Reveal: How Magic: The Gathering's Avatar Set Reintroduces Two Fan-Favorite Tribal Gameplay Features
Magic: The Gathering players frequently enjoy tribe-based strategies — who hasn't constructed a zombie strategy at some point? — while the upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender Universes Beyond set brings back two beloved mechanics that fit perfectly to its flavor.
Reappearing Tribe-Supporting Abilities
The first ability, known as "Allies," was debuted in a Zendikar set which grants bonuses each time additional permanents bearing this subtype enter the battlefield.
Alternatively, "Shrine" is an enchantment-based subtype that originated in Champions of Kamigawa. Although not exactly creature-based tribe, these enchantments likewise become abilities when you owns more Shrines on the battlefield.
The Comeback of Allies Ability
While Shrines have been appeared occasionally in recent sets, Allies mechanic has been much rarer — until that ends in ATLA, where this feature gets central.
Aang has to recruit a lot of allies during the quest to restore peace across the world, so it's no more fitting method to represent that in an Magic expansion.
Revealed Cards Showcase
Following its initial set announcement, below are a look of one Ally and one Shrine cards in the upcoming ATLA set.
Teo: The Beloved Figure
This character is one popular minor character from ATLA, a boy from Earth Kingdom who resided in an Air Temple after his village was destroyed in a disaster, which rendered him paraplegic.
Because of his father's expertise with mechanics, he is able to fly through the skies using his glider, even challenges Aang in a flying race.
This card Teo, Spirited Glider represents Teo's love for flying along with the Earth Tribe's reliance of gliders by letting you loot whenever you attack with a flying unit, and also boosting your creatures via counters in the process.
Northern Air Temple: A Strong Shrine
Regarding his home, it is represented in a card named Northern Air Temple, which reduces an opponent's life when coming into play, based on the number of Shrines you have.
The card also removes an additional life whenever a Shrine comes onto the battlefield.
This looks like a strong card, considering the card's low cost plus valuable ETB effect.
One big weakness of Shrine strategies outside of Commander are the fact that Shrines are typically legendary permanents, however Northern Air Temple is great when paired alongside another Shrine, which drains all opponents during the start of your main phase.
A Welcome Collaboration
At a time while Universes Beyond sets are garnering significant backlash by fans, a beloved franchise such as Avatar can be precisely just what MTG requires.
Spoiler season is already here, and the full set set to be released November 21st.