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MTG’s collaboration with Avatar isn't set to get a wider release in the coming days, however following pre-releases over the last few days, an affordable green creature experienced a surge in price.

Throughout the spoiler season, this small creature attracted widespread focus. A 2/2 requiring one green and one colorless mana, Badgermole Cub includes level 1 earthbending (arguably the best of the four bending abilities in the set). The major perk here lies in its second ability: Each time a creature is tapped to produce mana, it provides bonus green mana.

At its cheapest, the card was available at around $27. Post-prerelease, though, its value escalated to $49.66 and one seller offering priced at sixty dollars. What explains such high costs for this little creature? Mainly because of the rapid resource generation it provides.

Upon entering play, the cub turns a land so it becomes a creature granting it earthbend. And with that second ability, as long as it stays in play, each affected land generates double mana — along with any creatures in your control that produce resources.

A clear choice for synergy is this one-mana elf, a cheap 1/1 that produces a green resource. Yet there are plenty of other mana generation creatures in the game. Druid of the Cowl is a higher-cost choice that’s a 1/3 for two mana in comparison.

By playing lands, mana-producing creatures, and Badgermole Cub, you may quickly play a massive and very expensive threat on the battlefield within a few turns. The situation escalates exponentially if you keep the pressure on from there.

By incorporating another color using this method, options such as Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are excellent picks which produce any color of mana. Another card, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove lets you play one extra land per turn as well as makes your entire land base providing all land types. It's also worth trying something like this six-mana enchantment, at a six-mana investment gives each permanent you control the power to tap and generate a mana of any type — including all creatures under your control.

The cub might seem overpowered in terms of boosting mana production, but what closes out the game with this archetype? One obvious and popular answer already is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its power and toughness are set by how many lands you have, plus it turns each creature you own Forests along with other subtypes. This means, every single creature on your board can produce double green if used for mana.

Another creature provides a high-cost, powerful body that benefits from a high land count (similar to Ashaya, its power and toughness match how many lands you have).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World works perfectly as a staple. Her passive ability causes every Forest generate an additional green mana. (If you have the cub, so all earthbend forests produce triple green.) One loyalty ability acts as a proto-earthbend, putting +1/+1 counters on a land, handy but does not overlap with earthbend. Her ultimate, though, renders each land you control immune to destruction and lets you draw out your remaining Forests in the deck. Should you manage to use that ability, this typically means the game ends.

Badgermole Cub is a must-have in any decks using green and Avatar built around the earthbend mechanic. When branching into Gruul colors, you can use Bumi Unleashed. It possesses earthbend 4, plus if it hits a player to an opponent, land creatures become untapped for another attack. Although this card has become a beloved leader, this small creature will surely stay one of, if not the most sought-after card in the Avatar set.