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the popular card game’s Avatar crossover set won’t become widely available until later this week, yet following prerelease weekends over the last few days, a low-cost green spell has already exploded in value.

Throughout the spoiler season, the earthbending cub garnered widespread focus. A 2/2 that costs a single green and one generic mana, the card has level 1 earthbending (possibly the best within the elemental mechanics available). The major perk here lies in its second ability: Each time mana is generated by tapping a creature, you gain one extra green mana.

Initially, this card was available below $30. After the pre-release weekend, yet, the market price has shot up to $49.66 with at least one listed priced at sixty dollars. Why are we seeing Vivi prices for this cute lil guy? Mostly due to the rapid resource generation it can produce.

When it arrives the battlefield, this creature transforms a land so it becomes a creature with earthbend. And with that second ability, while it is not removed, every earthbent land yields two mana instead of one — plus mana-producing creatures you have that generate mana.

A clear choice to combine with includes Llanowar Elves, a cheap 1/1 which can be tapped for G mana. But many creatures that make mana in the game. Druid of the Cowl is a higher-cost choice with stats 1/3 costing two mana in comparison.

Using land cards, creatures that tap for mana, plus the cub, it's simple to summon a massive and very expensive threat into play early in the game. Momentum builds out of control with continued aggression from there.

By incorporating another color using this method, examples including these mana-fixing creatures work perfectly which produce all five colors. Another card, this powerful dryad allows you to put one extra land every round as well as transforms your entire land base providing all land types. Another possibility is for example this six-mana enchantment, which for six mana provides each permanent you control the power to be tapped for one mana of any color — even all creatures in play.

The cub may be OP regarding ramping up your mana generation, however what closes out the game for a deck like this? A common and powerful choice already is Ashaya. Power and toughness are both equal to the number of lands you control, and it makes all of your nontoken creatures into Forests in addition to their other types. In other words, every single creature in play is able to tap for two G when tapped.

Another creature provides a high-cost, powerful body that thrives with lots of lands (similar to Ashaya, P/T are equal to how many lands you have).

Nissa works perfectly as a go-to Planeswalker. Her passive ability makes Forest lands generate an additional green mana. (If you have the cub, so all earthbend forests generate three green mana.) Her main ability is essentially a form of land animation, putting +1/+1 counters on terrain, a useful effect but does not overlap with earthbending. Her ultimate, though, renders your entire land base indestructible and allows you to search for every Forest left in your deck. Should you manage to use that ability, it’s pretty much you win.

The cub is pretty much essential for all decks using green and Avatar that use Earthbending. When branching into red and green, you can use this legendary card. It possesses earthbend 4, and if it hits a player to a player, land creatures become untapped for another attack. Although this card has become a popular Commander choice, this small creature will surely stay among the top, possibly the popular pick in the Avatar set.