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the popular card game’s special Avatar expansion won’t hit the general market in the coming days, however after pre-releases over the last few days, an affordable green creature has already exploded in market worth.

Even during previews, the earthbending cub drew significant interest. A 2/2 requiring one green and one colorless mana, it has level 1 earthbending (perhaps the strongest within the elemental mechanics available). Its key advantage with this card lies in an additional effect: If you tap a creature for mana, you gain one extra green mana.

Initially, this card was available below $30. After the pre-release weekend, however, the going rate jumped to $49.66 including listings for sale at $60.00. Why are we seeing Vivi prices for this little creature? Mainly thanks to the rapid resource generation it can produce.

Upon entering the board, the cub transforms a land into a creature granting it earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, as long as it stays in play, each affected land produces twice the mana — along with other creatures you have that generate mana.

A clear choice to combine with would be Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 which can be tapped for one green mana. However there are plenty of creatures that make mana available. This particular druid is a higher-cost choice with stats 1/3 at a two-mana value in comparison.

Deploying terrain, creatures that tap for mana, alongside this card, it's simple to summon an enormous high-cost creature on the board within a few turns. Momentum builds rapidly with continued aggression after that.

When adding a secondary color in this strategy, examples including these mana-fixing creatures work perfectly which produce all five colors. And something like a useful enchantment creature enables playing another terrain per turn plus transforms every land you control into every basic land type. Another possibility is for example this six-mana enchantment, which for six mana gives every card you own the ability to tap and generate one mana of any color — even all creatures you have on the board.

The cub might seem overpowered when it comes to accelerating your resources, however what’s the endgame finisher for a deck like this? An often-seen solution already is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Power and toughness are both equal to your land count, and it changes each creature you own Forests as well as their other types. In other words, every single creature you control is able to generate two green mana by tapping.

Another creature is another expensive, beefy creature that thrives with lots of lands (like Ashaya, its stats are based on the number of lands you control).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World fits really well as a go-to Planeswalker. Her passive ability causes every Forest tap for one more G. (If you have the cub, so each one produce triple green.) Her main ability functions like an early earthbend, putting +1/+1 counters to a noncreature land, a useful effect but does not overlap with earthbend. The minus ability, though, renders your entire land base indestructible and lets you search for your remaining Forests in the deck. Once you trigger this power, this typically means the game ends.

Badgermole Cub is nearly mandatory for all green-based Avatar strategies that use the earthbend mechanic. If you dip into Gruul colors, you can use this legendary card. He has earthbend 4, plus if damage is dealt to a player, each animated land untap and can attack again. While that version is a beloved leader, the cub is set to be one of the most, maybe the popular pick from this expansion.