more with stats 1/3 for two mana as an alternative.

Using land cards, mana-producing creatures, alongside this card, you can easily get a massive high-cost monster on the battlefield by round three or four. The situation escalates rapidly with continued aggression from that point.

By incorporating another color using this method, examples including versatile mana producers are excellent picks that can make all five colors. Additionally, a useful enchantment creature enables playing an additional land each turn AND makes your entire land base providing all land types. Another possibility is such as a card called A Realm Reborn, costing six mana gives all of your permanents the capacity to tap and generate any color mana — even each creature you have on the board.

Badgermole Cub could be too strong when it comes to boosting mana production, but how do you win in such a strategy? An often-seen solution has been Ashaya. Power and toughness match your land count, and it changes your non-token creatures into Forests along with their original types. In other words, each creature you control is able to generate two green mana if used for mana.

This additional option is a costly, large threat that benefits from a high land count (like Ashaya, its power and toughness are based on your land total).

This Planeswalker works perfectly as a go-to Planeswalker. One of her abilities makes every Forest tap for one more G. (With a Badgermole Cub, that means all earthbend forests produce triple green.) Her main ability is essentially an early earthbend, putting +1/+1 counters to a noncreature land, handy though it doesn't stack with earthbending. Her ultimate, however, makes each land you control indestructible and allows you to put onto the battlefield all the remaining forests in your deck. Once you trigger the ultimate, it’s pretty much the game ends.

Badgermole Cub is pretty much essential in any decks using green and Avatar focusing on the earthbend mechanic. When branching into red-green, there’s Bumi Unleashed. He has level 4 earthbending, and when it hits a player in combat, land creatures become untapped for another attack. Although this card has emerged as a popular Commander choice, the cub will surely stay one of, if not the most desired card in the Avatar set.