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MTG’s Avatar crossover set won’t get a wider release before the end of the week, however following prerelease weekends this past weekend, a low-cost green spell saw a sharp rise in price.

Throughout the spoiler season, this small creature garnered a lot of attention. This two-power, two-toughness priced at one green and one colorless mana, it has level 1 earthbending (arguably the most effective among the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The major perk in its design comes from another power: Whenever a creature is tapped to produce mana, add an additional green mana.

Initially, the card sold at around $27. Following the early events, yet, the going rate escalated to $49.66 and one seller offering as high as $60. The reason for Vivi prices for this cute lil guy? Mainly because of the rapid resource generation it provides.

As it hits the board, the cub turns a land into a creature with earthbend. Combined with its other power, as long as it remains on the board, every earthbent land generates double mana — in addition to any creatures you have that produce resources.

An ideal partner for synergy is Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 that taps to generate one green mana. However many creatures that make mana out there. Druid of the Cowl is a more expensive alternative with stats 1/3 costing two mana as an alternative.

Using land cards, dorks that generate resources, alongside this card, you can easily get an enormous pricey monster on the battlefield by round three or four. Momentum builds out of control with continued aggression after that.

If you dip into another color in this strategy, examples including these mana-fixing creatures are excellent picks that can make any color of mana. Another card, this powerful dryad enables playing another terrain every round AND makes every land you control providing all land types. It's also worth trying such as a card called A Realm Reborn, which for six mana grants each permanent you control the capacity to tap and generate any color mana — even all creatures you have on the board.

This card might seem overpowered when it comes to accelerating your resources, yet what closes out the game for a deck like this? An often-seen solution already is Ashaya. Its stats are set by how many lands you have, plus it turns all of your nontoken creatures into Forests in addition to their other types. This means, all your creatures in play is able to generate two green mana when tapped.

Another creature is another expensive, beefy creature that thrives with lots of lands (as with the previous card, its stats match how many lands you have).

Nissa, Who Shakes the World fits really well as a staple. One of her abilities causes all Forests tap for one more G. (Combined with earthbend, so those lands yield three G.) One loyalty ability acts as a form of land animation, putting +1/+1 counters on a land, which is great though it doesn't stack with the cub's ability. Her -8 ability, however, renders each land you control unbreakable and allows you to draw out your remaining Forests in the deck. Should you manage to use the ultimate, it’s pretty much you win.

Badgermole Cub is nearly mandatory for all green-based Avatar strategies focusing on the earthbend mechanic. When branching into red-green, consider this legendary card. It possesses earthbend 4, and if it hits a player to a player, all land creatures are ready again for another attack. Even though Bumi has become a beloved leader, the cute little Badgermole Cub is definitely going to remain among the top, possibly the sought-after card in the collaboration.