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Magic: The Gathering’s special Avatar expansion will not get a wider release until later this week, but following early access events over the last few days, one cheap green card experienced a surge in market worth.

Even during previews, this small creature attracted a lot of attention. This two-power, two-toughness requiring one green and one colorless mana, Badgermole Cub has the Earthbend 1 ability (arguably the best of the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The real boon in its design comes from its second ability: If a creature is tapped to produce mana, it provides bonus green mana.

When first listed, Badgermole Cub could be purchased for $26.98. Following the early events, yet, the market price has shot up above $45 with at least one listed as high as $60. What explains such high costs on this adorable card? Mainly because of the rapid resource generation it provides.

When it arrives the board, Badgermole Cub turns one land so it becomes a creature with earthbend. Combined with its other power, as long as it stays in play, every earthbent land yields two mana instead of one — plus any creatures in your control that produce resources.

A clear choice to combine with is the classic Llanowar Elves, a low-cost creature that taps to generate one green mana. But there are plenty of alternative mana dorks out there. Another option is a more expensive alternative a 1/3 creature for two mana as an alternative.

By playing lands, mana-producing creatures, plus the cub, it's simple to summon a massive pricey creature on the battlefield by round three or four. Momentum builds rapidly with continued aggression after that.

If you dip into a secondary color in this strategy, options such as versatile mana producers work perfectly that can make any mana color. Additionally, a useful enchantment creature lets you play one extra land each turn AND transforms all of your lands into every basic land type. Another possibility is for example this six-mana enchantment, at a six-mana investment gives every card you own the power to tap and generate a mana of any type — including each creature you have on the board.

This card may be OP in terms of boosting mana production, however what’s the endgame finisher with this archetype? One obvious and popular answer already is this legendary creature. Power and toughness are both equal to the number of lands you control, plus it turns all of your nontoken creatures to be Forests as well as their other types. This means, every single creature in play is able to produce double green by tapping.

Harmonious Grovestrider provides a high-cost, powerful body that benefits from lots of lands (similar to Ashaya, P/T are based on how many lands you have).

This Planeswalker is an excellent fit in this deck. Her static effect allows all Forests tap for one more G. (Combined with earthbend, that means all earthbend forests produce triple green.) Her main ability functions like a form of land animation, placing counters to a noncreature land, a useful effect though it doesn't stack with earthbend. Her -8 ability, though, renders each land you control immune to destruction enabling you to put onto the battlefield all the remaining forests in your deck. Should you manage to use the ultimate, this typically means game over.

This card is nearly mandatory for any kind of green-based Avatar strategies focusing on earthbend. When branching into Gruul colors, consider Bumi Unleashed. He has earthbend 4, and when it hits a player to a player, all land creatures are ready again for another attack. Even though Bumi has become a fan favorite Commander, the cute little Badgermole Cub is set to be one of the most, maybe the desired card from this expansion.