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Magic: The Gathering’s collaboration with Avatar will not get a wider release until later this week, however after prerelease weekends recently, an affordable green creature has already exploded in price.

Throughout the spoiler season, the earthbending cub drew significant interest. This two-power, two-toughness that costs one green and one colorless mana, the card includes Earthbending 1 (perhaps the best of the elemental mechanics available). The major perk here comes from its second ability: If a creature is tapped to produce mana, you gain one extra green mana.

Initially, the card sold at around $27. After the pre-release weekend, however, its value jumped to $49.66 with at least one listed priced at sixty dollars. Why are we seeing such high costs for this cute lil guy? Primarily because of the rapid resource generation it enables.

Upon entering play, Badgermole Cub converts a land to a creature land granting it earthbend. And with that second ability, while it stays in play, every earthbent land generates double mana — along with mana-producing creatures in your control that produce resources.

An ideal partner to combine with would be Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 which can be tapped for a green resource. Yet numerous alternative mana dorks in the game. This particular druid costs a bit more a 1/3 creature at a two-mana value as an alternative.

Using land cards, creatures that tap for mana, and Badgermole Cub, you may quickly play a very big pricey threat on the board early in the game. Momentum builds out of control with continued aggression from there.

By incorporating an additional hue with this approach, cards like these mana-fixing creatures are excellent picks which produce any mana color. And something like a useful enchantment creature enables playing an additional land per turn plus makes your entire land base so they count as all basics. Another possibility is something like the enchantment A Realm Reborn, at a six-mana investment provides every card you own the capacity to produce any color mana — even any creature under your control.

Badgermole Cub could be too strong when it comes to boosting mana production, yet what’s the endgame finisher with this archetype? An often-seen solution already is Ashaya. Its power and toughness are both equal to your land count, plus it turns each creature you own to be Forests along with their original types. This means, each creature on your board is able to produce double green if used for mana.

Another creature is another expensive, beefy creature which gains from lots of lands (similar to Ashaya, its stats match your land total).

Nissa fits really well in this deck. Her passive ability causes every Forest generate an additional green mana. (Combined with earthbend, this results in all earthbend forests generate three green mana.) One loyalty ability is essentially a proto-earthbend, putting +1/+1 counters on terrain, handy but it isn't redundant with earthbending. Her -8 ability, however, renders each land you control unbreakable enabling you to search for all the remaining forests in your deck. Once you trigger the ultimate, this typically means game over.

The cub is pretty much essential in any decks using green and Avatar that use the earthbend mechanic. By including Gruul colors, consider Bumi Unleashed. It possesses earthbend 4, and if damage is dealt to a player, each animated land untap and may attack once more. While that version has become a fan favorite Commander, the cub will surely stay among the top, possibly the popular pick from this expansion.