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Magic: The Gathering’s special Avatar expansion will not hit the general market until later this week, however following pre-releases this past weekend, a low-cost green spell has already exploded in value.

Even during previews, the earthbending cub drew significant interest. This two-power, two-toughness requiring G and 1 mana, Badgermole Cub includes Earthbending 1 (perhaps the most effective of the four bending abilities in the set). The major perk with this card comes from its second ability: If mana is generated by tapping a creature, add an additional green mana.

At its cheapest, this card was available for $26.98. After the pre-release weekend, though, its value jumped to nearly $50 with at least one listed priced at sixty dollars. The reason for Vivi prices for this little creature? Mostly due to the explosive mana ramping it provides.

When it arrives the board, Badgermole Cub converts a land into a creature that has earthbending. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, while it remains on the board, every earthbent land generates double mana — along with other creatures you have that generate mana.

A clear choice for synergy includes this one-mana elf, a cheap 1/1 that taps to generate a green resource. But numerous creatures that make mana available. This particular druid is a more expensive alternative that’s a 1/3 costing two mana in comparison.

By playing lands, creatures that tap for mana, and Badgermole Cub, it's simple to summon an enormous pricey monster into play by round three or four. The situation escalates rapidly if you keep the pressure on from there.

By incorporating an additional hue in this strategy, options such as Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are excellent picks that generate any mana color. And something like Dryad of the Ilysian Grove lets you play one extra land each turn plus makes all of your lands providing all land types. It's also worth trying such as this six-mana enchantment, which for six mana grants each permanent you control the ability to produce one mana of any color — including any creature under your control.

Badgermole Cub might seem overpowered in terms of boosting mana production, however what closes out the game in such a strategy? A common and powerful choice already is Ashaya. Power and toughness are set by the number of lands you control, and it changes all of your nontoken creatures into Forests along with their original types. In other words, each creature in play can generate two green mana by tapping.

This additional option provides a high-cost, powerful body that thrives with a high land count (similar to Ashaya, P/T match how many lands you have).

This Planeswalker works perfectly as a staple. Her passive ability allows Forest lands tap for one more G. (If you have the cub, this results in all earthbend forests produce triple green.) Her main ability functions like an early earthbend, putting +1/+1 counters on a land, handy but it isn't redundant with the cub's ability. Her ultimate, though, renders all of your lands immune to destruction enabling you to put onto the battlefield your remaining Forests in your deck. Should you manage to use this power, this typically means game over.

The cub is pretty much essential for all decks using green and Avatar that use the earthbend mechanic. When branching into Gruul colors, you can use Bumi. This card features level 4 earthbending, and when it hits a player to a player, all land creatures untap and can attack again. Even though Bumi has become a beloved leader, the cute little Badgermole Cub is definitely going to remain among the top, possibly the desired card in the Avatar set.