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MTG’s Avatar crossover set will not get a wider release before the end of the week, yet after early access events recently, one cheap green card saw a sharp rise in price.

Even during previews, Badgermole Cub garnered widespread focus. A 2/2 requiring one green and one colorless mana, the card includes level 1 earthbending (perhaps the strongest within the set’s four “bending” mechanics). Its key advantage in its design lies in another power: Each time a creature is tapped to produce mana, add an additional green mana.

At its cheapest, the card was available for $26.98. Following the early events, yet, the going rate has shot up to $49.66 with at least one listed for sale at $60.00. The reason for Vivi prices for this cute lil guy? Primarily due to the incredible mana acceleration it can produce.

Upon entering the battlefield, this creature turns one land into a creature with earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, as long as it remains on the board, every earthbent land produces twice the mana — plus mana-producing creatures on your side that produce resources.

An ideal partner for synergy includes this one-mana elf, a cheap 1/1 which can be tapped for a green resource. Yet many creatures that make mana available. Druid of the Cowl is a more expensive alternative with stats 1/3 costing two mana in comparison.

By playing lands, dorks that generate resources, plus the cub, you may quickly play an enormous high-cost threat into play within a few turns. And things just keep spiraling out of control by maintaining dominance from there.

By incorporating another color using this method, examples including Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are excellent picks that generate any mana color. And something like this powerful dryad allows you to put another terrain each turn plus makes your entire land base providing all land types. You can also consider such as this six-mana enchantment, which for six mana provides each permanent you control the capacity to be tapped for a mana of any type — which covers each creature in play.

This card may be OP when it comes to ramping up your mana generation, however what closes out the game in such a strategy? An often-seen solution is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its stats match how many lands you have, plus it turns your non-token creatures into Forests as well as other subtypes. Essentially, every single creature in play is able to generate two green mana by tapping.

Another creature provides a high-cost, powerful body that benefits from lots of lands (as with the previous card, its power and toughness are based on how many lands you have).

This Planeswalker is an excellent fit as a go-to Planeswalker. One of her abilities allows every Forest generate an additional green mana. (If you have the cub, so each one generate three green mana.) Her plus ability acts as a proto-earthbend, putting +1/+1 counters on a land, a useful effect but does not overlap with the cub's ability. Her ultimate, though, renders each land you control unbreakable and lets you put onto the battlefield your remaining Forests in the deck. If you can actually activate the ultimate, it almost certainly game over.

Badgermole Cub is a must-have for any kind of green-based Avatar strategies that use the earthbend mechanic. When branching into red-green, you can use Bumi. He has earthbend 4, and when he deals combat damage in combat, each animated land become untapped and may attack once more. While that version has emerged as a beloved leader, the cute little Badgermole Cub will surely stay one of the most, maybe the popular pick in the Avatar set.