Reveal: The Way Magic's Avatar: The Last Airbender Expansion Brings Back Two Fan-Favorite Tribe-Focused Gameplay Features

Magic: The Gathering players frequently enjoy tribal decks — what player hasn't assembled an elf deck once or twice? — and this new Avatar: The Last Airbender Universes Beyond set revives 2 beloved mechanics which align seamlessly to its setting.

Returning Tribal Mechanics

The first ability, named "Allies," was introduced with a Zendikar and provides buffs whenever additional creatures bearing the Ally type enter the battlefield.

Meanwhile, "Shrines" is another enchantment-based subtype that originated in Kamigawa. While not exactly creature-based tribe, Shrines also gain abilities when a player has more Shrines on the battlefield.

The Comeback for the Ally Mechanic

Although Shrine cards have been appeared sporadically in recent sets, the Ally subtype was seldom seen — but this ends with ATLA, where the mechanic is prominently used.

The protagonist Aang has to recruit many allies during his journey to bring back peace to the four nations, and it's no better way to show that in an Magic set.

Exclusive Cards Showcase

Following its initial card announcement, here is a look at one Allies and a Shrines card in the upcoming ATLA set.

Teo: The Fan-Favorite Character

Teo stands as one popular supporting figure in Avatar: The Last Airbender, a young man of the Earth Tribe that lived in the Northern Air Temple following his village was destroyed by a flood, which left him paraplegic.

Because of his father's expertise in engineering, Teo can glide in the air with his glider, even challenges the Avatar to an aerial contest.

This card Teo, Spirited Glider reproduces his fondness of the skies and the Earth Tribe's reliance of flying machines through allowing the player draw and discard each time you attack using a flying unit, while also boosting your creatures via +1/+1 counters in the process.

Northern Air Temple: A Powerful Shrine

Regarding his dwelling, this is represented in a card named Northern Air Temple, that reduces your opponent's life total when coming into play, based on the number of Shrines you have.

The card also drains an additional point whenever a Shrine enters the field.

This looks like a powerful card, considering the card's low mana cost plus good enter the battlefield ability.

One major weakness for Shrine-based strategies outside of EDH are that Shrines are typically Legendary, but this card can be great in combination alongside another Shrine, which deals damage to all opponents during the start of your main phase.

The Welcome Crossover

At a time while crossover sets have been garnering a lot of criticism by the community, a beloved franchise such as Avatar: The Last Airbender could be precisely just what Magic: The Gathering needs.

Spoiler season is already here, and all cards will be released on Nov. 21.

Brian Aguilar
Brian Aguilar

A data analyst and lottery enthusiast with over a decade of experience in probability studies and jackpot tracking.