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Magic: The Gathering’s special Avatar expansion isn't set to become widely available in the coming days, but following pre-releases recently, a low-cost green spell has already exploded in value.

From the initial reveals, this small creature attracted significant interest. A creature with stats 2/2 priced at G and 1 mana, Badgermole Cub features the Earthbend 1 ability (possibly the strongest within the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The major perk in its design is another power: Whenever mana is generated by tapping a creature, add an additional green mana.

Initially, Badgermole Cub was available for $26.98. Post-prerelease, however, the going rate escalated above $45 including listings priced at sixty dollars. What explains premium pricing for this little creature? Mostly due to the rapid resource generation it provides.

Upon entering play, this creature converts one land so it becomes a creature that has earthbending. And with that second ability, while it remains on the board, every earthbent land yields two mana instead of one — in addition to other creatures you have which tap for mana.

A clear choice for maximum effect includes the classic Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 that produces one green mana. Yet numerous creatures that make mana in the game. Druid of the Cowl is a more expensive alternative that’s a 1/3 for two mana as an alternative.

Deploying terrain, creatures that tap for mana, plus the cub, you can easily get an enormous and very expensive monster on the board early in the game. And things just keep spiraling exponentially with continued aggression from there.

By incorporating another color with this approach, options such as versatile mana producers are excellent picks that generate any color of mana. And something like a useful enchantment creature allows you to put one extra land every round AND makes all of your lands so they count as all basics. It's also worth trying something like this six-mana enchantment, which for six mana grants all of your permanents the power to tap and generate one mana of any color — including any creature you have on the board.

The cub could be too strong when it comes to accelerating your resources, however what’s the endgame finisher with this archetype? A common and powerful choice has been this legendary creature. Its power and toughness match your land count, plus it turns each creature you own Forests as well as other subtypes. This means, each creature on your board can tap for two G if used for mana.

Another creature provides a high-cost, powerful body which gains from lots of lands (similar to Ashaya, P/T are based on how many lands you have).

This Planeswalker works perfectly in this deck. Her passive ability causes Forest lands generate an additional green mana. (Combined with earthbend, so each one generate three green mana.) Her main ability functions like a proto-earthbend, placing counters to a noncreature land, handy though it doesn't stack with earthbending. Her ultimate, though, grants your entire land base immune to destruction and lets you draw out all the remaining forests in your deck. Once you trigger that ability, it almost certainly game over.

This card is a must-have in any green-based Avatar strategies built around earthbend. By including red-green, consider Bumi. This card features earthbend 4, plus if damage is dealt in combat, land creatures untap and can attack again. Even though Bumi has emerged as a beloved leader, the cub is definitely going to remain one of the most, maybe the popular pick from this expansion.