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Magic: The Gathering’s collaboration with Avatar won’t hit the general market until later this week, yet due to pre-releases this past weekend, a low-cost green spell saw a sharp rise in value.

Even during previews, Badgermole Cub attracted widespread focus. A creature with stats 2/2 that costs one green and one colorless mana, Badgermole Cub has Earthbending 1 (arguably the best among the four bending abilities in the set). The major perk in its design lies in an additional effect: If a creature is tapped to produce mana, add an additional green mana.

When first listed, the card sold at around $27. Post-prerelease, however, the market price escalated above $45 including listings as high as $60. Why are we seeing such high costs for this cute lil guy? Mainly because of the explosive mana ramping it enables.

Upon entering play, the cub transforms one land to a creature land with earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, as long as it is not removed, each affected land yields two mana instead of one — along with mana-producing creatures in your control that produce resources.

A clear choice to combine with is the classic Llanowar Elves, a low-cost creature that taps to generate one green mana. But there are plenty of alternative mana dorks out there. Another option is a more expensive alternative a 1/3 creature for two mana in comparison.

By playing lands, creatures that tap for mana, and Badgermole Cub, it's simple to summon a massive and very expensive monster into play early in the game. The situation escalates rapidly if you keep the pressure on from that point.

By incorporating a secondary color using this method, cards like these mana-fixing creatures are all great options that generate all five colors. Additionally, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove allows you to put one extra land each turn AND makes every land you control providing all land types. Another possibility is such as the enchantment A Realm Reborn, at a six-mana investment gives every card you own the capacity to tap and generate a mana of any type — including all creatures under your control.

This card may be OP regarding ramping up your mana generation, but what closes out the game for a deck like this? One obvious and popular answer is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Power and toughness match how many lands you have, and it changes all of your nontoken creatures to be Forests in addition to their other types. In other words, every single creature in play can generate two green mana when tapped.

Harmonious Grovestrider is another expensive, beefy creature which gains from a high land count (similar to Ashaya, P/T are equal to the number of lands you control).

Nissa is an excellent fit in this deck. One of her abilities allows Forest lands produce extra green. (Combined with earthbend, that means each one yield three G.) Her plus ability is essentially a proto-earthbend, adding counters to a noncreature land, which is great though it doesn't stack with the cub's ability. The minus ability, on the other hand, renders your entire land base immune to destruction and lets you put onto the battlefield every Forest left in the deck. Should you manage to use the ultimate, it’s pretty much you win.

Badgermole Cub is nearly mandatory for any kind of decks using green and Avatar focusing on earthbend. When branching into Gruul colors, there’s Bumi Unleashed. This card features level 4 earthbending, plus if he deals combat damage to an opponent, each animated land are ready again and can attack again. Although this card is a fan favorite Commander, the cub will surely stay one of, if not the most desired card in the collaboration.