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the popular card game’s collaboration with Avatar won’t hit the general market until later this week, yet after prerelease weekends recently, a low-cost green spell has already exploded in value.

From the initial reveals, this small creature drew significant interest. A creature with stats 2/2 that costs one green and one colorless mana, it has level 1 earthbending (arguably the most effective within the four bending abilities in the set). Its key advantage in its design is another power: Whenever a creature is tapped to produce mana, add an additional green mana.

When first listed, Badgermole Cub sold below $30. Post-prerelease, however, the going rate escalated to nearly $50 including listings for sale at $60.00. The reason for such high costs on this adorable card? Mainly due to the explosive mana ramping it enables.

When it arrives the board, Badgermole Cub turns a land so it becomes a creature granting it earthbend. And with that second ability, while it stays in play, each affected land generates double mana — plus any creatures on your side which tap for mana.

The obvious go-to to combine with includes this one-mana elf, an inexpensive 1/1 that taps to generate G mana. But numerous other mana generation creatures in the game. Druid of the Cowl is a higher-cost choice that’s a 1/3 at a two-mana value instead.

Deploying terrain, creatures that tap for mana, alongside this card, you may quickly play an enormous high-cost monster on the battlefield early in the game. And things just keep spiraling exponentially if you keep the pressure on from there.

If you dip into an additional hue in this strategy, options such as Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are all great options that can make any color of mana. Additionally, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove allows you to put one extra land per turn plus turns all of your lands providing all land types. You can also consider for example a card called A Realm Reborn, at a six-mana investment gives all of your permanents the capacity to be tapped for any color mana — including each creature under your control.

The cub could be too strong regarding ramping up your mana generation, but how do you win with this archetype? One obvious and popular answer already is Ashaya. Its stats are both equal to your land count, and it changes all of your nontoken creatures into Forests along with their original types. Essentially, all your creatures on your board may produce double green when tapped.

Harmonious Grovestrider is a costly, large threat which gains from lots of lands (similar to Ashaya, its stats match your land total).

Nissa works perfectly as a staple. Her passive ability makes every Forest produce extra green. (If you have the cub, so all earthbend forests produce triple green.) Her plus ability acts as a form of land animation, adding counters to a noncreature land, which is great but it isn't redundant with earthbend. Her -8 ability, however, renders each land you control immune to destruction and allows you to put onto the battlefield all the remaining forests from your library. Once you trigger that ability, this typically means the game ends.

This card is pretty much essential for all green Avatar deck focusing on Earthbending. By including red and green, there’s Bumi Unleashed. This card features earthbend 4, and when damage is dealt to an opponent, land creatures untap and may attack once more. While that version has become a fan favorite Commander, this small creature is set to be one of, if not the most sought-after card in the collaboration.