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MTG’s Avatar crossover set isn't set to hit the general market before the end of the week, however due to prerelease weekends this past weekend, one cheap green card has already exploded in value.

Throughout the spoiler season, the earthbending cub drew a lot of attention. A creature with stats 2/2 requiring a single green and one generic mana, the card includes Earthbending 1 (possibly the best of the four bending abilities in the set). Its key advantage here is an additional effect: If a creature is tapped to produce mana, you gain one extra green mana.

At its cheapest, the card sold below $30. After the pre-release weekend, though, its value escalated above $45 including listings for sale at $60.00. Why are we seeing premium pricing on this adorable card? Mostly thanks to the explosive mana ramping it enables.

Upon entering the board, this creature transforms one land into a creature granting it earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, while it remains on the board, every earthbent land produces twice the mana — in addition to other creatures on your side that produce resources.

An ideal partner for synergy would be this one-mana elf, a cheap 1/1 that taps to generate one green mana. Yet numerous other mana generation creatures in the game. This particular druid is a higher-cost choice with stats 1/3 for two mana instead.

Deploying terrain, mana-producing creatures, alongside this card, it's simple to summon a massive and very expensive creature into play within a few turns. And things just keep spiraling exponentially if you keep the pressure on from there.

If you dip into a secondary color with this approach, options such as these mana-fixing creatures are all great options that can make any mana color. Additionally, this powerful dryad lets you play another terrain every round plus turns every land you control providing all land types. Another possibility is something like the enchantment A Realm Reborn, which for six mana grants each permanent you control the capacity to tap and generate one mana of any color — which covers all creatures under your control.

Badgermole Cub might seem overpowered when it comes to boosting mana production, yet what’s the endgame finisher with this archetype? A common and powerful choice already is this legendary creature. Power and toughness match how many lands you have, and it changes your non-token creatures to be Forests in addition to their other types. In other words, every single creature on your board is able to tap for two G by tapping.

Another creature provides a high-cost, powerful body that thrives with many terrain cards (similar to Ashaya, its power and toughness are based on how many lands you have).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World fits really well as a staple. One of her abilities causes all Forests generate an additional green mana. (If you have the cub, so each one produce triple green.) One loyalty ability acts as a proto-earthbend, putting +1/+1 counters on terrain, a useful effect but it isn't redundant with earthbend. Her ultimate, though, renders all of your lands unbreakable enabling you to search for your remaining Forests in the deck. Once you trigger the ultimate, this typically means the game ends.

The cub is nearly mandatory for any kind of decks using green and Avatar that use the earthbend mechanic. By including red-green, there’s this legendary card. It possesses earthbend 4, plus if he deals combat damage to an opponent, each animated land are ready again and can attack again. While that version has emerged as a fan favorite Commander, the cute little Badgermole Cub will surely stay one of the most, maybe the sought-after card in the collaboration.