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MTG’s special Avatar expansion will not get a wider release before the end of the week, but due to prerelease weekends this past weekend, an affordable green creature saw a sharp rise in market worth.

From the initial reveals, Badgermole Cub drew significant interest. This two-power, two-toughness priced at one green and one colorless mana, it features Earthbending 1 (arguably the most effective of the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The real boon with this card lies in an additional effect: Whenever mana is generated by tapping a creature, add an additional green mana.

When first listed, the card could be purchased below $30. Post-prerelease, yet, its value escalated to $49.66 including listings as high as $60. Why are we seeing premium pricing for this little creature? Mainly because of the explosive mana ramping it can produce.

When it arrives play, Badgermole Cub turns a land to a creature land with earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, as long as it is not removed, each affected land yields two mana instead of one — in addition to other creatures on your side that produce resources.

An ideal partner to combine with would be this one-mana elf, a low-cost creature that taps to generate a green resource. Yet many other mana generation creatures available. Druid of the Cowl is a more expensive alternative a 1/3 creature for two mana instead.

Deploying terrain, creatures that tap for mana, alongside this card, you can easily get an enormous high-cost monster on the board by round three or four. And things just keep spiraling out of control with continued aggression from that point.

If you dip into a secondary color with this approach, examples including versatile mana producers work perfectly that generate any color of mana. And something like Dryad of the Ilysian Grove enables playing one extra land each turn as well as turns every land you control so they count as all basics. Another possibility is something like the enchantment A Realm Reborn, costing six mana grants each permanent you control the ability to be tapped for one mana of any color — including each creature under your control.

This card might seem overpowered when it comes to ramping up your mana generation, but how do you win for a deck like this? An often-seen solution already is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its stats are both equal to the number of lands you control, and it makes your non-token creatures to be Forests as well as their original types. In other words, each creature in play may tap for two G when tapped.

This additional option is another expensive, beefy creature that thrives with many terrain cards (as with the previous card, P/T match how many lands you have).

Nissa fits really well as a go-to Planeswalker. Her passive ability causes Forest lands produce extra green. (If you have the cub, so each one yield three G.) Her main ability acts as an early earthbend, putting +1/+1 counters on terrain, which is great though it doesn't stack with earthbending. Her -8 ability, though, makes all of your lands indestructible and lets you draw out all the remaining forests in your deck. Once you trigger this power, this typically means game over.

The cub is a must-have for all green Avatar deck built around earthbend. If you dip into red and green, you can use Bumi Unleashed. He has level 4 earthbending, and when he deals combat damage in combat, each animated land untap and can attack again. Even though Bumi is a beloved leader, this small creature is definitely going to remain one of the most, maybe the desired card in the Avatar set.