Among Avatar's most charming Magic cards turns out to be a nasty compact powerhouse.

Magic: The Gathering’s special Avatar expansion isn't set to get a wider release until later this week, but after pre-releases this past weekend, an affordable green creature has already exploded in price.

From the initial reveals, the earthbending cub drew widespread focus. A creature with stats 2/2 requiring a single green and one generic mana, Badgermole Cub includes level 1 earthbending (possibly the best among the four bending abilities in the set). The real boon in its design comes from its second ability: If a creature is tapped to produce mana, you gain one extra green mana.

At its cheapest, the card could be purchased for $26.98. After the pre-release weekend, though, the market price has shot up to nearly $50 including listings for sale at $60.00. The reason for such high costs for this little creature? Mostly due to the rapid resource generation it provides.

When it arrives the board, this creature converts one land into a creature that has earthbending. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, as long as it is not removed, those lands produces twice the mana — along with mana-producing creatures in your control that produce resources.

An ideal partner to combine with includes Llanowar Elves, a cheap 1/1 that taps to generate G mana. But many creatures that make mana in the game. Another option is a more expensive alternative with stats 1/3 for two mana as an alternative.

By playing lands, dorks that generate resources, alongside this card, you may quickly play a very big pricey monster on the board by round three or four. Momentum builds exponentially by maintaining dominance from that point.

By incorporating another color with this approach, cards like these mana-fixing creatures are excellent picks that generate any color of mana. And something like a useful enchantment creature enables playing an additional land per turn as well as turns all of your lands so they count as all basics. You can also consider something like this six-mana enchantment, at a six-mana investment grants each permanent you control the power to tap and generate one mana of any color — including any creature in play.

This card could be too strong when it comes to ramping up your mana generation, but what’s the endgame finisher in such a strategy? One obvious and popular answer is this legendary creature. Power and toughness are both equal to how many lands you have, plus it turns your non-token creatures to be Forests along with their other types. Essentially, all your creatures you control is able to produce double green if used for mana.

This additional option is another expensive, beefy creature which gains from a high land count (as with the previous card, its power and toughness are based on the number of lands you control).

Nissa fits really well as a staple. Her static effect makes all Forests tap for one more G. (With a Badgermole Cub, so those lands produce triple green.) Her main ability acts as a form of land animation, placing counters on terrain, which is great though it doesn't stack with earthbend. Her ultimate, on the other hand, makes all of your lands immune to destruction and lets you draw out all the remaining forests in the deck. If you can actually activate the ultimate, this typically means the game ends.

This card is nearly mandatory in any green Avatar deck that use earthbend. By including Gruul colors, consider Bumi Unleashed. He has level 4 earthbending, plus if he deals combat damage to an opponent, each animated land untap and may attack once more. Although this card has emerged as a beloved leader, the cub is set to be among the top, possibly the popular pick from this expansion.