Among Avatar's most charming MTG cards proves to be a powerful compact contender.

Magic: The Gathering’s Avatar crossover set will not become widely available until later this week, however following prerelease weekends this past weekend, a low-cost green spell has already exploded in market worth.

Throughout the spoiler season, the earthbending cub garnered widespread focus. A creature with stats 2/2 that costs G and 1 mana, the card has Earthbending 1 (possibly the best of the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The major perk here lies in an additional effect: Whenever you tap a creature for mana, add an additional green mana.

At its cheapest, the card sold for $26.98. Following the early events, yet, the going rate jumped above $45 and one seller offering for sale at $60.00. Why are we seeing Vivi prices for this cute lil guy? Mainly due to the explosive mana ramping it enables.

When it arrives the board, Badgermole Cub turns one land into a creature with earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, if it is not removed, every earthbent land produces twice the mana — in addition to any creatures you have which tap for mana.

A clear choice to combine with includes this one-mana elf, a cheap 1/1 that taps to generate G mana. Yet numerous other mana generation creatures out there. This particular druid costs a bit more with stats 1/3 costing two mana as an alternative.

Using land cards, mana-producing creatures, and Badgermole Cub, you can easily get a very big high-cost creature on the board early in the game. And things just keep spiraling out of control with continued aggression after that.

By incorporating another color in this strategy, examples including Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid work perfectly which produce any color of mana. And something like a useful enchantment creature lets you play one extra land per turn AND makes your entire land base into every basic land type. You can also consider such as a card called A Realm Reborn, costing six mana provides every card you own the capacity to be tapped for one mana of any color — which covers all creatures under your control.

This card may be OP when it comes to ramping up your mana generation, but how do you win with this archetype? A common and powerful choice has been Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its power and toughness match your land count, and it makes your non-token creatures Forests along with other subtypes. In other words, each creature you control can tap for two G by tapping.

Another creature is a costly, large threat which gains from lots of lands (similar to Ashaya, its stats are equal to the number of lands you control).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World is an excellent fit in this deck. Her static effect causes Forest lands tap for one more G. (With a Badgermole Cub, so those lands produce triple green.) Her main ability functions like a form of land animation, placing counters on a land, a useful effect but does not overlap with the cub's ability. The minus ability, though, makes your entire land base indestructible and lets you search for all the remaining forests from your library. If you can actually activate this power, it’s pretty much game over.

Badgermole Cub is pretty much essential for all green-based Avatar strategies that use earthbend. If you dip into Gruul colors, you can use Bumi Unleashed. It possesses earthbend 4, and if it hits a player in combat, all land creatures untap and can attack again. Although this card has emerged as a beloved leader, the cub is set to be one of the most, maybe the popular pick in the Avatar set.