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Magic: The Gathering’s special Avatar expansion won’t get a wider release until later this week, but after pre-releases recently, a low-cost green spell experienced a surge in market worth.

From the initial reveals, this small creature attracted a lot of attention. This two-power, two-toughness priced at G and 1 mana, it features Earthbending 1 (possibly the best within the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The major perk here lies in its second ability: Whenever you tap a creature for mana, it provides bonus green mana.

When first listed, Badgermole Cub was available for $26.98. Following the early events, though, the market price jumped to nearly $50 including listings as high as $60. The reason for Vivi prices on this adorable card? Primarily thanks to the explosive mana ramping it can produce.

When it arrives play, Badgermole Cub transforms a terrain card so it becomes a creature with earthbend. Combined with its other power, while it remains on the board, each affected land produces twice the mana — along with any creatures you have which tap for mana.

A clear choice to combine with would be this one-mana elf, a cheap 1/1 that produces one green mana. But there are plenty of other mana generation creatures available. Another option is a more expensive alternative a 1/3 creature for two mana in comparison.

By playing lands, dorks that generate resources, plus the cub, you can easily get a very big high-cost creature into play early in the game. Momentum builds rapidly with continued aggression from there.

When adding an additional hue with this approach, cards like Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are excellent picks which produce any mana color. And something like Dryad of the Ilysian Grove enables playing one extra land per turn as well as transforms every land you control into every basic land type. You can also consider such as this six-mana enchantment, which for six mana gives each permanent you control the ability to produce one mana of any color — even any creature under your control.

This card could be too strong regarding boosting mana production, however how do you win with this archetype? One obvious and popular answer already is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Power and toughness are both equal to your land count, and it makes your non-token creatures Forests along with their original types. In other words, all your creatures you control can generate two green mana by tapping.

Harmonious Grovestrider provides a high-cost, powerful body that thrives with a high land count (as with the previous card, P/T match how many lands you have).

Nissa fits really well as a staple. Her static effect causes Forest lands produce extra green. (Combined with earthbend, so all earthbend forests generate three green mana.) Her plus ability acts as an early earthbend, putting +1/+1 counters on a land, a useful effect but it isn't redundant with earthbend. Her ultimate, on the other hand, grants your entire land base unbreakable and allows you to draw out your remaining Forests from your library. Should you manage to use this power, this typically means you win.

Badgermole Cub is pretty much essential for any kind of green Avatar deck built around Earthbending. When branching into Gruul colors, there’s Bumi. This card features earthbend 4, and when damage is dealt to an opponent, all land creatures become untapped and may attack once more. Even though Bumi has emerged as a popular Commander choice, the cub is set to be among the top, possibly the desired card from this expansion.