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Magic: The Gathering’s Avatar crossover set will not hit the general market before the end of the week, but following pre-releases over the last few days, one cheap green card experienced a surge in price.

Throughout the spoiler season, this small creature drew significant interest. A 2/2 requiring a single green and one generic mana, it features level 1 earthbending (possibly the most effective of the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The major perk in its design is an additional effect: If mana is generated by tapping a creature, it provides bonus green mana.

Initially, the card was available at around $27. Following the early events, though, the going rate escalated to $49.66 with at least one listed as high as $60. Why are we seeing Vivi prices on this adorable card? Primarily because of the rapid resource generation it can produce.

When it arrives play, the cub transforms one land to a creature land that has earthbending. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, while it stays in play, every earthbent land yields two mana instead of one — along with any creatures in your control which tap for mana.

A clear choice for maximum effect would be the classic Llanowar Elves, a cheap 1/1 that taps to generate G mana. However many creatures that make mana in the game. Druid of the Cowl is a more expensive alternative that’s a 1/3 for two mana as an alternative.

By playing lands, dorks that generate resources, alongside this card, you can easily get a massive and very expensive creature into play within a few turns. Momentum builds rapidly if you keep the pressure on after that.

If you dip into another color in this strategy, examples including Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid are all great options that can make any mana color. Another card, this powerful dryad allows you to put another terrain every round as well as makes your entire land base into every basic land type. It's also worth trying for example a card called A Realm Reborn, which for six mana grants every card you own the capacity to tap and generate one mana of any color — even each creature under your control.

Badgermole Cub could be too strong regarding ramping up your mana generation, however what’s the endgame finisher for a deck like this? One obvious and popular answer already is Ashaya. Its power and toughness match your land count, and it changes each creature you own to be Forests as well as their other types. In other words, every single creature on your board may tap for two G if used for mana.

Harmonious Grovestrider 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, Who Shakes the World is an excellent fit as a go-to Planeswalker. Her passive ability allows all Forests tap for one more G. (With a Badgermole Cub, so those lands produce triple green.) Her plus ability is essentially a form of land animation, putting +1/+1 counters on terrain, a useful effect but it isn't redundant with earthbending. The minus ability, on the other hand, grants your entire land base indestructible and allows you to search for all the remaining forests in your deck. Once you trigger the ultimate, this typically means the game ends.

The cub is nearly mandatory for any kind of decks using green and Avatar focusing on the earthbend mechanic. If you dip into red and green, there’s this legendary card. He has level 4 earthbending, and if damage is dealt in combat, all land creatures untap and may attack once more. Even though Bumi has emerged as a popular Commander choice, this small creature is set to be one of the most, maybe the popular pick in the Avatar set.