Scoop: The Way Magic: The Gathering's Avatar: The Last Airbender Set Reintroduces Two Popular Tribe-Focused Gameplay Features

Magic: The Gathering enthusiasts consistently adopt tribe-based decks — who has not built a zombie deck at some point? — and this forthcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender Universes Beyond set brings back 2 popular examples that match perfectly to its flavor.

Reappearing Tribe-Supporting Abilities

The first mechanic, known as "Ally," was debuted with a Zendikar set and provides buffs each time more permanents with this type enter play.

On the other hand, "Shrines" is an enchantment type that originated with Kamigawa. Although not exactly a creature tribe, these enchantments also gain power when you controls additional Shrines on the battlefield.

The Return for the Ally Ability

While Shrine cards have shown up here and there across recent sets, Allies subtype has been seldom seen — but this changes with ATLA, where the feature gets heavily featured.

The protagonist Aang must gather a lot of allies during his quest to bring back peace across the four nations, and it's no better method to reflect that in an Magic set.

Revealed Card Showcase

Following the initial set announcement, here are previews of one Ally and one Shrines cards from the upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender release.

Teo: The Beloved Character

Teo stands as one popular minor figure in Avatar: The Last Airbender, a boy from Earth Kingdom who lived at the Northern Air Temple following his village was destroyed by a disaster, an event that left him paraplegic.

Because of his dad's prowess with engineering, Teo is able to glide through the skies with his glider, and challenges Aang to a flying race.

The card Teo represents Teo's love for the skies and his tribe's use of gliders through allowing you draw and discard whenever a player attacks using a flying creature, while additionally boosting your creatures with +1/+1 counters at the same time.

The Temple Card: The Powerful Shrine

Speaking of his dwelling, it is represented as the card Northern Air Temple, that reduces your opponent's life when entering play, based on how many Shrine cards you have.

It furthermore drains one more point whenever a Shrine enters the field.

This looks like a strong addition, given the card's low cost and valuable ETB effect.

One major drawback of Shrine-based decks outside of Commander is that Shrines are always legendary permanents, but this card is great in combination with another Shrine, which drains all opponents during the start of your main phase.

The Timely Crossover

Currently while crossover sets have been receiving significant hate from the community, an iconic franchise like Avatar: The Last Airbender can be exactly just what Magic: The Gathering requires.

Preview period has begun, and the full set will be released November 21st.