One of Avatar's cutest collectible cards turns out to be a powerful compact contender.

Magic: The Gathering’s collaboration with Avatar will not hit the general market before the end of the week, yet following pre-releases this past weekend, an affordable green creature has already exploded in market worth.

Even during previews, Badgermole Cub attracted a lot of attention. A creature with stats 2/2 that costs one green and one colorless mana, the card features the Earthbend 1 ability (possibly the strongest of the elemental mechanics available). The real boon here lies in another power: If a creature is tapped to produce mana, it provides bonus green mana.

Initially, the card was available for $26.98. Post-prerelease, however, the market price escalated above $45 and one seller offering for sale at $60.00. Why are we seeing premium pricing on this adorable card? Primarily thanks to the rapid resource generation it can produce.

As it hits the board, this creature transforms one land to a creature land granting it earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, while it is not removed, each affected land yields two mana instead of one — in addition to mana-producing creatures in your control that produce resources.

The obvious go-to for synergy would be the classic Llanowar Elves, a cheap 1/1 which can be tapped for a green resource. But many creatures that make mana out there. Druid of the Cowl costs a bit more a 1/3 creature for two mana instead.

By playing lands, creatures that tap for mana, and Badgermole Cub, you may quickly play a massive and very expensive monster on the board by round three or four. The situation escalates exponentially by maintaining dominance from that point.

When adding a secondary color with this approach, examples including Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid work perfectly that generate all five colors. And something like Dryad of the Ilysian Grove allows you to put an additional land each turn plus transforms all of your lands providing all land types. Another possibility is something like the enchantment A Realm Reborn, costing six mana grants each permanent you control the capacity to produce any color mana — including all creatures under your control.

The cub might seem overpowered regarding accelerating your resources, but how do you win in such a strategy? A common and powerful choice has been this legendary creature. Power and toughness are both equal to the number of lands you control, plus it turns each creature you own into Forests along with their other types. Essentially, every single creature in play is able to tap for two G by tapping.

This additional option is another expensive, beefy creature that benefits from many terrain cards (as with the previous card, its stats match how many lands you have).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World fits really well in this deck. Her static effect makes Forest lands produce extra green. (With a Badgermole Cub, so all earthbend forests yield three G.) Her plus ability functions like an early earthbend, placing counters on terrain, handy but does not overlap with earthbend. The minus ability, on the other hand, makes each land you control indestructible and allows you to put onto the battlefield all the remaining forests from your library. If you can actually activate that ability, it almost certainly you win.

Badgermole Cub is nearly mandatory in any decks using green and Avatar focusing on Earthbending. When branching into Gruul colors, there’s Bumi Unleashed. He has earthbend 4, and when damage is dealt in combat, land creatures become untapped for another attack. Although this card has become a fan favorite Commander, the cute little Badgermole Cub is set to be one of the most, maybe the sought-after card in the Avatar set.