Avatar: The Last Airbender makes its way to Magic: The Gathering in a little less than a month on November 21st, and we just got the rundown of the whole release at a press event. We have some new cards to show off, some new information, and we’ll give you the rundown on things specific to this set, some of which you may know already. There’s also a look at a Secret lair drop.
Where Are the Avatar: The Last Airbender Commander Decks?
To get the biggest question out of the way, we learned why there are no precon Commander decks in the set. It seems so obvious with the four types of airbending right?
When they were preparing for this set, they sought a lot of feedback about what people wanted from an Avatar: The Last Airbender set in Magic. The team told us the surprisingly biggest thing people were most excited about was using Avatar as a way to teach people in their life to play Magic.
That’s generally one of the bonuses to Universes Beyond, but we were told that there was so much specific feedback for Avatar they couldn’t ignore it.
When it came down to it, they realized they only had the bandwidth to do one of two things: Commander or Jumpstart.
With all the feedback they got early on, they went ahead with Jumpstart.
They also added that not all of the different bending mechanics lend themselves well to a Commander deck, airbending mentioned specifically.
What’s in the Commander’s Bundle?
Commander is not ignored, however. They are selling a Commander’s Bundle that is very similar to gift bundles in previous sets.
It includes 9 booster packs, one collector booster, 30 Avatar: The Last Airbender lands (15 foil , 15 nonfoil), a click wheel life counter, and some Commander specific staples.
Featuring the Avatar art above, the bundle includes five nonfoil promo cards. Three of them are the same in each bundle: a Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, and Swiftwfoot Boots. The other two are borderless versions of “classic” Commander spells.
Jumpstart Avatar: The Last Airbender
Jumpstart boosters make a return in Avatar: The Last Airbender, as discussed above. If you’re not familiar, these are packs of 20 cards that are all themed around one sort of mechanic or some sort of synergy.
With Avatar, there are 46 Jumpstart themes in total.
There will also be some cards from Avatar that are only found in Jumpstart boosters. Here’s some of them:
Avatar: The Last Airbender in MTG Arena
Avatar will join Arena on November 18th and will feature every card in the set, aside from some art variants that will only be in the tabletop version.
Unique to Arena will be some sleeves, featured above. The Aang and Katara sleeves will be in various bundles you can purchase, one with a ton of packs aimed at people making decks and the other for those more interested in drafting..
The Sokka sleeves will be included as part of the Mastery Pass.
There will be three pets to collect as well, featuring the animal companions from the show: Appa, a baby Appa, and Momo.
Avatar: The Last Airbender Bonus Sheet
There will be a lot of source material cards in the Avatar: The Last Airbender set, 61 in total. Each card will feature a frame or part of a frame of an episode from the show so all 61 episodes are represented.
If you look at the cards, in the bottom left you’ll see exactly which episode that card’s art is from as well. Check out some below.
Secret Lair – My Cabbages!
Unsurprisingly, there will be an Avatar: The Last Airbender Secret Lair superdrop. There are still details to come on that, like the rest of the drops and the release date, but they did reveal one to us.
I think we all saw some form of this set coming, featuring the cabbage merchant from the show. Each one features new ways his cabbages get absolutely wrecked.
Art Variants in Avatar: The Last Airbender
Bloomburrow fans who liked the field notes treatment will be happy to see it return with Avatar. Because the world is so full of weird and unique animals, the team thought the aesthetic fit perfectly.
Another is the borderless elemental frame, each of which will focus on a specific character and highlight the type of bending they are associated with.
In addition to some of the new cards shown above, here are some new cards that you likely haven’t seen yet (aside from the Appa Lands, you’ve probably seen those but if not I included them):
