I have to admit: I have never watched Avatar: The Last Airbender. However I’ve heard nothing but good things about it (live action movie notwithstanding), and my daughter keeps saying that I should just sit down and binge all 23.5 hours of the animated series.
I’m not going to, simply because I am obdurate and enjoy annoying my daughter. That hasn’t stopped me from pestering her whenever a new card is spoiled, asking why certain characters have the abilities that they do, or what the background lore is for apocalyptic spells (I have also gotten a perverse enjoyment out of replying “That’s rough buddy” whenever she complains). What I gather from these conversations is that Wizards of the Coast has nailed the flavor and feel of TLA, and I am very much looking forward to seeing these cards in action. Let’s take a look!
Mechanics and Themes
Airbend
Whoosh! Use the power of air to Airbend a permanent, blowing it away into exile - but not forever, as the card’s owner can re-cast it later for two mana. Some cards (like Aang, the Last Airbender) allow you to Airbend any non-land permanent; others (like Appa, Loyal Sky Bison) only allow you to Airbend your own non-land permanents.
So what’s the power of Airbend? In a tempo deck, it’s great for whisking away blockers for a turn. In a control deck, it can be used to buy time to reach the later stages of the game where you’ll dominate. Maybe you want to Airbend your own permanents to protect them from a removal spell. And if your deck has cards which have powerful triggers when they enter the battlefield (or when they leave), then Airbending is an excellent way to get some additional value from them.
Earthbend
If you needed another reason to stick lands into your deck, well, here it is. When you Earthbend X, one of your lands will become a 0/0 creature with X +1/+1 counters on it. It’ll be ready to attack and block, and if it dies (or is exiled)… why, it’ll simply come back into play as an innocuous land. Note that you can Earthbend a land that has already been turned into a creature; if you Earthbend 2 twice, you can make two 2/2 creature lands or one 4/4 creature land.
Here’s some things to consider about Earthbend. It’ll give you additional attackers, but at the cost of losing a land for mana. It’s weirdly great at creating defenders, with bonus efficiency points if your deck has lots of spells that can be cast at instant speed. It synergizes well with +1/+1 counter abilities, such as the one on Earth Kingdom General. It also works well in non-creature spell decks; The Cave of Two Lovers will get you some board presence while also triggering Prowess and (eventually) filling your graveyard with non-creature spells.
Firebend
Fire burns hot and intense - but not always for all that long. Similarly, Firebending is very powerful, but you have a limited amount of time to take advantage of the burst that it gives you. When a creature with Firebending X attacks, you’ll gain X red mana that only lasts until the end of combat.
This use-it-or-lose-it mana can be used in a variety of ways. The obvious one is to cast instant-speed spells, but many Firebending creatures (such as Fire Sages) also have abilities that can take advantage of Firebending mana. Many such abilities can be used multiple times in a turn, so grab additional Firebending permanents like Tundra Tank and swing in for a sudden massive flare of power.
Waterbend
Waterbend is unique among the various elements in that there’s no consistent effect in what it does. Instead, Waterbend X represents an additional cost that can be paid through a combination of mana and tapping your creatures and artifacts. Sometimes Waterbend X will be used to activate a permanent’s ability, as with Flexible Waterbender. Other times it’ll be used as an additional cost to cast the spell, as with Ruinous Waterbending.
If your deck has powerful Waterbend effects, you’ll want to find ways to activate them ahead of schedule. Creature tokens are one way to do so; Vigilance creatures (or creatures that have untap abilities) are another. More interestingly, remember that Waterbend costs can be paid by tapping artifacts, and note that TLA has a lot of cards that produce artifact Clue tokens.
Lessons
Some instants and sorceries in TLA (such as Fancy Footwork) have the Lesson subtype. Lesson spells have no inherent rules baggage. However there are cards that care about Lessons in one way or another; for example, Master Pakku’s mill effect scales with the number of Lessons in your graveyard.
“Source Material” Bonus Sheet
TLA has a “Source Material” bonus sheet, featuring a variety of weird and wild and disconcerting effects (and art). But these cards only appear in 1 out of 26 Play booster packs, so don’t expect them to have a large impact on the Limited format.
Archetypes
TLA has ten two-color archetypes. Each archetype has three signpost cards: a dual-color uncommon, a hybrid uncommon, and a hybrid common.
White/Blue: Fliers
Welp, once you read Air Nomad Legacy it’s pretty obvious that White/Blue wants to take to the skies. Cat-Owl is obviously a good fit for this strategy - and yet there’s an added dimension to consider. Both cards are also very good for Waterbend abilities: Air Nomad Legacy’s Clue token can help pay for a Waterbend cost, while Cat-Owl’s untap ability allows you to use a creature or artifact twice in a turn. That’s also how Sokka, Lateral Strategist fits into this archetype, as Vigilance is ideal for allowing a creature to both attack and be used for a Waterbend cost. It’ll be easy to slap together a basic White/Blue deck by grabbing a bunch of fliers; I think the real challenge will be to figure out how to maximize the deck’s possibilities with Waterbend cards.
White/Black: Sacrifice
If you’re in the mood to grind out a win, then TLA’s White/Black sacrifice archetype is just the strategy for you. Tolls of War is a deceptively powerful card: not only do you get a card and a creature token when you sacrifice the Clue; you also have the potential to spit out those creature tokens every turn for the rest of the game, ensuring a steady stream of sacrificial lambs. Pretending Poxbearers is another good creature to sacrifice, leaving behind a token of its own once it dies. Feed any of these creatures to Hei Bai, Spirit of Balance and you’ll soon have a monstrous threat that transfers much of its value if your opponent somehow manages to remove it. Put all these pieces together properly, and you’ll have an engine that stalls out your opponent until victory is all but guaranteed.
Blue/Black: Draw Two
There are so many benefits to drawing cards that it feels a little unfair to add another one to the pile. But Blue/Black has never been about being fair, and that’s why Foggy Swamp Spirit Keeper pumps out annoying little 1/1 Spirit tokens whenever you draw your second card each turn. And not only does Messenger Hawk get a bonus when you draw a second card; it also creates a Clue token when it enters, enabling your “draw two” shenanigans. As for Hama, the Bloodbender… okay, yeah, she has nothing to do with drawing cards. What she does do is slot perfectly into a patient control deck - and at its core, that is exactly what this archetype is.
Blue/Red: Non-Creature Spells
Yep, Blue/Red is once again non-creature spells - but with a twist. This archetype cares less about casting non-creature spells, and more about how many there are in your graveyard. Naturally, casting a non-creature spell is the simplest method to get it into your graveyard. But there are other ways, as both Professor Zei, Anthropologist and Abandon Attachments show. And if you stock your graveyard quickly, Dragonfly Swarm may grow wildly out of control and end the game in short order.
Black/Red: Firebending Aggro
Cruel Administrator wants you to attack before you play them, and wants you to attack with them afterwards. That’s what Black/Red is all about in TLA: attack and attack and attack. That strategy ties in nicely with the Firebending mechanic, but it’s worth noting that both Cruel Administrator’s tokens and Zhao, Ruthless Admiral have the Firebending ability without a built-in way to use that mana. Perhaps you’ll find an instant-speed sacrifice outlet that lets you activate Zhao’s buffing ability; perhaps you’ll grab some Vindictive Wardens and slowly burn your opponent to death. It’s that additional deck construction challenge that gives this archetype a little extra spice in this set.
Black/Green: +1/+1 Counters
We’ve seen the +1/+1 counters archetype in a billion different Limited formats, but there’s something a little different about it in TLA. This difference is best seen with Dai Li Agents, a five drop that will Earthbend 1 twice when it comes into play. Two 1/1 creature lands won’t set the world on fire, but they do work exceptionally well with Dai Li Agents’ other life-draining ability. Mix that with the death triggers of Long Feng, Grand Secretariat and Earth Village Ruffians, and you get a +1/+1 counters strategy that’s not about quickly buffing cheap creatures and going on the attack. It’s more about playing patiently and accruing incremental value until your opponent’s defeat is inevitable.
Red/White: Go-Wide Aggro
Jet, Freedom Fighter is the prototypical Red/White go-wide aggro card, with one ability that picks off enemies if you’ve gone wide enough, and another that buffs your creatures if Jet meets a (clearly) unfortunate end. The fun part is figuring out how to go wide, and Sun Warriors gives you a particularly novel way: a Firebending ability that scales with your creatures, as well as an activated ability that lets you pop out a multitude of Ally creature tokens. And once you stretch your board, Wandering Musicians will be deadly as soon as you attack with it and apply its buff across your rampaging army.
Red/Green: Power 4 or Greater
There are obvious reasons why you might want a creature with power 4 or greater, and Bitter Work incentivizes you even further with some extra card advantage - something that’s often missing from Red/Green Limited archetypes. The other signpost cards are simply efficiently costed 4-power creatures, but there are other cards that reward you for having powerful creatures - and in the worst case, that power may be all you need in order to smash your opponent into oblivion.
Green/White: Allies
Green/White is… not the most complicated archetype in TLA. White Lotus Reinforcements grants a bonus to all your Allies; Suki, Kyoshi Warrior is an Ally that makes more Allies. And Earth Kingdom Soldier… well, it’s not an Ally, but its “enters the battlefield” effect is a good way to buff your creatures and allow them to press the attack. The math here isn’t complicated, but sometimes the path to victory is actually pretty simple.
Green/Blue: Lesson Ramp
Well, these three cards tell you exactly how Green/Blue should work in TLA. Hermitic Herbalist ramps you (with a little extra oomph if you’re casting a Lesson). Guru Pathik finds you Lessons (or a rarer win condition) while buffing a creature whenever you cast a Lesson. And Platypus-Bear rounds things out by being a nice defensive two drop (that has slight upside once there’s a Lesson in your graveyard). Put all of this together and you have a ramp deck that aims to survive in the early turns in order to gain incremental advantages that grow overwhelming as the turns march on by.
Key Commons and Uncommons
White
Creatures
Earth Kingdom Jailer: You can’t exile something small with this, but this effect is better saved for something big anyway.
Invasion Reinforcements: Two (Ally) creatures for two mana - that’s something that every White deck wants in TLA.
Vengeful Villagers: It’ll be difficult to lose combat once you start attacking with this creature, and that’s true even if you choose not to use the sacrifice ability.
Non-Creatures
Airbender’s Reversal: Cheap interaction, or a four mana protection/blink effect - sure, why not!
Enter the Avatar State: This instant can immediately swing a game around. That’s pretty good for a single White mana.
Path to Redemption: Pacifism-plus seems pretty good to me, especially if the plus gets you a creature token with the relevant Ally subtype.
Blue
Creatures
First-Time Flyer: I kinda feel like there’ll be a bunch of Limited decks that will win simply by drafting 4+ of these creatures.
Serpent of the Pass: You’ll need to put in a little work to make this creature effective. But there are a fair amount of Lessons in TLA, and it won’t take many to make this creature really really great.
Teo, Spirited Glider: A four mana 1/4 usually isn’t anything to write home about. But his ability is just so good - and it can even activate the turn he comes down!
Non-Creatures
Accumulate Wisdom: Casting this spell to go up one card is okay; casting it to go up three cards is insane. Personally, I would do my best to live the insanity.
Crashing Wave: Well, this will win games.
Watery Grasp: It’s not the best of Blue’s Aura-based removal, but it is the best in this set.
Black
Creatures
Azula, On the Hunt: I didn’t realize there could be an upgrade to the text “attack and draw a card”, but here it is.
Buzzard-Wasp Colony: If you have lots of Earthbend then this flier can become distressingly large.
June, Bounty Hunter: This is one of the best sacrifice outlets I’ve seen.
Non-Creatures
Azula Always Lies: The potential for a 2-for-1 is just too exciting to ignore!
Heartless Act: This removal spell was great back in Ikoria, and it’s great now.
Sold Out: Don’t worry too much if you can’t make the Clue.
Red
Creatures
Combustion Man: Attack with this creature and your opponent will discover that they have no good choices.
Fire Nation Attacks: This isn’t technically a creature, and it technically is five mana to cast. But it does create two 2/2 Soldier tokens - and it is an instant, so with a little Firebending help you can cast it far sooner than turn 5.
Zuko, Exiled Prince: Not quite “attack and draw a card”, but it’s not that far from it.
Non-Creatures
Combustion Technique: The base rate for this removal spell isn’t great, but drop a few Lessons into your graveyard and it’ll become incredible.
Cunning Maneuver: I like this combat trick because it’s an instant (which is perfect for Firebending), and because it has the potential to 2-for-1 your opponent (and a 1-for-1 is still pretty good if you’re trading with something much bigger in combat).
Firebending Lesson: One for two, or five for five - seems like a fair deal to me!
Green
Creatures
The Boulder, Ready to Rumble: Do you want to go wide or go tall with Earthbend lands? The answer is obviously situational, which makes it super convenient that this guy will help you do either.
Bumi, King of Three Trials: Holy value!
Flopsie, Bumie’s Buddy: If you have anything resembling a board presence when you cast this, you’ll probably just win the game.
Non-Creatures
Allies at Last: There are a lot of Allies in this set, and this (instant-speed) removal spell is quite the deal at one mana.
Pillar Launch: This cheap combat trick is good on offense, and kind of great on defense (due to its untap and reach text).
Rocky Rebuke: Nothing to dislike about this!
Other Cards to Know
Mana Fixing
TLA has a full ten-card cycle of common dual lands that you can sacrifice later to draw a card:
There are four additional colorless mana fixers (including a land that looks like an ideal Earthbend target):
On top of that, there’s a cycle of creatures with basic landcycling:
As usual, Green has a few additional mana fixing spells on top of all that:
And don’t forget this kindly old lady!
Creatures with Reach
In a set with a Fliers archetype, it’s wise to be prepared.
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Fire Navy Trebuchet - Wait, Black gets Reach now??
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Yuyan Archers
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Saber-Tooth Moose-Lion
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Walltop Sentries
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Earth Rumble Wrestlers
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Fire Nation Warship - Okay, this isn’t a creature, but it’s close enough.
Summation
So what should you keep in mind when playing Avatar: The Last Airbender?
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If I had to sum up TLA, I’d use the cliché “easy to learn, difficult to master.” The elemental bending abilities have straightforward text, but their play implications are actually quite complex.
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The elemental bending abilities are there to support your deck’s strategy; feel free to mix and match. Firebending is a good way to pay for a Waterbend cost, and it’s pretty effective to Airbend a permanent that Earthbends when it comes into play.
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Many archetypes work very well with their neighbors; for example, Red/Green “Power 4” goes well with Black/Green “+1/+1 Counters”. There are good reasons to go three colors (unless you’re playing an aggressive deck).
Good luck!
