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the popular card game’s Avatar crossover set will not hit the general market until later this week, yet after prerelease weekends recently, one cheap green card has already exploded in market worth.

Throughout the spoiler season, this small creature attracted significant interest. This two-power, two-toughness priced at a single green and one generic mana, it features Earthbending 1 (arguably the best among the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The real boon here comes from its second ability: Whenever a creature is tapped to produce mana, add an additional green mana.

At its cheapest, this card was available below $30. After the pre-release weekend, however, the going rate jumped to $49.66 and one seller offering for sale at $60.00. The reason for such high costs for this little creature? Primarily because of the rapid resource generation it can produce.

Upon entering the battlefield, Badgermole Cub converts a land into a creature granting it earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, if it is not removed, those lands produces twice the mana — plus any creatures you have which tap for mana.

A clear choice for synergy would be Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 that taps to generate G mana. But many other mana generation creatures out there. This particular druid costs a bit more that’s a 1/3 costing two mana in comparison.

By playing lands, dorks that generate resources, plus the cub, it's simple to summon a very big and very expensive threat on the board by round three or four. The situation escalates exponentially with continued aggression after that.

By incorporating a secondary color with this approach, options such as Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are excellent picks which produce any color of mana. And something like this powerful dryad lets you play another terrain every round AND transforms your entire land base providing all land types. Another possibility is for example a card called A Realm Reborn, at a six-mana investment gives every card you own the capacity to tap and generate any color mana — even each creature under your control.

The cub could be too strong in terms of ramping up your mana generation, however what’s the endgame finisher with this archetype? One obvious and popular answer has been Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its power and toughness match the number of lands you control, and it changes all of your nontoken creatures Forests as well as their other types. Essentially, every single creature in play is able to tap for two G if used for mana.

Harmonious Grovestrider is another expensive, beefy creature which gains from many terrain cards (like Ashaya, its stats are based on the number of lands you control).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World is an excellent fit as a staple. One of her abilities allows Forest lands generate an additional green mana. (If you have the cub, that means all earthbend forests yield three G.) Her main ability is essentially an early earthbend, adding counters on a land, which is great but does not overlap with earthbend. Her ultimate, on the other hand, grants all of your lands immune to destruction and lets you put onto the battlefield your remaining Forests in your deck. Should you manage to use the ultimate, this typically means game over.

This card is pretty much essential for any kind of decks using green and Avatar built around Earthbending. When branching into red and green, you can use Bumi Unleashed. It possesses earthbend 4, plus if he deals combat damage in combat, each animated land untap and may attack once more. Although this card is a beloved leader, the cute little Badgermole Cub is set to be one of the most, maybe the desired card from this expansion.