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MTG’s Avatar crossover set will not hit the general market in the coming days, yet due to pre-releases recently, a low-cost green spell has already exploded in price.

Throughout the spoiler season, Badgermole Cub garnered significant interest. A 2/2 priced at G and 1 mana, it includes the Earthbend 1 ability (arguably the best among the four bending abilities in the set). The major perk with this card comes from an additional effect: If mana is generated by tapping a creature, you gain one extra green mana.

At its cheapest, the card sold for $26.98. Post-prerelease, though, the going rate escalated to nearly $50 including listings for sale at $60.00. Why are we seeing Vivi prices for this cute lil guy? Mainly due to the incredible mana acceleration it provides.

Upon entering play, Badgermole Cub transforms one land into a creature granting it earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, as long as it is not removed, each affected land generates double mana — in addition to any creatures on your side that generate mana.

An ideal partner to combine with is this one-mana elf, a cheap 1/1 that produces one green mana. However there are plenty of creatures that make mana available. This particular druid is a more expensive alternative with stats 1/3 at a two-mana value in comparison.

Deploying terrain, dorks that generate resources, plus the cub, you may quickly play an enormous and very expensive threat into play by round three or four. The situation escalates exponentially if you keep the pressure on after that.

If you dip into another color with this approach, cards like versatile mana producers work perfectly that generate any mana color. Additionally, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove enables playing one extra land every round as well as turns every land you control so they count as all basics. It's also worth trying for example this six-mana enchantment, which for six mana gives every card you own the capacity to produce any color mana — even all creatures under your control.

This card might seem overpowered in terms of boosting mana production, yet what closes out the game for a deck like this? A common and powerful choice has been Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Power and toughness are both equal to your land count, plus it turns each creature you own Forests along with other subtypes. Essentially, every single creature on your board may generate two green mana when tapped.

Another creature provides a high-cost, powerful body that thrives with lots of lands (similar to Ashaya, its power and toughness match how many lands you have).

Nissa is an excellent fit in this deck. One of her abilities makes all Forests tap for one more G. (Combined with earthbend, that means all earthbend forests yield three G.) Her plus ability functions like a form of land animation, putting +1/+1 counters to a noncreature land, which is great but it isn't redundant with the cub's ability. Her -8 ability, though, makes your entire land base unbreakable and allows you to search for your remaining Forests from your library. Should you manage to use this power, it’s pretty much game over.

This card is nearly mandatory for all green Avatar deck that use the earthbend mechanic. If you dip into Gruul colors, there’s Bumi Unleashed. This card features earthbend 4, plus if damage is dealt in combat, each animated land become untapped and can attack again. Although this card is a fan favorite Commander, this small creature will surely stay among the top, possibly the popular pick from this expansion.