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MTG’s collaboration with Avatar will not get a wider release in the coming days, however due to early access events over the last few days, a low-cost green spell has already exploded in price.

Even during previews, Badgermole Cub drew significant interest. A creature with stats 2/2 requiring a single green and one generic mana, the card includes level 1 earthbending (arguably the strongest among the four bending abilities in the set). Its key advantage with this card lies in its second ability: Whenever a creature is tapped to produce mana, you gain one extra green mana.

When first listed, Badgermole Cub was available at around $27. Post-prerelease, though, its value escalated to $49.66 and one seller offering for sale at $60.00. What explains such high costs for this cute lil guy? Mainly due to the rapid resource generation it enables.

When it arrives play, this creature converts a land so it becomes a creature granting it earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, as long as it stays in play, those lands produces twice the mana — in addition to other creatures in your control that generate mana.

The obvious go-to to combine with would be Llanowar Elves, a cheap 1/1 that produces a green resource. But numerous other mana generation creatures available. Druid of the Cowl is a more expensive alternative that’s a 1/3 at a two-mana value as an alternative.

By playing lands, dorks that generate resources, and Badgermole Cub, it's simple to summon an enormous and very expensive creature on the battlefield within a few turns. The situation escalates rapidly with continued aggression from there.

If you dip into a secondary color using this method, cards like these mana-fixing creatures are all great options that generate any color of mana. And something like this powerful dryad allows you to put an additional land per turn plus transforms your entire land base providing all land types. You can also consider something like this six-mana enchantment, at a six-mana investment grants every card you own the ability to produce any color mana — which covers any creature in play.

The cub could be too strong regarding accelerating your resources, but what’s the endgame finisher for a deck like this? One obvious and popular answer already is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its stats are set by the number of lands you control, and it changes each creature you own into Forests along with their other types. This means, all your creatures you control can tap for two G by tapping.

Another creature provides a high-cost, powerful body which gains from a high land count (similar to Ashaya, its stats are equal to the number of lands you control).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World fits really well in this deck. One of her abilities causes all Forests produce extra green. (If you have the cub, so each one produce triple green.) One loyalty ability functions like a proto-earthbend, placing counters to a noncreature land, handy but does not overlap with the cub's ability. Her ultimate, however, grants all of your lands indestructible enabling you to put onto the battlefield your remaining Forests in the deck. If you can actually activate that ability, this typically means the game ends.

This card is nearly mandatory for any kind of decks using green and Avatar built around the earthbend mechanic. If you dip into red-green, you can use this legendary card. This card features earthbend 4, and if it hits a player to an opponent, each animated land become untapped for another attack. While that version is a beloved leader, the cub is set to be among the top, possibly the sought-after card from this expansion.