Aang, Swift Savior Might Be the Best Card in Avatar: The Last Airbender

Go go Swift Savior!

• Aang, Swift Savior – 1WU
• Legendary Creature — Human Avatar Ally
• Flash
  Flying
  When Aang enters, airbend up to one other target creature or spell. (Exile it. While it’s exiled, its owner may cast it for {2} rather than its mana cost.)Waterbend {8}: Transform Aang.
• 2/3

Now that is an Avatar!

Patrick thinks that Appa, Steadfast Guardian is going to get banned. That Aang is going to get the big Bison banned. By contrast, Mike’s vote for the ban hammer is this Avatar.

Here’s the thing: They’re both going to contribute to a powerful combo deck. Appa is arguably the more important component, admittedly. But Aang is just too filthy of a Magic: The Gathering card. Compare Aang to both Reflector Mage. Boom! Reflector Mage was banned in Standard. Or compare Aang, Swift Savoir to Spell Queller (i.e. Mike’s least favorite card to play against in its day).

The Swift Savior is wild in a fair deck… But who is in it for a fair deck?

But That’s Not All… Get Ready for Bear-Bending

Doc Aurlock, Grizzled Genius

The combo here is with Doc Aurlock, Grizzled Genius.

Doc was obviously designed to work with the Plot mechanic. But its exile discounting works just as well with airbending.

So with Doc Aurlock, Grizzled Genius in play, you can loop Aang, Swift Savior and Appa, Steadfast Guardian to generate infinite power (via Allies tokens) as early as turn three or four! So… Who do you think is going to get banned, Aang or Appa? Or no one?

So Long and Thanks for All The Fish

Aang, Swift Savior might be the best gold card in ATLA, but it’s not the only amazing one. Azula, other versions of Aang, and Dragonfly Swarm are all going to see play; some of them broadly.

Check out what Mike and Patrick think of all the Avatar gold cards here:

So The Walls of Ba Sing Se is Kind of Cute, Isn’t It?

The Walls of Ba Sing Se

• The Walls of Ba Sing Se 8
• Legendary Artifact Creature – Wall
• Defender
  Other permanents you control have indestructible.
• 0/30

To be fair, this is kind of a cute and clever card. Like, when was the last time you saw a card with thirty toughness? That’s not nothing, right? Well…

For eight mana?

And it’s not even indestructible itself? It’s not like people are bouncing your permanents… or airbending… or…

No, No… Not “The Walls of…”

Ba Sing Se
Whew.

Here is a card that Mike likes much more than the 30-toughness Wall:

• Ba Sing Se
• Land
• This land enters tapped unless you control a basic land.{T}: Add {G}.{2}{G}, {T}: Earthbend 2. Activate only as a sorcery. (Target land you control becomes a 0/0 creature with haste that’s still a land. Put two +1/+1 counters on it. When it dies or is exiled, return it to the battlefield tapped.)

This land is pretty cool, right? In a Mono-Green Landfall deck, it might not have any disadvantage at all! Earthbend 2 might provide multiple forms of utility to a deck that already has Evolving Wilds and Fabled Passage. Like, if you topdeck a land (especially if you have, say, a Traveling Chokobo in play) you can Ramp. But what Mike likes about it even more than many other great Constructed quality lands is that if you don’t have your creature suite online, Ba Sing Se can help provide offense.

But Is Ba Sing Se the Best Colorless Card in ATLA?

Abandoned Air Temple

• Abandoned Air Temple
• Land
• This land enters tapped unless you control a basic land.{T}: Add {W}.{3}{W}, {T}: Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.

Abandoned Air Temple operates much like a Gavony Township that can tap for white mana (and doesn’t require green mana to activate). So it might make sense in the traditional green Ramp / land searching decks where this kind of a card has alway thrived… But we bet it will be good in other White Weenie-type decks, u-w Tempo, and so on.

All-in-all the colorless cards and artifacts from Avatar: The Last Airbender are kind of blah, but the nonbasic lands absolutely rock and make up for the cohort.

Check out what we have to say about all the colorless cards here:

Haru, Hidden Talent is “One of the Most Interesting Cards in the Set”

Meet Haru, Hidden Talent

• Haru, Hidden Talent 1G
• Legendary Creature – Human Peasant Ally
• Whenever another Ally you control enters, earthbend 1. (Target land you control becomes a 0/0 creature with haste that’s still a land. Put a +1/+1 counter on it. When it dies or is exiled, return it to the battlefield tapped.)
• 1/1

Um… Come again?
This — this — is one of the most interesting cards in the set? How can that be?
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We already know from previous episodes how into low power Earthbending Patrick is. But this card? It doesn’t even trigger on its on enters.

It’s a 1/1 for two mana… So not exactly a rate monster.

I mean I suppose if you have a lot of cheap allies and Evolving Wilds-type lands you can do some Earthbending. Is that what Patrick is getting at?

Nope.

There is a Splinter Twin alert!

Retreat to Emeria is Pioneer-Legal

Retreat to Emeria

If you have both Retreat to Emeria and Haru, Hidden Talent on the battlefield, all you need to do is play a Brokers Hideout or Cabaretti Couryard from Streets of New Capenna!

Guest Starring: The actual Streets of New Capenna

So what happens next?

Your Brokers Hideout or Cabaretti Courtyard enters. Now two triggers go on the stack.

First you put the land’s own sacrifice trigger on the stack, then you put Retreat to Emeria’s Landfall trigger on the stack.

You resolve Retreat to Emeria’s trigger, putting a 1/1 Kor Ally onto the battlefield. When the Ally enters, Haru, Hidden Talent’s trigger goes on the stack.

That first trigger still hasn’t resolved. Haru can quickly Earthbind the Brokers Hideout or Cabaretti Courtyard that is still in play. Once that resolves you can finish the sacrifice trigger.

The Brokers Hideout or Cabaretti Courtyard goes to the graveyard, triggering Earthbending’s trigger to put it back on the battlefield. At which point you can start the loop all over again.

You don’t even have to find lands.

I mean you will probably build your deck with Forests and Plains; it isn’t the worst to dig all the basic lands out of your deck (essentially Ramping past your opponent at the speed of infinite triggers). But the important thing is that even once you’ve exhausted all the basics out of your deck, Haru can continue to give you a high number of 1/1 Kor Allies and all the life you could ever want.

The only wrinkle is that you have to use the Streets of New Capenna lands because Earthbending returns lands to the battlefield tapped (so you can’t just do it over and over with an Evolving Wilds). But if you’re doing this in Pioneer anyway, expanding to Streets of New Capenna isn’t a big deal.

And Another 38 Green Cards from Avatar: The Last Airbender

So that probably wasn’t what you were expecting from our review of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Imagine what we say about the other 38…

The Legend of Roku is One of the Best Red Cards in Avatar: The Last Airbender

The Legend of Roku

• The Legend of Roku 2RR
• Enchantment — Saga
• 1. Exile the top three cards of your library. Until the end of your next turn, you may play those cards.
  2. Add one mana of any color.
  3. Exile this Saga, then return it to the battlefield transformed under your control.
• 4/4

Chapter One gives you a Showdown of the Skalds-like card advantage effect.

AND Chapter Two gives you the mana to cast whatever you probably put into your deck. Unless you flipped over two or more lands on Chapter One, hopefully The Legend of Roku will help to keep you alive; at least long enough to get to…

Avatar Roku!

Avatar Roku

Essentially, you’re going to have a powerful 4/4 Legendary Avatar on “Suspend 2”. Once the back half of The Legend of Roku is attacking, it’s Firebending 4 implies the ability to create your first Dragon token. Because each such Dragon also has Firebending 4, you’re just going to be making Dragon after Dragon. Thanks Avatar Roku!

But is the Best Red Card in ATLA Ran and Shaw?

Ran and Shaw
Good question!
Ran and Shaw is going to be an incredible payoff for the Lessons linear deck. Certainly a great way to win a game after you’ve drawn a ton with Accumulate Wisdom.

Ran and Shaw — at least in Lessons linear — is going to prove a discounted Broodmate Dragon. Actually a little bit better; because Ran and Shaw (and the Ran and Shaw copy both) have Firebending 2 as well as a good mana sink for your 4 mana.

Red isn’t the strongest color in ATLA; but its highs are Dragon-sky high; and it’s full of great removal cards that are also Lessons for your blue-red deck. Check out our ratings on all 40 red cards here:

The Rise of Sozin Is a Powerhouse… But Expensive

The Rise of Sozin

• The Rize of Sozin 4BB
• Enchantment – Saga
• 1. Destroy all creatures.
  2. Choose a card name. Search target opponent’s graveyard, hand, and library for up to four cards with that name and exile them. Then that player shuffles.
  3. Exile this Saga, then return it to the battlefield transformed under your control.
• 5/5

This card is powerful.

Chapter One is a Day of Judgment in black… But it’s six mana.

Chapter Two is a “free” Cranial Extraction. So you overpaid for your Wrath of God effect by two… But then you got four mana back! That can be very cool. Like you can take away the opponent’s potential counter-play, regardless of their archetype. And it’s not like you’re tapping four (or six) mana on your own turn again.

So here’s the thing: You basically have Fire Lord Sozin on “Suspend 2”.
The overall package is super mana efficient.

The question is if that super efficient total kit is worth the bridge of overpaying for your sweeper up front.

Patrick thinks The Rise of Sozin is so great that we’ll build our decks to make six mana cheap enough!

Black in Avatar: The Last Airbender Has LOTS of Powerful Threats

Phoenix Fleet Airship

• Phoenix Fleet Airship 2BB
• Artifact – Vehicle
• Flying
  At the beginning of your end step, if you sacrificed a permanent this turn, create a token that’s a copy of this Vehicle.

  As long as you control eight or more permanents named Phoenix Fleet Airship, this Vehicle is an artifact creature.

  Crew 1

• 4/4

This card is so easy to snowball.

What if it’s turn three and you already had a Treasure token in play?

You sacrifice the Treasure to make a black mana, get this Vehicle in play. And by that we mean two Vehicles.

Phoenix Fleet Airship demands a little planning, but it can go wider and wider just by doing the things you were going to do anyway, like sacrificing an Evolving Wilds to get your lands in play.

Mike thinks Phoenix Fleet Airship is so breakable that it will define how other colors choose their cards. We just got done talking about The Rise of Sozin… But for example in white? Mike thinks Split Up and Day of Judgment will give way to Ultima.

Oh… And there’s the actual cross-format Staple that is going to come out of black. It’s going to kick all kinds of butt in Pioneer, Modern, and maybe even Legacy! Which card is it? Find out in our full black review of Avatar: The Last Airbender!

Accumulate Wisdom Might Be Really, Really Good…

• Accumulate Wisdom 1U
• Instant – Lesson
• Look at the top three cards of your library. Put one of those cards into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order. Put each of those cards into your hand instead if there are three or more Lesson cards in your graveyard.

The basic analysis is basic as heck. On its face, Accumulate Wisdom is 3/4 of an Impulse (for the cost of an Impulse). That’s probably not good enough in 2025 (or 2026). After all, there are cards like Consult the Star Charts available for 1U. But looking at the top three cards of your library isn’t the worst for 1U.

While obvious, it might bear mentioning that this card is itself a Lesson.

Weirdly, Mike claims he would be more likely to try this card if it didn’t have the third sentence. Which is crazy. But hear him out: If you have the third sentence you’re kind of obligated to play a lot of Lessons in your deck! Which isn’t the worst because…

Accumulate Wisdom is Kind of an Ancestral Recall

The catch, of course, is that you have to have a critical mass of Lesson cards in your deck (at least four). So if you had only the four copies of Accumulate Wisdom, you’d theoretically be able to draw three cards. But that’s not so crazily exciting. Are there other good Lessons?
We’ve already talked about playable Lessons like It’ll Quench Ya! in our Pop Quiz / Pauper episode; and lots in the our white episode.

There are lots!

But Here’s the Thing…

Accumulate Wisdom probably isn’t even the best blue card in the set.
Have you considered Wan Shi Tong, Librarian?

• Wan Shi Tong, Librarian XUU
• Legendary Creature – Bird Spirit
• FlashFlying, vigilanceWhen Wan Shi Tong enters, put X +1/+1 counters on him. Then draw half X cards, rounded down.Whenever an opponent searches their library, put a +1/+1 counter on Wan Shi Tong and draw a card.
• 1/1

Wan Shi Tong, Librarian is strong and richly layered; and will likely see broad play in formats as wide and powerful as Legacy.
Consider this play…
Your opponent breaks a Polluted Delta on turn two. In response you pay UU for the Bird Spirit with X=0. You’ll get a 1/1; but then Wan Shi Tong, Librarian will “see” the Polluted Delta fetch, go up to 2/2 and draw a card. This card will be meaningful in Standard; if nothing else as a powerhouse Hydroid Krassis WITH FLASH.
Avatar: The Last Airbender is just stacked with playable, and potentially format-changing cards. Blue has some of the best. Check out our full set review here:

Appa, Steadfast Guardian is Like an Airbending Restoration Angel

Appa, Steadfast Guardian is kind of like a Restoration Angel… It has the same casting most more-or-less, and a similar ability. Only on steroids!

Instead of “Blinking” only one creature you can airbend as many as you want. And not just creatures! You can exile any number of permanents. Incoming Wrath of God or Day of Judgment effect? Appa can save your whole team and let you get them all back at a discount. Obviously you’re going to be playing lots of cards with “enters” / 187 abilities, and Appa is going to set those [back] up for you. For two.

Actually… It’s Like ALL the White Cards…

Well maybe not ALL of them.
But a shocking amount of this color from Avatar: The Last Airbender seems really good, or at least playable.
Take Aang’s Iceberg for instance:

This card has a lot of Banishing Light or Oblivion Ring DNA… But at instant speed! Not only that, but you might actually want to target your own creature.

Imagine the dastardly opponent has targeted your poor creature with removal. You can Aang’s Iceberg to save it; and then use the waterbending ability later to not only get it back, but scry 2 while you’re at it. But mostly this is an instant speed Oblivion Ring for the cost of an Oblivion Ring and that should be more than good enough for Standard play.

Lots of Lessons are great. Tons of synergy. You’ll really be excited for airbending. This goes on for like two hours. ALL the white cards! (and we’re just getting started)

Give white a listen, and get ready for Blue!