Among Avatar's cutest Magic cards is a formidable little contender.

the popular card game’s Avatar crossover set isn't set to become widely available until later this week, however after pre-releases this past weekend, an affordable green creature experienced a surge in market worth.

From the initial reveals, the earthbending cub garnered widespread focus. This two-power, two-toughness that costs a single green and one generic mana, the card includes Earthbending 1 (possibly the best of the elemental mechanics available). The major perk in its design lies in another power: Each time a creature is tapped to produce mana, it provides bonus green mana.

At its cheapest, this card sold for $26.98. Following the early events, however, the market price escalated above $45 including listings for sale at $60.00. What explains premium pricing for this little creature? Mainly due to the incredible mana acceleration it can produce.

Upon entering play, this creature converts a land to a creature land with earthbend. And with that second ability, while it is not removed, every earthbent land yields two mana instead of one — in addition to any creatures on your side which tap for mana.

The obvious go-to for maximum effect would be Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 that taps to generate a green resource. Yet many creatures that make mana in the game. This particular druid is a higher-cost choice that’s a 1/3 for two mana in comparison.

Deploying terrain, mana-producing creatures, alongside this card, you can easily get an enormous high-cost creature into play early in the game. And things just keep spiraling out of control if you keep the pressure on after that.

By incorporating a secondary color in this strategy, cards like these mana-fixing creatures work perfectly that generate any color of mana. Another card, this powerful dryad allows you to put an additional land per turn AND turns your entire land base so they count as all basics. Another possibility is for example this six-mana enchantment, at a six-mana investment gives all of your permanents the power to be tapped for any color mana — even each creature in play.

This card could be too strong in terms of boosting mana production, however what closes out the game with this archetype? One obvious and popular answer already is Ashaya. Power and toughness are both equal to the number of lands you control, and it changes your non-token creatures into Forests in addition to their original types. Essentially, all your creatures in play can produce double green when tapped.

Another creature is another expensive, beefy creature that thrives with a high land count (similar to Ashaya, P/T match how many lands you have).

Nissa is an excellent fit as a staple. Her passive ability causes every Forest generate an additional green mana. (With a Badgermole Cub, so those lands generate three green mana.) Her main ability acts as an early earthbend, putting +1/+1 counters on terrain, which is great though it doesn't stack with earthbend. Her ultimate, however, renders all of your lands unbreakable enabling you to search for every Forest left in your deck. Once you trigger this power, this typically means game over.

Badgermole Cub is pretty much essential for any kind of green Avatar deck focusing on Earthbending. If you dip into Gruul colors, you can use this legendary card. It possesses earthbend 4, plus if damage is dealt to a player, all land creatures are ready again and may attack once more. While that version is a beloved leader, the cub is set to be one of the most, maybe the sought-after card from this expansion.