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Magic: The Gathering’s special Avatar expansion isn't set to get a wider release in the coming days, however following early access events this past weekend, a low-cost green spell experienced a surge in value.

Throughout the spoiler season, Badgermole Cub garnered widespread focus. A 2/2 that costs G and 1 mana, Badgermole Cub has Earthbending 1 (possibly the best of the four bending abilities in the set). The major perk with this card lies in another power: Whenever a creature is tapped to produce mana, it provides bonus green mana.

At its cheapest, the card was available for $26.98. Following the early events, however, the going rate has shot up above $45 with at least one listed as high as $60. What explains premium pricing for this little creature? Mainly thanks to the incredible mana acceleration it enables.

As it hits the battlefield, this creature transforms one land to a creature land that has earthbending. And with that second ability, as long as it is not removed, those lands produces twice the mana — along with mana-producing creatures on your side which tap for mana.

An ideal partner for synergy is Llanowar Elves, a low-cost creature which can be tapped for G mana. Yet there are plenty of other mana generation creatures out there. This particular druid is a more expensive alternative with stats 1/3 costing two mana instead.

By playing lands, creatures that tap for mana, plus the cub, you may quickly play an enormous and very expensive monster on the battlefield early in the game. And things just keep spiraling out of control by maintaining dominance after that.

If you dip into an additional hue with this approach, options such as versatile mana producers are all great options which produce any mana color. Additionally, this powerful dryad allows you to put another terrain per turn AND makes your entire land base providing all land types. It's also worth trying something like a card called A Realm Reborn, which for six mana provides all of your permanents the capacity to produce a mana of any type — which covers each creature you have on the board.

The cub might seem overpowered when it comes to ramping up your mana generation, but how do you win for a deck like this? One obvious and popular answer already is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its power and toughness are both equal to the number of lands you control, and it makes all of your nontoken creatures to be Forests along with their other types. In other words, all your creatures you control is able to produce double green when tapped.

This additional option is a costly, large threat which gains from lots of lands (similar to Ashaya, its stats are based on the number of lands you control).

Nissa fits really well as a staple. Her passive ability causes all Forests tap for one more G. (With a Badgermole Cub, this results in each one generate three green mana.) Her plus ability functions like a form of land animation, adding counters to a noncreature land, a useful effect though it doesn't stack with the cub's ability. Her ultimate, though, renders all of your lands indestructible enabling you to draw out all the remaining forests in the deck. Should you manage to use the ultimate, it almost certainly the game ends.

The cub is a must-have for all decks using green and Avatar focusing on earthbend. When branching into red-green, there’s Bumi. This card features level 4 earthbending, plus if damage is dealt to a player, land creatures are ready again and may attack once more. Even though Bumi has become a beloved leader, the cub is set to be among the top, possibly the popular pick from this expansion.