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the popular card game’s collaboration with Avatar will not become widely available before the end of the week, but after pre-releases recently, one cheap green card experienced a surge in value.

From the initial reveals, Badgermole Cub drew significant interest. A creature with stats 2/2 requiring one green and one colorless mana, it has Earthbending 1 (possibly the most effective among the elemental mechanics available). The major perk here lies in an additional effect: Each time mana is generated by tapping a creature, you gain one extra green mana.

Initially, the card could be purchased for $26.98. Post-prerelease, though, its value has shot up to nearly $50 and one seller offering as high as $60. What explains such high costs on this adorable card? Mostly because of the incredible mana acceleration it provides.

Upon entering the board, Badgermole Cub turns a land to a creature land with earthbend. And with that second ability, if it is not removed, those lands yields two mana instead of one — along with mana-producing creatures on your side that generate mana.

The obvious go-to for maximum effect includes Llanowar Elves, a cheap 1/1 that taps to generate a green resource. Yet there are plenty of other mana generation creatures available. This particular druid is a higher-cost choice that’s a 1/3 for two mana instead.

By playing lands, dorks that generate resources, plus the cub, it's simple to summon an enormous pricey threat on the battlefield by round three or four. And things just keep spiraling out of control by maintaining dominance from there.

By incorporating an additional hue with this approach, options such as versatile mana producers are excellent picks which produce any color of mana. And something like a useful enchantment creature lets you play an additional land each turn AND transforms every land you control providing all land types. Another possibility is something like a card called A Realm Reborn, which for six mana gives each permanent you control the ability to produce any color mana — including each creature in play.

The cub could be too strong regarding boosting mana production, yet what’s the endgame finisher in such a strategy? One obvious and popular answer has been this legendary creature. Its stats are set by your land count, and it makes all of your nontoken creatures into Forests as well as their other types. This means, each creature in play can produce double green by tapping.

This additional option is another expensive, beefy creature which gains from a high land count (similar to Ashaya, its power and toughness match how many lands you have).

This Planeswalker is an excellent fit in this deck. Her passive ability makes every Forest generate an additional green mana. (With a Badgermole Cub, so each one produce triple green.) Her plus ability acts as a form of land animation, adding counters on a land, which is great but it isn't redundant with the cub's ability. Her -8 ability, however, renders your entire land base indestructible and lets you search for your remaining Forests in your deck. Once you trigger that ability, it almost certainly you win.

This card is pretty much essential for all decks using green and Avatar built around the earthbend mechanic. If you dip into red-green, you can use Bumi Unleashed. This card features level 4 earthbending, and if damage is dealt to an opponent, each animated land are ready again and can attack again. While that version has emerged as a beloved leader, the cub will surely stay one of the most, maybe the popular pick in the Avatar set.