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the popular card game’s Avatar crossover set won’t hit the general market in the coming days, yet after prerelease weekends over the last few days, one cheap green card saw a sharp rise in market worth.

Throughout the spoiler season, the earthbending cub garnered widespread focus. A creature with stats 2/2 requiring G and 1 mana, the card features level 1 earthbending (possibly the strongest within the elemental mechanics available). The real boon here comes from another power: Whenever a creature is tapped to produce mana, you gain one extra green mana.

When first listed, Badgermole Cub could be purchased below $30. Following the early events, though, its value jumped above $45 and one seller offering for sale at $60.00. The reason for such high costs for this cute lil guy? Primarily due to the incredible mana acceleration it enables.

When it arrives the board, this creature transforms a terrain card so it becomes a creature that has earthbending. And with that second ability, as long as it is not removed, those lands yields two mana instead of one — along with mana-producing creatures in your control that generate mana.

The obvious go-to for maximum effect is the classic Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 that produces G mana. However numerous creatures that make mana out there. Another option is a more expensive alternative that’s a 1/3 at a two-mana value instead.

By playing lands, creatures that tap for mana, and Badgermole Cub, you may quickly play a very big and very expensive creature on the board early in the game. Momentum builds rapidly if you keep the pressure on from there.

If you dip into a secondary color with this approach, cards like Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid work perfectly that can make any color of mana. And something like a useful enchantment creature allows you to put one extra land per turn plus turns your entire land base so they count as all basics. You can also consider for example the enchantment A Realm Reborn, costing six mana gives every card you own the power to be tapped for a mana of any type — which covers all creatures you have on the board.

This card may be OP in terms of boosting mana production, but what’s the endgame finisher in such a strategy? A common and powerful choice has been Ashaya. Power and toughness are set by your land count, plus it turns each creature you own to be Forests in addition to their other types. In other words, every single creature you control may generate two green mana by tapping.

Another creature provides a high-cost, powerful body that thrives with many terrain cards (like Ashaya, its stats match your land total).

This Planeswalker is an excellent fit in this deck. Her static effect makes every Forest generate an additional green mana. (With a Badgermole Cub, so each one generate three green mana.) Her main ability acts as a proto-earthbend, adding counters to a noncreature land, a useful effect though it doesn't stack with earthbend. Her ultimate, on the other hand, grants each land you control unbreakable and allows you to search for every Forest left in the deck. If you can actually activate this power, it almost certainly you win.

Badgermole Cub is pretty much essential for all green Avatar deck built around the earthbend mechanic. When branching into red and green, consider Bumi. This card features level 4 earthbending, and when he deals combat damage to an opponent, all land creatures become untapped for another attack. Even though Bumi has emerged as a popular Commander choice, the cub will surely stay among the top, possibly the desired card from this expansion.