Among the Avatar-themed most charming Magic cards is a powerful compact force.

MTG’s special Avatar expansion will not get a wider release before the end of the week, however due to pre-releases recently, one cheap green card saw a sharp rise in market worth.

Even during previews, Badgermole Cub attracted widespread focus. This two-power, two-toughness that costs one green and one colorless mana, Badgermole Cub features Earthbending 1 (perhaps the most effective within the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The real boon here is an additional effect: Whenever a creature is tapped to produce mana, it provides bonus green mana.

When first listed, Badgermole Cub sold at around $27. Post-prerelease, however, the market price jumped above $45 including listings priced at sixty dollars. What explains such high costs on this adorable card? Mostly because of the explosive mana ramping it enables.

Upon entering the board, this creature converts one land so it becomes a creature that has earthbending. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, while it remains on the board, each affected land generates double mana — in addition to any creatures on your side which tap for mana.

A clear choice for maximum effect is this one-mana elf, a cheap 1/1 that taps to generate a green resource. Yet numerous creatures that make mana out there. Druid of the Cowl is a higher-cost choice a 1/3 creature costing two mana instead.

Using land cards, creatures that tap for mana, plus the cub, you can easily get a massive and very expensive creature into play early in the game. Momentum builds exponentially with continued aggression from that point.

By incorporating an additional hue in this strategy, examples including Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are excellent picks that can make any mana color. And something like a useful enchantment creature enables playing another terrain each turn as well as turns every land you control so they count as all basics. You can also consider for example the enchantment A Realm Reborn, which for six mana gives all of your permanents the power to be tapped for a mana of any type — including all creatures in play.

The cub might seem overpowered when it comes to ramping up your mana generation, but what closes out the game for a deck like this? A common and powerful choice has been this legendary creature. Its power and toughness match your land count, plus it turns your non-token creatures to be Forests in addition to other subtypes. This means, every single creature on your board can produce double green by tapping.

Harmonious Grovestrider provides a high-cost, powerful body that thrives with a high land count (similar to Ashaya, P/T are equal to your land total).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World is an excellent fit as a go-to Planeswalker. Her static effect allows every Forest produce extra green. (Combined with earthbend, that means those lands yield three G.) One loyalty ability functions like a form of land animation, adding counters to a noncreature land, handy but it isn't redundant with earthbend. Her ultimate, though, grants each land you control indestructible and allows you to search for your remaining Forests in your deck. Once you trigger that ability, this typically means the game ends.

This card is pretty much essential for any kind of decks using green and Avatar built around earthbend. By including red-green, there’s Bumi. He has earthbend 4, and if damage is dealt to an opponent, all land creatures are ready again and can attack again. Although this card has emerged as a fan favorite Commander, this small creature is definitely going to remain one of, if not the most sought-after card in the Avatar set.