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the popular card game’s Avatar crossover set won’t hit the general market until later this week, however due to early access events recently, an affordable green creature saw a sharp rise in price.

Even during previews, Badgermole Cub garnered a lot of attention. This two-power, two-toughness priced at a single green and one generic mana, the card includes Earthbending 1 (perhaps the strongest of the elemental mechanics available). Its key advantage in its design comes from another power: Each time mana is generated by tapping a creature, you gain one extra green mana.

At its cheapest, this card could be purchased for $26.98. After the pre-release weekend, though, the going rate has shot up to $49.66 and one seller offering as high as $60. What explains premium pricing on this adorable card? Primarily due to the explosive mana ramping it can produce.

When it arrives play, this creature transforms one land into a creature with earthbend. And with that second ability, while it is not removed, those lands produces twice the mana — plus mana-producing creatures you have which tap for mana.

A clear choice to combine with would be this one-mana elf, a cheap 1/1 that taps to generate G mana. Yet there are plenty of other mana generation creatures available. Druid of the Cowl is a more expensive alternative with stats 1/3 costing two mana as an alternative.

By playing lands, mana-producing creatures, alongside this card, it's simple to summon a massive and very expensive creature on the battlefield by round three or four. And things just keep spiraling exponentially with continued aggression from that point.

If you dip into an additional hue in this strategy, options such as versatile mana producers are excellent picks that can make any color of mana. And something like a useful enchantment creature enables playing another terrain every round AND transforms your entire land base providing all land types. It's also worth trying for example a card called A Realm Reborn, which for six mana gives each permanent you control the power to produce one mana of any color — including each creature under your control.

The cub might seem overpowered when it comes to boosting mana production, but how do you win for a deck like this? An often-seen solution already is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Power and toughness are both equal to your land count, plus it turns each creature you own into Forests in addition to other subtypes. Essentially, every single creature in play is able to produce double green by tapping.

Another creature is another expensive, beefy creature that thrives with a high land count (as with the previous card, its power and toughness match your land total).

Nissa is an excellent fit as a go-to Planeswalker. Her static effect makes all Forests generate an additional green mana. (If you have the cub, so those lands produce triple green.) One loyalty ability is essentially a proto-earthbend, putting +1/+1 counters on terrain, which is great but does not overlap with earthbending. Her -8 ability, on the other hand, renders all of your lands immune to destruction enabling you to search for all the remaining forests from your library. If you can actually activate this power, it’s pretty much the game ends.

The cub is a must-have for any kind of green Avatar deck built around earthbend. By including red and green, there’s Bumi. He has earthbend 4, plus if it hits a player to a player, each animated land untap for another attack. While that version has emerged as a fan favorite Commander, this small creature is set to be among the top, possibly the sought-after card in the Avatar set.