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MTG’s collaboration with Avatar won’t become widely available before the end of the week, but after prerelease weekends recently, an affordable green creature experienced a surge in market worth.

From the initial reveals, Badgermole Cub attracted a lot of attention. A creature with stats 2/2 priced at a single green and one generic mana, the card includes level 1 earthbending (arguably the best of the four bending abilities in the set). The major perk in its design comes from an additional effect: If a creature is tapped to produce mana, it provides bonus green mana.

At its cheapest, the card was available at around $27. Following the early events, yet, the market price jumped to nearly $50 with at least one listed as high as $60. The reason for premium pricing for this cute lil guy? Primarily due to the incredible mana acceleration it enables.

When it arrives play, this creature converts a land into a creature granting it earthbend. Combined with its other power, if it stays in play, each affected land produces twice the mana — plus other creatures on your side which tap for mana.

The obvious go-to to combine with is the classic Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 that produces a green resource. However many alternative mana dorks available. Another option costs a bit more that’s a 1/3 costing two mana instead.

Deploying terrain, mana-producing creatures, and Badgermole Cub, you may quickly play an enormous high-cost monster on the battlefield within a few turns. And things just keep spiraling rapidly with continued aggression from there.

If you dip into a secondary color in this strategy, options such as Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid work perfectly that can make any color of mana. Another card, this powerful dryad lets you play one extra land every round AND transforms every land you control providing all land types. It's also worth trying such as a card called A Realm Reborn, costing six mana gives all of your permanents the ability to be tapped for any color mana — including any creature under your control.

Badgermole Cub could be too strong regarding boosting mana production, yet how do you win with this archetype? A common and powerful choice is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Power and toughness are set by your land count, and it changes all of your nontoken creatures into Forests along with their other types. In other words, all your creatures on your board is able to produce double green when tapped.

Another creature is a costly, large threat which gains from a high land count (as with the previous card, P/T match your land total).

This Planeswalker fits really well as a go-to Planeswalker. One of her abilities makes every Forest generate an additional green mana. (Combined with earthbend, so all earthbend forests yield three G.) Her plus ability is essentially a proto-earthbend, placing counters to a noncreature land, which is great but does not overlap with earthbending. Her -8 ability, however, renders your entire land base indestructible enabling you to draw out every Forest left in the deck. Should you manage to use this power, it’s pretty much the game ends.

Badgermole Cub is nearly mandatory for any kind of green Avatar deck built around earthbend. By including Gruul colors, consider Bumi. This card features earthbend 4, and if he deals combat damage to an opponent, land creatures are ready again and can attack again. Although this card has emerged as a fan favorite Commander, the cub is definitely going to remain one of the most, maybe the desired card in the collaboration.