One of Avatar's cutest MTG cards is a formidable little contender.

the popular card game’s collaboration with Avatar will not get a wider release until later this week, however due to early access events this past weekend, one cheap green card saw a sharp rise in value.

Throughout the spoiler season, this small creature attracted a lot of attention. This two-power, two-toughness requiring G and 1 mana, the card has Earthbending 1 (perhaps the most effective of the elemental mechanics available). The real boon with this card lies in another power: Each time a creature is tapped to produce mana, you gain one extra green mana.

At its cheapest, the card was available for $26.98. Post-prerelease, yet, its value jumped to nearly $50 and one seller offering priced at sixty dollars. What explains such high costs for this little creature? Mostly thanks to the explosive mana ramping it enables.

Upon entering the battlefield, Badgermole Cub converts a land into a creature that has earthbending. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, if it stays in play, each affected land generates double mana — along with any creatures on your side that produce resources.

An ideal partner for synergy includes the classic Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 which can be tapped for a green resource. Yet there are plenty of creatures that make mana available. Another option is a more expensive alternative with stats 1/3 for two mana instead.

Using land cards, creatures that tap for mana, plus the cub, it's simple to summon an enormous high-cost monster on the battlefield early in the game. The situation escalates rapidly if you keep the pressure on from there.

If you dip into an additional hue in this strategy, cards like these mana-fixing creatures work perfectly which produce all five colors. Another card, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove enables playing an additional land per turn AND makes all of your lands so they count as all basics. It's also worth trying something like a card called A Realm Reborn, costing six mana grants every card you own the ability to be tapped for any color mana — which covers each creature you have on the board.

The cub could be too strong when it comes to accelerating your resources, but what’s the endgame finisher in such a strategy? One obvious and popular answer already is this legendary creature. Its power and toughness match the number of lands you control, and it makes all of your nontoken creatures into Forests along with their original types. In other words, each creature you control is able to tap for two G when tapped.

Harmonious Grovestrider provides a high-cost, powerful body which gains from lots of lands (similar to Ashaya, its power and toughness match your land total).

This Planeswalker is an excellent fit as a staple. Her static effect causes every Forest tap for one more G. (With a Badgermole Cub, this results in those lands generate three green mana.) Her main ability is essentially an early earthbend, placing counters on a land, which is great though it doesn't stack with earthbend. Her ultimate, on the other hand, makes all of your lands immune to destruction and allows you to put onto the battlefield every Forest left in the deck. Once you trigger this power, it almost certainly the game ends.

The cub is nearly mandatory in any green-based Avatar strategies built around the earthbend mechanic. When branching into red and green, consider this legendary card. He has level 4 earthbending, and when damage is dealt in combat, all land creatures become untapped for another attack. Even though Bumi has become a popular Commander choice, the cute little Badgermole Cub is set to be one of the most, maybe the desired card in the collaboration.