Reveal: How Magic: The Gathering's Avatar: The Last Airbender Set Revives Two Popular Tribal Gameplay Features

Magic: The Gathering enthusiasts often embrace tribal tactics — what player hasn't built a zombie deck before? — while this upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender crossover set brings back 2 beloved examples that match perfectly to its flavor.

Returning Tribe-Supporting Mechanics

One first mechanic, called "Allies," first debuted in a Zendikar set which grants bonuses each time more permanents bearing the Ally type enter play.

Meanwhile, "Shrines" is another enchantment type that first appeared in Champions of Kamigawa. While not creature-based tribal theme, Shrines also gain power when a player controls additional of them on the battlefield.

A Comeback for Allies Mechanic

Although Shrines have appeared occasionally across newer releases, the Ally subtype was far less common — until that ends in Avatar: The Last Airbender, in which the feature gets prominently used.

Aang has to recruit a lot of friends on the journey to bring back balance across the world, and it's no better way to show that through an Magic: The Gathering set.

Revealed Cards Showcase

Following the initial card reveal, here is previews of an Ally plus a Shrine card in the new ATLA set.

Teo: The Fan-Favorite Figure

This character is one popular supporting character from ATLA, a boy from Earth Kingdom that resided at the Northern Air Temple following his village was ruined in a flood, which rendered him unable to walk.

Because of his dad's expertise in mechanics, Teo can soar through the skies with a flying device, even challenges Aang to a flying race.

This card Teo reproduces Teo's love for the skies and the Earth Tribe's reliance on flying machines through letting you draw and discard each time a player attacks with a flying creature, and additionally boosting your team via counters at the same time.

Northern Air Temple: A Powerful Shrine Enchantment

Regarding his dwelling, this is represented as the card The Northern Air Temple, that drains an opponent's life upon entering play, depending on the number Shrine cards you control.

It also drains one more life whenever a Shrine comes onto the field.

It looks like a powerful card, given its low mana cost plus valuable enter the battlefield effect.

A big drawback of Shrine-based strategies outside of EDH are that these cards are typically Legendary, however Northern Air Temple is effective when paired with another Shrine, that drains all opponents at the beginning of your turn.

The Welcome Collaboration

Currently while crossover products are receiving a lot of hate by the community, an iconic franchise like Avatar: The Last Airbender could be precisely just what MTG requires.

Spoiler season is already here, and all cards set to be launched on Nov. 21.

Sandra Harrington
Sandra Harrington

A tech journalist and digital culture analyst with over a decade of experience covering emerging technologies and their societal impacts.