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Magic: The Gathering’s special Avatar expansion isn't set to become widely available before the end of the week, however due to prerelease weekends this past weekend, a low-cost green spell has already exploded in market worth.

Throughout the spoiler season, this small creature garnered widespread focus. A 2/2 requiring a single green and one generic mana, Badgermole Cub has level 1 earthbending (arguably the strongest within the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The major perk here comes from an additional effect: Each time mana is generated by tapping a creature, it provides bonus green mana.

At its cheapest, the card was available at around $27. After the pre-release weekend, though, the going rate has shot up to $49.66 including listings as high as $60. The reason for premium pricing for this cute lil guy? Primarily thanks to the explosive mana ramping it can produce.

Upon entering the board, the cub transforms a land into a creature granting it earthbend. And with that second ability, as long as it stays in play, those lands yields two mana instead of one — along with other creatures you have which tap for mana.

A clear choice for maximum effect would be this one-mana elf, an inexpensive 1/1 that taps to generate G mana. However numerous alternative mana dorks out there. Druid of the Cowl is a more expensive alternative with stats 1/3 costing two mana as an alternative.

By playing lands, creatures that tap for mana, and Badgermole Cub, you can easily get an enormous and very expensive monster on the board within a few turns. And things just keep spiraling out of control if you keep the pressure on after that.

By incorporating another color using this method, examples including these mana-fixing creatures are excellent picks that generate all five colors. Another card, this powerful dryad lets you play another terrain each turn plus transforms every land you control providing all land types. It's also worth trying such as this six-mana enchantment, at a six-mana investment provides every card you own the ability to produce one mana of any color — which covers any creature in play.

This card could be too strong in terms of boosting mana production, yet what closes out the game with this archetype? An often-seen solution is Ashaya. Its stats match the number of lands you control, and it changes all of your nontoken creatures Forests as well as their original types. This means, all your creatures in play is able to produce double green by tapping.

This additional option is a costly, large threat that benefits from many terrain cards (as with the previous card, P/T match how many lands you have).

Nissa is an excellent fit as a staple. Her passive ability allows all Forests tap for one more G. (With a Badgermole Cub, that means those lands yield three G.) Her plus ability is essentially a form of land animation, putting +1/+1 counters on a land, handy but it isn't redundant with the cub's ability. The minus ability, on the other hand, makes your entire land base indestructible enabling you to draw out every Forest left from your library. Once you trigger that ability, this typically means the game ends.

The cub is pretty much essential for all green Avatar deck that use earthbend. When branching into Gruul colors, there’s this legendary card. He has level 4 earthbending, plus if damage is dealt to an opponent, all land creatures become untapped for another attack. While that version has emerged as a popular Commander choice, the cub is set to be among the top, possibly the sought-after card from this expansion.