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the popular card game’s collaboration with Avatar won’t hit the general market in the coming days, however due to prerelease weekends over the last few days, one cheap green card has already exploded in market worth.

Even during previews, the earthbending cub garnered significant interest. A 2/2 priced at a single green and one generic mana, it features Earthbending 1 (perhaps the best of the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The real boon in its design comes from an additional effect: Each time a creature is tapped to produce mana, you gain one extra green mana.

When first listed, Badgermole Cub was available for $26.98. Post-prerelease, yet, its value escalated to $49.66 with at least one listed for sale at $60.00. The reason for Vivi prices for this cute lil guy? Mostly because of the incredible mana acceleration it can produce.

Upon entering the board, this creature transforms a terrain card to a creature land granting it earthbend. Combined with its other power, while it is not removed, each affected land produces twice the mana — along with other creatures on your side that generate mana.

An ideal partner for synergy includes this one-mana elf, a low-cost creature which can be tapped for one green mana. But numerous alternative mana dorks in the game. Another option costs a bit more that’s a 1/3 for two mana in comparison.

Deploying terrain, creatures that tap for mana, alongside this card, it's simple to summon a massive pricey threat on the battlefield by round three or four. And things just keep spiraling exponentially by maintaining dominance after that.

By incorporating a secondary color in this strategy, examples including versatile mana producers work perfectly that generate all five colors. And something like a useful enchantment creature enables playing one extra land per turn AND transforms all of your lands providing all land types. It's also worth trying such as the enchantment A Realm Reborn, at a six-mana investment gives all of your permanents the ability to produce one mana of any color — including each creature you have on the board.

Badgermole Cub might seem overpowered regarding boosting mana production, yet what closes out the game in such a strategy? An often-seen solution already is this legendary creature. Power and toughness match the number of lands you control, and it changes all of your nontoken creatures into Forests in addition to their original types. In other words, every single creature on your board is able to produce double green if used for mana.

This additional option is another expensive, beefy creature that benefits from a high land count (like Ashaya, its stats are equal to the number of lands you control).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World fits really well as a staple. Her passive ability allows every Forest generate an additional green mana. (If you have the cub, that means those lands yield three G.) Her plus ability functions like an early earthbend, placing counters on terrain, handy but does not overlap with earthbend. The minus ability, on the other hand, renders all of your lands immune to destruction enabling you to draw out your remaining Forests in your deck. Once you trigger this power, it’s pretty much the game ends.

The cub is pretty much essential in any green-based Avatar strategies focusing on earthbend. If you dip into red and green, you can use Bumi. This card features level 4 earthbending, and when it hits a player to a player, each animated land are ready again and can attack again. Although this card has become a fan favorite Commander, the cute little Badgermole Cub is set to be one of the most, maybe the popular pick in the Avatar set.