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MTG’s special Avatar expansion will not hit the general market before the end of the week, yet after pre-releases over the last few days, a low-cost green spell experienced a surge in value.

From the initial reveals, the earthbending cub attracted widespread focus. A 2/2 requiring G and 1 mana, the card includes Earthbending 1 (arguably the most effective of the four bending abilities in the set). Its key advantage with this card comes from another power: Whenever mana is generated by tapping a creature, it provides bonus green mana.

Initially, the card could be purchased at around $27. Post-prerelease, however, the market price jumped to $49.66 and one seller offering priced at sixty dollars. Why are we seeing Vivi prices on this adorable card? Mainly because of the explosive mana ramping it provides.

Upon entering play, Badgermole Cub transforms a terrain card to a creature land granting it earthbend. And with that second ability, as long as it remains on the board, each affected land generates double mana — in addition to other creatures you have that generate mana.

A clear choice for synergy would be Llanowar Elves, a low-cost creature that produces one green mana. Yet there are plenty of other mana generation creatures in the game. This particular druid is a higher-cost choice a 1/3 creature at a two-mana value in comparison.

Using land cards, mana-producing creatures, alongside this card, you can easily get an enormous high-cost monster into play by round three or four. The situation escalates rapidly with continued aggression from there.

When adding another color in this strategy, examples including these mana-fixing creatures are excellent picks that can make all five colors. And something like a useful enchantment creature allows you to put an additional land per turn as well as transforms every land you control into every basic land type. You can also consider something like the enchantment A Realm Reborn, which for six mana grants each permanent you control the capacity to tap and generate a mana of any type — even each creature under your control.

This card could be too strong when it comes to accelerating your resources, however what closes out the game in such a strategy? One obvious and popular answer has been Ashaya. Power and toughness are both equal to your land count, plus it turns all of your nontoken creatures into Forests along with their other types. Essentially, each creature in play is able to generate two green mana when tapped.

This additional option provides a high-cost, powerful body which gains from many terrain cards (as with the previous card, its power and toughness are equal to the number of lands you control).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World is an excellent fit as a go-to Planeswalker. Her static effect allows Forest lands tap for one more G. (If you have the cub, that means all earthbend forests produce triple green.) Her main ability acts as a form of land animation, adding counters to a noncreature land, which is great though it doesn't stack with earthbending. The minus ability, though, renders your entire land base immune to destruction enabling you to put onto the battlefield your remaining Forests in your deck. If you can actually activate this power, this typically means you win.

Badgermole Cub is a must-have for any kind of green-based Avatar strategies built around earthbend. If you dip into Gruul colors, you can use Bumi Unleashed. This card features earthbend 4, and if it hits a player to an opponent, all land creatures are ready again and may attack once more. Although this card has emerged as a popular Commander choice, the cub is definitely going to remain among the top, possibly the popular pick from this expansion.