A standout from Avatar's cutest MTG cards turns out to be a formidable compact contender.

Magic: The Gathering’s Avatar crossover set isn't set to become widely available in the coming days, however following pre-releases over the last few days, an affordable green creature experienced a surge in market worth.

From the initial reveals, the earthbending cub garnered widespread focus. A 2/2 that costs a single green and one generic mana, the card includes the Earthbend 1 ability (arguably the strongest within the elemental mechanics available). The major perk here comes from an additional effect: Whenever mana is generated by tapping a creature, add an additional green mana.

When first listed, Badgermole Cub was available for $26.98. Following the early events, however, the market price jumped to $49.66 with at least one listed as high as $60. Why are we seeing premium pricing for this cute lil guy? Mostly because of the rapid resource generation it can produce.

When it arrives the battlefield, Badgermole Cub transforms a land to a creature land granting it earthbend. Combined with its other power, if it is not removed, those lands produces twice the mana — along with other creatures in your control that produce resources.

A clear choice for synergy includes this one-mana elf, a low-cost creature that produces one green mana. Yet many creatures that make mana in the game. This particular druid costs a bit more with stats 1/3 at a two-mana value in comparison.

Deploying terrain, dorks that generate resources, plus the cub, it's simple to summon a very big and very expensive monster on the battlefield within a few turns. Momentum builds out of control with continued aggression from there.

If you dip into a secondary color in this strategy, examples including these mana-fixing creatures work perfectly which produce all five colors. Another card, a useful enchantment creature enables playing one extra land every round plus makes all of your lands providing all land types. It's also worth trying such as this six-mana enchantment, costing six mana grants every card you own the power to be tapped for one mana of any color — including any creature you have on the board.

Badgermole Cub may be OP regarding boosting mana production, but how do you win with this archetype? A common and powerful choice has been this legendary creature. Its stats match your land count, plus it turns your non-token creatures Forests in addition to their original types. This means, each creature in play can generate two green mana by tapping.

Harmonious Grovestrider is another expensive, beefy creature which gains from a high land count (similar to Ashaya, P/T are based on the number of lands you control).

Nissa is an excellent fit as a go-to Planeswalker. Her static effect causes all Forests tap for one more G. (If you have the cub, so each one generate three green mana.) One loyalty ability functions like a proto-earthbend, adding counters on a land, which is great but it isn't redundant with the cub's ability. Her ultimate, on the other hand, grants your entire land base unbreakable and allows you to search for all the remaining forests in the deck. Once you trigger the ultimate, it almost certainly the game ends.

Badgermole Cub is nearly mandatory in any green Avatar deck built around the earthbend mechanic. If you dip into red-green, consider Bumi. It possesses earthbend 4, plus if it hits a player to a player, land creatures untap for another attack. Even though Bumi has become a beloved leader, the cub will surely stay one of the most, maybe the desired card in the collaboration.