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the popular card game’s special Avatar expansion won’t get a wider release in the coming days, however due to prerelease weekends over the last few days, one cheap green card has already exploded in value.

From the initial reveals, Badgermole Cub attracted significant interest. This two-power, two-toughness requiring G and 1 mana, the card features level 1 earthbending (perhaps the best among the elemental mechanics available). The major perk here comes from an additional effect: If you tap a creature for mana, you gain one extra green mana.

Initially, this card could be purchased at around $27. Following the early events, though, the market price has shot up above $45 including listings priced at sixty dollars. What explains Vivi prices for this cute lil guy? Mainly because of the explosive mana ramping it enables.

When it arrives the board, the cub turns a land to a creature land that has earthbending. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, while it remains on the board, those lands yields two mana instead of one — in addition to other creatures on your side that produce resources.

An ideal partner for synergy would be the classic Llanowar Elves, a cheap 1/1 that produces G mana. However there are plenty of alternative mana dorks in the game. Another option is a higher-cost choice that’s a 1/3 for two mana as an alternative.

Using land cards, mana-producing creatures, plus the cub, it's simple to summon a massive pricey monster into play early in the game. The situation escalates exponentially by maintaining dominance after that.

When adding another color in this strategy, options such as versatile mana producers work perfectly that can make all five colors. And something like Dryad of the Ilysian Grove enables playing one extra land per turn plus transforms every land you control into every basic land type. You can also consider such as this six-mana enchantment, costing six mana grants every card you own the ability to produce any color mana — even each creature under your control.

Badgermole Cub may be OP in terms of accelerating your resources, but what closes out the game in such a strategy? A common and powerful choice is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its stats are set by the number of lands you control, and it changes all of your nontoken creatures into Forests in addition to other subtypes. This means, each creature in play can tap for two G if used for mana.

Harmonious Grovestrider provides a high-cost, powerful body which gains from a high land count (as with the previous card, P/T are equal to how many lands you have).

Nissa is an excellent fit as a staple. Her passive ability causes all Forests generate an additional green mana. (With a Badgermole Cub, that means those lands yield three G.) Her main ability acts as a form of land animation, adding counters on a land, which is great though it doesn't stack with earthbending. Her ultimate, however, makes all of your lands immune to destruction and lets you search for all the remaining forests in your deck. Once you trigger the ultimate, it almost certainly game over.

The cub is a must-have for any kind of decks using green and Avatar that use the earthbend mechanic. If you dip into red and green, consider this legendary card. This card features earthbend 4, and when damage is dealt to an opponent, each animated land are ready again and can attack again. Although this card is a beloved leader, the cute little Badgermole Cub is set to be one of, if not the most popular pick in the Avatar set.