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the popular card game’s special Avatar expansion won’t hit the general market before the end of the week, however following prerelease weekends this past weekend, an affordable green creature experienced a surge in market worth.

Throughout the spoiler season, the earthbending cub drew widespread focus. A creature with stats 2/2 requiring one green and one colorless mana, the card includes level 1 earthbending (possibly the most effective within the four bending abilities in the set). Its key advantage here is another power: If mana is generated by tapping a creature, you gain one extra green mana.

Initially, this card sold for $26.98. After the pre-release weekend, though, the going rate has shot up above $45 and one seller offering as high as $60. Why are we seeing Vivi prices on this adorable card? Primarily thanks to the rapid resource generation it can produce.

Upon entering play, Badgermole Cub converts a terrain card into a creature granting it earthbend. Combined with its other power, if it is not removed, those lands yields two mana instead of one — plus other creatures in your control that produce resources.

A clear choice to combine with would be this one-mana elf, a low-cost creature that taps to generate G mana. But many creatures that make mana out there. This particular druid is a more expensive alternative with stats 1/3 at a two-mana value in comparison.

Using land cards, dorks that generate resources, and Badgermole Cub, it's simple to summon an enormous pricey creature on the board early in the game. And things just keep spiraling rapidly with continued aggression from that point.

By incorporating a secondary color in this strategy, cards like Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid work perfectly that generate any mana color. Another card, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove enables playing an additional land per turn AND transforms your entire land base so they count as all basics. It's also worth trying for example the enchantment A Realm Reborn, which for six mana grants each permanent you control the power to produce a mana of any type — which covers each creature under your control.

The cub could be too strong regarding accelerating your resources, but what closes out the game 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 makes all of your nontoken creatures Forests along with their other types. Essentially, each creature you control can produce double green when tapped.

Another creature is another expensive, beefy creature which gains from many terrain cards (like Ashaya, its stats match the number of lands you control).

This Planeswalker works perfectly in this deck. One of her abilities allows all Forests generate an additional green mana. (If you have the cub, so those lands generate three green mana.) Her plus ability is essentially a form of land animation, placing counters on a land, handy though it doesn't stack with the cub's ability. Her ultimate, on the other hand, grants your entire land base immune to destruction and allows you to put onto the battlefield every Forest left in your deck. Once you trigger this power, this typically means the game ends.

The cub is nearly mandatory for any kind of green-based Avatar strategies focusing on earthbend. By including red-green, consider Bumi. This card features earthbend 4, plus if it hits a player to a player, each animated land untap and can attack again. Even though Bumi is a popular Commander choice, the cute little Badgermole Cub is definitely going to remain one of, if not the most sought-after card in the collaboration.