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the popular card game’s collaboration with Avatar will not get a wider release before the end of the week, but due to early access events this past weekend, an affordable green creature saw a sharp rise in price.

From the initial reveals, Badgermole Cub drew a lot of attention. This two-power, two-toughness requiring a single green and one generic mana, Badgermole Cub includes Earthbending 1 (arguably the most effective of the elemental mechanics available). Its key advantage in its design lies in another power: If a creature is tapped to produce mana, it provides bonus green mana.

Initially, this card could be purchased below $30. After the pre-release weekend, yet, its value jumped to $49.66 with at least one listed priced at sixty dollars. The reason for premium pricing for this cute lil guy? Primarily because of the rapid resource generation it enables.

When it arrives play, the cub transforms a land so it becomes a creature with earthbend. And with that second ability, while it stays in play, every earthbent land yields two mana instead of one — along with any creatures on your side that produce resources.

A clear choice for maximum effect would be the classic Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 that produces one green mana. But many creatures that make mana available. Another option is a more expensive alternative with stats 1/3 for two mana instead.

Using land cards, creatures that tap for mana, alongside this card, you may quickly play a very big high-cost creature into play within a few turns. The situation escalates rapidly by maintaining dominance from there.

When adding an additional hue with this approach, cards like these mana-fixing creatures work perfectly which produce all five colors. Additionally, this powerful dryad allows you to put another terrain per turn plus makes every land you control into every basic land type. It's also worth trying something like the enchantment A Realm Reborn, which for six mana gives every card you own the power to tap and generate a mana of any type — even each creature in play.

Badgermole Cub could be too strong in terms of ramping up your mana generation, but what closes out the game for a deck like this? A common and powerful choice has been Ashaya. Power and toughness are set by your land count, and it makes your non-token creatures to be Forests along with their other types. In other words, each creature on your board may tap for two G if used for mana.

Another creature is a costly, large threat that thrives with a high land count (similar to Ashaya, P/T match the number of lands you control).

Nissa works perfectly as a go-to Planeswalker. One of her abilities allows every Forest tap for one more G. (With a Badgermole Cub, that means those lands yield three G.) Her plus ability acts as a form of land animation, putting +1/+1 counters to a noncreature land, which is great but does not overlap with the cub's ability. The minus ability, however, renders your entire land base unbreakable enabling you to put onto the battlefield every Forest left from your library. Once you trigger that ability, it almost certainly game over.

This card is a must-have in any green Avatar deck that use the earthbend mechanic. By including red-green, you can use Bumi Unleashed. It possesses earthbend 4, plus if he deals combat damage to a player, all land creatures untap and may attack once more. Although this card is a beloved leader, the cub will surely stay among the top, possibly the popular pick in the collaboration.