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MTG’s special Avatar expansion won’t get a wider release before the end of the week, but after prerelease weekends this past weekend, one cheap green card experienced a surge in value.

From the initial reveals, Badgermole Cub attracted widespread focus. This two-power, two-toughness requiring G and 1 mana, Badgermole Cub has level 1 earthbending (possibly the strongest within the set’s four “bending” mechanics). Its key advantage in its design comes from another power: If mana is generated by tapping a creature, add an additional green mana.

At its cheapest, Badgermole Cub sold for $26.98. Post-prerelease, yet, the market price escalated to nearly $50 and one seller offering priced at sixty dollars. The reason for premium pricing on this adorable card? Primarily thanks to the explosive mana ramping it provides.

As it hits play, the cub turns a land to a creature land granting it earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, if it stays in play, every earthbent land yields two mana instead of one — plus any creatures you have that generate mana.

An ideal partner to combine with is Llanowar Elves, a cheap 1/1 that taps to generate a green resource. Yet many creatures that make mana out there. This particular druid is a higher-cost choice a 1/3 creature at a two-mana value instead.

By playing lands, dorks that generate resources, plus the cub, you can easily get an enormous pricey monster into play by round three or four. The situation escalates rapidly if you keep the pressure on after that.

When adding a secondary color in this strategy, examples including Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are all great options which produce all five colors. Additionally, a useful enchantment creature lets you play an additional land per turn plus makes all of your lands so they count as all basics. You can also consider something like a card called A Realm Reborn, costing six mana grants each permanent you control the capacity to produce a mana of any type — including each creature you have on the board.

Badgermole Cub could be too strong when it comes to ramping up your mana generation, but what’s the endgame finisher for a deck like this? One obvious and popular answer has been this legendary creature. Its stats match how many lands you have, plus it turns your non-token creatures into Forests in addition to other subtypes. In other words, every single creature in play is able to produce double green if used for mana.

Harmonious Grovestrider provides a high-cost, powerful body that benefits from lots of lands (as with the previous card, its power and toughness match your land total).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World works perfectly in this deck. One of her abilities makes every Forest generate an additional green mana. (Combined with earthbend, this results in all earthbend forests generate three green mana.) Her main ability is essentially an early earthbend, placing counters to a noncreature land, handy but it isn't redundant with earthbending. Her ultimate, on the other hand, grants each land you control indestructible enabling you to draw out all the remaining forests from your library. Once you trigger that ability, it almost certainly the game ends.

The cub is pretty much essential for any kind of green-based Avatar strategies that use Earthbending. If you dip into red and green, you can use Bumi Unleashed. It possesses earthbend 4, plus if it hits a player in combat, land creatures are ready again and may attack once more. While that version has emerged as a popular Commander choice, the cub is set to be one of, if not the most popular pick from this expansion.