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Magic: The Gathering’s collaboration with Avatar will not get a wider release in the coming days, but due to prerelease weekends over the last few days, a low-cost green spell experienced a surge in value.

From the initial reveals, this small creature attracted a lot of attention. This two-power, two-toughness priced at G and 1 mana, it includes Earthbending 1 (perhaps the best of the set’s four “bending” mechanics). The real boon with this card is another power: Whenever a creature is tapped to produce mana, add an additional green mana.

At its cheapest, this card sold at around $27. Post-prerelease, however, its value jumped to $49.66 including listings for sale at $60.00. Why are we seeing premium pricing for this little creature? Mostly due to the explosive mana ramping it provides.

When it arrives the battlefield, this creature converts a terrain card so it becomes a creature with earthbend. Alongside its mana-doubling effect, if it stays in play, every earthbent land yields two mana instead of one — plus mana-producing creatures on your side that produce resources.

A clear choice to combine with includes the classic Llanowar Elves, a low-cost creature that taps to generate G mana. But many alternative mana dorks out there. Druid of the Cowl costs a bit more a 1/3 creature costing two mana in comparison.

By playing lands, mana-producing creatures, plus the cub, you may quickly play a very big high-cost monster on the battlefield within a few turns. Momentum builds out of control with continued aggression after that.

When adding a secondary color with this approach, examples including Fuel Tank Feaster, Ilysian Caryatid, and Paradise Druid work perfectly which produce any mana color. Additionally, a useful enchantment creature enables playing another terrain each turn AND makes all of your lands providing all land types. It's also worth trying such as this six-mana enchantment, at a six-mana investment gives all of your permanents the capacity to tap and generate one mana of any color — even any creature in play.

This card may be OP in terms of boosting mana production, yet what’s the endgame finisher for a deck like this? One obvious and popular answer already is Ashaya. Its stats match the number of lands you control, and it changes all of your nontoken creatures into Forests in addition to their other types. This means, every single creature you control may produce double green by tapping.

Harmonious Grovestrider provides a high-cost, powerful body that benefits from lots of lands (as with the previous card, its power and toughness are equal to the number of lands you control).

This Planeswalker is an excellent fit as a staple. Her passive ability causes Forest lands tap for one more G. (Combined with earthbend, so all earthbend forests produce triple green.) Her main ability is essentially a form of land animation, putting +1/+1 counters to a noncreature land, which is great but it isn't redundant with earthbending. The minus ability, on the other hand, makes your entire land base unbreakable enabling you to search for your remaining Forests in your deck. Should you manage to use the ultimate, it almost certainly the game ends.

The cub is nearly mandatory in any green-based Avatar strategies built around the earthbend mechanic. If you dip into Gruul colors, there’s Bumi Unleashed. He has level 4 earthbending, plus if damage is dealt to a player, all land creatures are ready again and may attack once more. Although this card has become a beloved leader, this small creature is set to be one of, if not the most desired card in the collaboration.