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the popular card game’s Avatar crossover set won’t become widely available in the coming days, yet due to early access events recently, an affordable green creature saw a sharp rise in value.

Even during previews, Badgermole Cub garnered significant interest. A 2/2 that costs one green and one colorless mana, it includes Earthbending 1 (possibly the best within the four bending abilities in the set). The real boon with this card is its second ability: If you tap a creature for mana, it provides bonus green mana.

At its cheapest, the card could be purchased for $26.98. Post-prerelease, however, its value escalated to $49.66 including listings for sale at $60.00. What explains premium pricing for this little creature? Mostly thanks to the rapid resource generation it can produce.

Upon entering the board, Badgermole Cub converts a land so it becomes a creature that has earthbending. Combined with its other power, while it remains on the board, every earthbent land produces twice the mana — plus other creatures on your side which tap for mana.

An ideal partner to combine with includes the classic Llanowar Elves, a cheap 1/1 that taps to generate one green mana. However there are plenty of other mana generation creatures in the game. Druid of the Cowl costs a bit more that’s a 1/3 costing two mana as an alternative.

By playing lands, creatures that tap for mana, plus the cub, you may quickly play a very big and very expensive creature into play by round three or four. The situation escalates rapidly if you keep the pressure on from there.

If you dip into a secondary color using this method, options such as these mana-fixing creatures are excellent picks which produce all five colors. Another card, a useful enchantment creature lets you play an additional land every round AND makes all of your lands into every basic land type. Another possibility is something like a card called A Realm Reborn, which for six mana gives all of your permanents the power to produce any color mana — which covers any creature you have on the board.

Badgermole Cub may be OP in terms of accelerating your resources, yet how do you win with this archetype? An often-seen solution already is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its power and toughness are both equal to your land count, and it makes each creature you own to be Forests as well as their original types. Essentially, every single creature in play is able to tap for two G if used for mana.

This additional option provides a high-cost, powerful body that benefits from a high land count (like Ashaya, its stats match how many lands you have).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World is an excellent fit as a go-to Planeswalker. One of her abilities causes every Forest produce extra green. (If you have the cub, so each one yield three G.) One loyalty ability acts as a form of land animation, adding counters on a land, handy though it doesn't stack with the cub's ability. Her -8 ability, on the other hand, makes each land you control immune to destruction and allows you to put onto the battlefield all the remaining forests in the deck. If you can actually activate that ability, this typically means the game ends.

Badgermole Cub is nearly mandatory for all decks using green and Avatar built around Earthbending. By including Gruul colors, there’s Bumi. This card features level 4 earthbending, and if he deals combat damage to an opponent, each animated land untap for another attack. Even though Bumi is a fan favorite Commander, the cute little Badgermole Cub is set to be one of, if not the most sought-after card in the collaboration.