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MTG’s special Avatar expansion isn't set to become widely available until later this week, but following early access events over the last few days, one cheap green card has already exploded in market worth.

From the initial reveals, this small creature attracted significant interest. A creature with stats 2/2 requiring a single green and one generic mana, Badgermole Cub features Earthbending 1 (perhaps the most effective among the four bending abilities in the set). The real boon here comes from an additional effect: Whenever a creature is tapped to produce mana, it provides bonus green mana.

When first listed, the card was available at around $27. Post-prerelease, yet, the market price has shot up above $45 and one seller offering priced at sixty dollars. Why are we seeing Vivi prices for this cute lil guy? Mainly due to the rapid resource generation it provides.

When it arrives the battlefield, the cub converts a land into a creature granting it earthbend. And with that second ability, if it stays in play, each affected land yields two mana instead of one — plus any creatures on your side that produce resources.

The obvious go-to to combine with would be the classic Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 that taps to generate G mana. Yet many other mana generation creatures available. This particular druid is a more expensive alternative with stats 1/3 costing two mana as an alternative.

Using land cards, mana-producing creatures, and Badgermole Cub, you may quickly play an enormous high-cost creature on the board by round three or four. The situation escalates out of control by maintaining dominance from that point.

By incorporating another color using this method, examples including these mana-fixing creatures are all great options that can make all five colors. Another card, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove enables playing one extra land every round AND turns all of your lands into every basic land type. You can also consider something like a card called A Realm Reborn, which for six mana provides all of your permanents the capacity to produce any color mana — including any creature under your control.

This card may be OP in terms of accelerating your resources, but how do you win for a deck like this? One obvious and popular answer already is Ashaya. Power and toughness are both equal to the number of lands you control, and it makes all of your nontoken creatures into Forests in addition to their original types. In other words, each creature on your board can tap for two G when tapped.

Another creature is a costly, large threat that thrives with lots of lands (similar to Ashaya, P/T are based on how many lands you have).

Nissa works perfectly as a staple. One of her abilities causes Forest lands tap for one more G. (Combined with earthbend, this results in each one generate three green mana.) One loyalty ability functions like a proto-earthbend, putting +1/+1 counters on a land, handy but does not overlap with earthbending. Her ultimate, however, renders your entire land base indestructible enabling you to put onto the battlefield your remaining Forests in your deck. Once you trigger the ultimate, this typically means the game ends.

The cub is pretty much essential for all green-based Avatar strategies focusing on earthbend. When branching into Gruul colors, consider this legendary card. He has earthbend 4, plus if he deals combat damage in combat, land creatures are ready again and can attack again. While that version has become a popular Commander choice, the cute little Badgermole Cub is definitely going to remain one of, if not the most desired card in the Avatar set.