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Magic: The Gathering’s special Avatar expansion will not become widely available in the coming days, but after early access events over the last few days, a low-cost green spell saw a sharp rise in price.

Throughout the spoiler season, Badgermole Cub drew widespread focus. A creature with stats 2/2 priced at a single green and one generic mana, the card includes the Earthbend 1 ability (perhaps the most effective of the elemental mechanics available). The real boon here comes from an additional effect: If mana is generated by tapping a creature, it provides bonus green mana.

At its cheapest, this card sold at around $27. After the pre-release weekend, yet, the going rate has shot up above $45 and one seller offering for sale at $60.00. What explains premium pricing for this little creature? Mostly thanks to the rapid resource generation it provides.

Upon entering the board, this creature turns one land so it becomes a creature that has earthbending. Combined with its other power, if it is not removed, each affected land yields two mana instead of one — plus any creatures on your side that generate mana.

An ideal partner for maximum effect includes Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 that taps to generate a green resource. However numerous creatures that make mana in the game. This particular druid is a more expensive alternative with stats 1/3 at a two-mana value in comparison.

By playing lands, mana-producing creatures, and Badgermole Cub, it's simple to summon a very big pricey threat into play by round three or four. Momentum builds exponentially if you keep the pressure on from there.

By incorporating a secondary color using this method, options such as these mana-fixing creatures work perfectly which produce any color of mana. Additionally, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove allows you to put an additional land each turn as well as makes every land you control providing all land types. You can also consider something like a card called A Realm Reborn, costing six mana gives each permanent you control the power to produce any color mana — which covers any creature in play.

This card could be too strong when it comes to ramping up your mana generation, but what closes out the game with this archetype? One obvious and popular answer has been Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its stats are both equal to your land count, and it changes all of your nontoken creatures to be Forests as well as their original types. In other words, every single creature you control is able to tap for two G when tapped.

Harmonious Grovestrider is a costly, large threat that benefits from many terrain cards (as with the previous card, its stats are equal to your land total).

This Planeswalker fits really well as a go-to Planeswalker. Her static effect causes all Forests tap for one more G. (With a Badgermole Cub, this results in each one yield three G.) Her main ability is essentially a proto-earthbend, placing counters on a land, handy though it doesn't stack with earthbend. Her -8 ability, on the other hand, renders each land you control immune to destruction and allows you to put onto the battlefield every Forest left from your library. Once you trigger the ultimate, this typically means game over.

The cub is a must-have for all green Avatar deck built around earthbend. When branching into red-green, consider Bumi. It possesses level 4 earthbending, and when it hits a player to a player, all land creatures are ready again and may attack once more. Even though Bumi has become a popular Commander choice, the cute little Badgermole Cub will surely stay one of, if not the most sought-after card in the Avatar set.