One of Avatar's most adorable Magic cards turns out to be a powerful small powerhouse.

the popular card game’s Avatar crossover set will not get a wider release before the end of the week, but following early access events recently, a low-cost green spell has already exploded in value.

Throughout the spoiler season, this small creature attracted a lot of attention. This two-power, two-toughness that costs G and 1 mana, it features the Earthbend 1 ability (possibly the most effective among the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The major perk here comes from its second ability: If mana is generated by tapping a creature, you gain one extra green mana.

Initially, this card could be purchased for $26.98. Post-prerelease, however, its value escalated to nearly $50 and one seller offering for sale at $60.00. The reason for premium pricing on this adorable card? Mainly because of the incredible mana acceleration it provides.

As it hits play, the cub converts a terrain card into a creature with earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, as long as it remains on the board, every earthbent land generates double mana — along with other creatures on your side that produce resources.

The obvious go-to for maximum effect would be Llanowar Elves, an inexpensive 1/1 that taps to generate G mana. Yet numerous alternative mana dorks available. Another option costs a bit more a 1/3 creature at a two-mana value as an alternative.

By playing lands, mana-producing creatures, alongside this card, you may quickly play a very big and very expensive threat on the board within a few turns. And things just keep spiraling rapidly by maintaining dominance from that point.

By incorporating another color in this strategy, cards like these mana-fixing creatures are excellent picks which produce any mana color. And something like Dryad of the Ilysian Grove enables playing another terrain each turn AND transforms all of your lands providing all land types. Another possibility is for example the enchantment A Realm Reborn, costing six mana gives each permanent you control the ability to tap and generate a mana of any type — even each creature you have on the board.

Badgermole Cub could be too strong in terms of ramping up your mana generation, yet how do you win in such a strategy? A common and powerful choice has been this legendary creature. Power and toughness are set by your land count, plus it turns all of your nontoken creatures Forests in addition to other subtypes. This means, all your creatures on your board may generate two green mana if used for mana.

This additional option is a costly, large threat which gains from lots of lands (like Ashaya, its power and toughness match the number of lands you control).

Nissa fits really well as a go-to Planeswalker. One of her abilities causes all Forests generate an additional green mana. (With a Badgermole Cub, that means each one generate three green mana.) Her plus ability is essentially a proto-earthbend, putting +1/+1 counters on terrain, handy but does not overlap with earthbend. Her -8 ability, though, grants each land you control indestructible enabling you to search for all the remaining forests from your library. If you can actually activate the ultimate, it almost certainly game over.

This card is pretty much essential in any green Avatar deck that use earthbend. When branching into red and green, you can use this legendary card. It possesses level 4 earthbending, plus if damage is dealt to a player, land creatures become untapped and may attack once more. Even though Bumi has become a fan favorite Commander, this small creature is definitely going to remain among the top, possibly the sought-after card from this expansion.