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MTG’s collaboration with Avatar will not become widely available in the coming days, however due to prerelease weekends over the last few days, a low-cost green spell saw a sharp rise in value.

Throughout the spoiler season, this small creature drew a lot of attention. This two-power, two-toughness requiring G and 1 mana, the card has level 1 earthbending (possibly the best among the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The major perk in its design lies in another power: Whenever a creature is tapped to produce mana, it provides bonus green mana.

Initially, the card could be purchased below $30. After the pre-release weekend, however, the market price jumped to $49.66 with at least one listed priced at sixty dollars. What explains premium pricing for this cute lil guy? Primarily due to the rapid resource generation it can produce.

Upon entering the battlefield, the cub turns a land to a creature land that has earthbending. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, as long as it remains on the board, every earthbent land produces twice the mana — along with mana-producing creatures on your side which tap for mana.

An ideal partner to combine with includes the classic Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 that taps to generate G mana. However many creatures that make mana out there. This particular druid is a more expensive alternative a 1/3 creature at a two-mana value as an alternative.

By playing lands, dorks that generate resources, and Badgermole Cub, it's simple to summon an enormous pricey threat on the battlefield within a few turns. And things just keep spiraling exponentially if you keep the pressure on from that point.

When adding a secondary color using this method, examples including Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are all great options which produce any color of mana. And something like this powerful dryad enables playing an additional land each turn plus turns your entire land base into every basic land type. It's also worth trying such as the enchantment A Realm Reborn, costing six mana gives all of your permanents the capacity to produce a mana of any type — even any creature you have on the board.

Badgermole Cub might seem overpowered in terms of boosting mana production, however how do you win for a deck like this? An often-seen solution has been this legendary creature. Its stats match how many lands you have, and it makes your non-token creatures Forests along with their other types. Essentially, all your creatures in play may generate two green mana if used for mana.

This additional option provides a high-cost, powerful body which gains from a high land count (like Ashaya, its stats are based on the number of lands you control).

This Planeswalker works perfectly as a staple. Her static effect causes all Forests tap for one more G. (With a Badgermole Cub, this results in all earthbend forests yield three G.) One loyalty ability functions like an early earthbend, adding counters on terrain, handy though it doesn't stack with earthbend. Her ultimate, though, makes each land you control immune to destruction enabling you to put onto the battlefield every Forest left in your deck. Should you manage to use that ability, this typically means game over.

The cub is nearly mandatory in any green-based Avatar strategies that use Earthbending. When branching into Gruul colors, consider Bumi Unleashed. This card features level 4 earthbending, plus if it hits a player to a player, land creatures become untapped and may attack once more. Even though Bumi has emerged as a fan favorite Commander, the cub will surely stay among the top, possibly the popular pick in the collaboration.