AVATAR: THE LAST CARDBENDER

At time of writing, MTG x AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER is a week from prerelease weekend, and despite some stumbling during the jog on the treadmill of infinite hype, this set may actually be what the kids call "goated with the sauce."

 

Maybe my lack of offense is due to the comfort of a nostalgic property for a 30 something like me, who binge watched ATLA with her friends every holiday season in our roachtrap apartment, or it could be that ATLA is a good thematic fit with the way many players perceived MTG to be for a long time. Or maybe (and hear me out,) its a set that was designed to be a complete, draftable experience from the start, and so it generally has wider appeal for Magic's audiences. Aside from the blech screencap special guest cards (sorry, not sorry,) AVATAR has everything it needs to be a Magic set that feels like a Magic set.

 

That said, we're currently waiting for Vivi Summer to end with the upcoming ban announcements, so speculation feels a little trite with Standard (and presumably other formats) on the precipice of change. In the footsteps of the burnt-out Youtubers before me, I'm going to forgo the whole "look out for this guy" schtick and instead give you my personal list of 10 guys I like. The unending spoiler season may be the way of things now, but its hard to feel like all of these things have meaning or import when they're churned out this fast, so I'm hoping this route I'm taking in self-resonance isn't too out there for our regular Cardboard Corner readers.

 

And so without further ado, in no particular order, 10 guys I like.

 

10.

 

This is my favorite guy. I don't have too many Gruul decks (checks notes: only four as of this blog post,) but I appreciate the hard won simplicity of this card, and where Iroh is in his journey. He's your uncle, and he loves you, and he only wants to see you be happy and well. I'm not crying, you're crying.

 

Some other thoughts

• I think more of us should have uncles like Iroh.
• I need to make a pair of decks that's Uncle Iroh vs Uncle Istvaan.
• The lesson support in this set is really interesting to me, because everyone is teaching lessons and nobody is learning lessons (with the learn mechanic.) That aside, this development of lessons matter feels more akin to the way arcane was used in the original Kamigawa block, but this time in the graveyard/when they hit the graveyard. I worry a little bit about how emphasized graveyard importance is at the moment in Magic, but I guess since LCI and MKM rotate out at the start of 2027, there won't be too long an overlap for these powerful graveyard-matters synergies to make a menace of themselves.
• There's a place in heaven for straightforward lords.
• Tiny Leaders Reborn is making the rounds in the Youtube sphere, and Uncle Iroh is 3 cmc. There are 17 lessons in those colors at 3cmc or less. Need I say more?

 

9.

 

This is not a good card, but it is indicative of someone having critical thought and having a good time, in a way that other people may also have a good time. Will this card see play outside of limited? Not a snowball's chance in hell, but when you're bonding with the player across the table over things that made you smile 20 years ago? That's where this card's gonna shine.

 

(The reason Ben is saying this is because the card "Sokka's Haiku" has text that is structured like a haiku, delighting the adherents of form and function. This has been an explanation.)

 

8.

 

This card lets your guy BE the guy, AND its got all the other guys on it. Unlike our last guy, this guy is an actually playable card, and is probably the most pushed 1 drop combat trick we've seen in a while, but its also a card with resonance to the max. The art takes itself seriously, and echoes the text, which does it for me. I wouldn't be surprised if this card took a slot in plenty of decks, and was strong enough to be a limited warping effect, but honestly I just think this card respects the power of the thing it's drawing from, which returns to resonance. Universes Beyond properties live and die by the strength of the IP's, especially ones with moments that mean things to people.

 

7.

 

One of my favorite cards from when I was a kid was Divergent Growth. I don't know why it was my favorite, but it was. It could have been the flavor text that read "nature has forgotten it's own rules," or it could have been the Timmy in me thinking "I could play anything," but for whatever reason it stuck with me, and now I get to see it again, but modernized. Its nice when old friends come back.

 

6.

 

Huh, that bird sure does like fetchlands and tutors (when your opponent plays them,) and also being gassed up by a whole bunch of firebenders to refuel them during that combat step. I guess I'm glad that Izzet/Prismari are getting their day in the sun (for the fifth time in a row,) so hi bird, welcome to the party.

 

 

5.

I don't like this guy, but he's a great villain, and voiced by Mark Hamill (we don't talk about the Uhvatar movie, and Daniel Dae Kim does a great job, but the Netflix remake is unnecessary and ba---)

 

(Ben's opinions on the quality of The Last Airbender (2010) and Netflix's Avatar: the Last Airbender (2024) do not represent the opinions of Pandemonium Books and Games and are presented here only for entertainment purposes.)

 

I digress. Ozai here plays in one of the strangest spaces of MTG; the loss of mana between phases and turns. Omnath, Locus of Mana kinda works similarly to this card, but without a way to generate it, and Birgi kinda gets there, but is held back by the parasitism of the boast mechanic. This card is a haymaker that makes more haymakers, and I for one respect the power of a card that has no problem ending the game.

 

4.

 

 

This guy is just the best. Also, I see we learned something from embiggen.

 

(Ben-itor's note: this is not actually a learned lesson, but a preventative measure so that Arena doesn't crash when it tries to count higher than ten. (yeah, you could take brushwagg out of a changeling and then have to look up the current number of creature types, but that's funny, and so it gets a pass.))

 

 Also also, now that we can mash our blorbos together and have Spongebob play Fortnight with Ezio Auditore, I think this guy could probably hang out with Spider-Ham and have a chill time.

 

 

3.

 

I don't think there's any question about how powerful the text "additional triggers" is, right? There are a lot of Allies now, as they're about to be infused into the game the same way Spiders were last time, and Turtles will be next year, so you'll have all sorts of triggers to choose from. Having faced off against a Traveling Chocobo last night, I'll definitely be taking this card seriously when it hits the table. Also, its Katara and she's the best.

 

(Toph is also the best, but my favorite Toph is Toph, Greatest Earthbender, but that card isn't standard legal because I don't know man, you tell me why it's not legal in standard.)

 

2.

 

Its not every day that a this card is tasked with shouldering the emotional weight of a genocide. Admittedly, it doesn't carry it's context with it, meaning that unenfranchised players won't recognize it's implications, but for those of us who know, we know.

 

(Quick Aside: the other card (as of writing) that might also carry these sincere feelings would be the set's special guest Blasphemous Act, but since it is neither a new card, nor in the standard set proper, I'm not going to include it. The card's art is a raw screen grab, which we might expect from a game like Weiss Schwarz, but I think this is super lazy and unpretty, and is like photocopying someone else's homework and turning it in as your own. Even if you're piggybacking on someone else's IP, make your own emotional resonance damnit.)

 

Anyhow, Avatar's Wrath is an exceedingly powerful nonlethal board wipe could see a ton of play, considering that it doesn't disrupt your alpha strike and resets all the EtB's you want. I'll be interested to see if players want this card for both it's strength and meaninfulness (if they find it to be meaningful,) and how it will compare to the collectibility of other UB cards that have narrative import (I'm looking at you $200 Counterspell from the Spongebob Secret Lair.)

 

1.

 

This is a very good card, depicting a symbol of goodwill and allyship, and the conservation of beauty and knowledge transcending political and national divides. I don't know why that feels relevant at time of posting, but you've got a brain, so I'll let you figure it out for me.

 

This goes in your Hare Apparent deck btw. You're welcome.

 

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If you're excited about Avatar the Last Airbender x Magic the Gathering like we are, check out our event offerings for the Avatar the Last Airbender x Magic the Gathering Prerelease, running from Friday November 14th to Thursday November 20th! 

 

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Ben Doane has been a member of the Pandemonium Team since 2019, and has been playing wargames, rpgs, and tcgs since 2004 and earlier. When not blogging, Ben runs the wargames and mailing departments, and also puts together the store's newsletters. Her current favorite book is Athanasia.