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Magic: The Gathering’s special Avatar expansion will not hit the general market in the coming days, yet due to prerelease weekends over the last few days, one cheap green card saw a sharp rise in price.

Even during previews, the earthbending cub drew widespread focus. This two-power, two-toughness that costs one green and one colorless mana, it features Earthbending 1 (possibly the best of the elemental mechanics available). Its key advantage in its design lies in an additional effect: Whenever mana is generated by tapping a creature, you gain one extra green mana.

Initially, the card sold for $26.98. Post-prerelease, however, the going rate has shot up to nearly $50 and one seller offering as high as $60. Why are we seeing Vivi prices for this little creature? Mainly due to the incredible mana acceleration it can produce.

When it arrives the board, the cub transforms a terrain card to a creature land granting it earthbend. And with that second ability, while it is not removed, every earthbent land yields two mana instead of one — along with mana-producing creatures in your control that generate mana.

The obvious go-to to combine with includes Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 which can be tapped for G mana. Yet numerous alternative mana dorks available. This particular druid is a higher-cost choice a 1/3 creature costing two mana instead.

By playing lands, creatures that tap for mana, alongside this card, you may quickly play an enormous high-cost monster into play by round three or four. The situation escalates rapidly with continued aggression from there.

When adding another color with this approach, options such as these mana-fixing creatures are all great options that can make any color of mana. And something like this powerful dryad allows you to put another terrain each turn as well as transforms all of your lands into every basic land type. Another possibility is such as the enchantment A Realm Reborn, which for six mana gives all of your permanents the power to tap and generate a mana of any type — including any creature you have on the board.

Badgermole Cub may be OP regarding boosting mana production, however how do you win in such a strategy? One obvious and popular answer is this legendary creature. Its power and toughness are set by your land count, plus it turns all of your nontoken creatures to be Forests as well as their other types. Essentially, all your creatures on your board is able to generate two green mana if used for mana.

This additional option is another expensive, beefy creature which gains from a high land count (similar to Ashaya, its power and toughness are based on your land total).

This Planeswalker works perfectly as a staple. One of her abilities makes every Forest generate an additional green mana. (If you have the cub, this results in those lands produce triple green.) One loyalty ability functions like a proto-earthbend, placing counters on a land, which is great but does not overlap with earthbending. The minus ability, however, renders all of your lands unbreakable and lets you put onto the battlefield your remaining Forests in your deck. Once you trigger this power, it’s pretty much game over.

Badgermole Cub is pretty much essential for all green Avatar deck focusing on the earthbend mechanic. When branching into Gruul colors, there’s this legendary card. This card features earthbend 4, plus if it hits a player to a player, each animated land become untapped for another attack. Although this card is a fan favorite Commander, the cute little Badgermole Cub will surely stay among the top, possibly the popular pick in the collaboration.