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Magic: The Gathering’s special Avatar expansion will not hit the general market before the end of the week, yet following prerelease weekends this past weekend, a low-cost green spell saw a sharp rise in price.

Even during previews, the earthbending cub garnered significant interest. This two-power, two-toughness requiring G and 1 mana, Badgermole Cub includes Earthbending 1 (arguably the strongest of the elemental mechanics available). Its key advantage in its design lies in another power: Each time a creature is tapped to produce mana, it provides bonus green mana.

At its cheapest, Badgermole Cub was available for $26.98. Following the early events, though, its value jumped to nearly $50 including listings for sale at $60.00. The reason for premium pricing for this little creature? Mostly due to the rapid resource generation it provides.

Upon entering the battlefield, this creature turns one land into a creature granting it earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, if it stays in play, those lands generates double mana — in addition to other creatures on your side that produce resources.

An ideal partner to combine with would be this one-mana elf, a cheap 1/1 which can be tapped for G mana. However many other mana generation creatures out there. Another option costs a bit more with stats 1/3 for two mana as an alternative.

Deploying terrain, creatures that tap for mana, alongside this card, you may quickly play an enormous and very expensive creature on the board by round three or four. The situation escalates exponentially by maintaining dominance from that point.

By incorporating a secondary color using this method, options such as Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are all great options which produce all five colors. And something like this powerful dryad lets you play an additional land every round plus makes your entire land base providing all land types. Another possibility is such as a card called A Realm Reborn, at a six-mana investment grants every card you own the ability to produce a mana of any type — including any creature you have on the board.

The cub could be too strong when it comes to ramping up your mana generation, however how do you win in such a strategy? A common and powerful choice has been Ashaya. Power and toughness are both equal to your land count, plus it turns your non-token creatures to be Forests in addition to their original types. In other words, each creature in play can generate two green mana if used for mana.

This additional option provides a high-cost, powerful body that benefits from lots of lands (like Ashaya, its power and toughness match how many lands you have).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World works perfectly in this deck. Her passive ability allows all Forests tap for one more G. (With a Badgermole Cub, that means those lands yield three G.) One loyalty ability is essentially a form of land animation, placing counters on terrain, which is great but does not overlap with earthbend. Her ultimate, on the other hand, renders each land you control indestructible enabling you to draw out every Forest left from your library. Should you manage to use this power, this typically means the game ends.

This card is nearly mandatory in any green-based Avatar strategies that use Earthbending. If you dip into red and green, there’s this legendary card. He has earthbend 4, and when it hits a player to a player, land creatures are ready again for another attack. Although this card has become a fan favorite Commander, this small creature will surely stay among the top, possibly the desired card from this expansion.