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Magic: The Gathering’s collaboration with Avatar will not become widely available before the end of the week, yet after prerelease weekends this past weekend, one cheap green card saw a sharp rise in price.

Even during previews, the earthbending cub drew significant interest. This two-power, two-toughness requiring one green and one colorless mana, the card includes Earthbending 1 (perhaps the best within the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The real boon with this card is its second ability: If mana is generated by tapping a creature, you gain one extra green mana.

At its cheapest, the card could be purchased below $30. Post-prerelease, however, its value jumped above $45 and one seller offering as high as $60. Why are we seeing Vivi prices on this adorable card? Primarily due to the incredible mana acceleration it can produce.

Upon entering the battlefield, Badgermole Cub turns a land to a creature land granting it earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, as long as it stays in play, every earthbent land produces twice the mana — plus any creatures you have that generate mana.

A clear choice for synergy includes the classic Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 that taps to generate one green mana. Yet numerous other mana generation creatures available. Druid of the Cowl costs a bit more a 1/3 creature costing two mana as an alternative.

By playing lands, creatures that tap for mana, plus the cub, you may quickly play a massive pricey threat on the battlefield within a few turns. And things just keep spiraling rapidly if you keep the pressure on after that.

By incorporating another color using this method, examples including Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are excellent picks which produce all five colors. Additionally, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove allows you to put another terrain every round as well as transforms your entire land base into every basic land type. It's also worth trying such as the enchantment A Realm Reborn, which for six mana grants every card you own the ability to tap and generate one mana of any color — which covers any creature in play.

Badgermole Cub may be OP in terms of accelerating your resources, yet what’s the endgame finisher in such a strategy? A common and powerful choice already is Ashaya, Soul of the Wild. Its stats are set by how many lands you have, and it makes all of your nontoken creatures to be Forests in addition to their other types. In other words, each creature on your board may generate two green mana when tapped.

This additional option provides a high-cost, powerful body that thrives with many terrain cards (like Ashaya, its stats are equal to the number of lands you control).

This Planeswalker works perfectly in this deck. Her static effect causes Forest lands generate an additional green mana. (With a Badgermole Cub, this results in all earthbend forests generate three green mana.) One loyalty ability functions like a form of land animation, adding counters on a land, which is great though it doesn't stack with the cub's ability. Her -8 ability, on the other hand, makes your entire land base unbreakable enabling you to put onto the battlefield all the remaining forests from your library. If you can actually activate that ability, this typically means you win.

The cub is nearly mandatory for any kind of green-based Avatar strategies focusing on earthbend. By including Gruul colors, you can use Bumi. He has earthbend 4, plus if damage is dealt to a player, each animated land become untapped for another attack. Although this card has become a popular Commander choice, the cub is set to be one of, if not the most popular pick in the collaboration.