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Avatar: The Last Airbender is the last set of 2024, and the third full set for the Universes Beyond product line. With over 400 new cards to play with, Avatar was always going to make some kind of impact on Commander. As with every set, there’s plenty of bulk, but a handful of cards made for instant staples, both as commanders and as cards to include in the 99. There’s a lot of new commanders and cards to look for in Avatar.
Lessons Learned
While Lessons were introduced in Strixhaven, Avatar is the first time you can build around them. As a card type in Commander, Lessons are on paper no different from any other Instant or Sorcery. Since Commander doesn’t have sideboards, you can’t grab Lessons out from it when you use the learn mechanic.
However, with Avatar, you have a ton of cards that care about the Lesson subtype. Iroh, Grand Lotus is your go-to commander if you want to build a Lesson deck. You have other Legendary creatures to choose from, such as Uncle Iroh and Sokka, Bold Boomeranger that you can use as other commanders. However, Iroh, Grand Lotus should always be your top choice. You could never build a Lesson deck until Avatar came along.
Your options for Lesson support cards are surprisingly powerful. Accumulate Wisdom is especially strong, as you can get three cards into your hand at instant speed for just two mana. Even if you don’t have three Lessons in your graveyard, it’s good card selection. Abandon Attachments is great for Storm decks if you’re casting a ton of spell. Shared Roots is a straight upgrade from Rampant Growth
Avatar even includes built-in combos with Iroh, Grand Lotus. Since it gives all your Lessons in the graveyard flashback , anything that discounts any spell by makes them free. This includes Gran-Gran and Uncle Iroh for specifically Lessons. Temur Battlecrier lets you cast any Lesson with flashback for free so long as it and Iroh, Grand Lotus stay on the battlefield.
Shrine On
Another big winner of Avatar is Shrines. You have a new commander option for the archetype in Hei Bai, Forest Guardian, which lets you play a more aggressive, creature-based version of the strategy. In addition, you have a direct tutor for Shrines with Aang's Journey. You also have a new utility land in White Lotus Hideout to make it easier to cast specific Shrines.
A cycle of five new Shrines released in Avatar that you can slot directly into your Shrine deck. Unlike previous Shrines, the ones in Avatar all have an enter the battlefield trigger and effects that trigger when other Shrines enter. If you’re playing Shrines, the permanents in your decks are almost exclusively Shrines. As such, these will trigger constantly. The new Shrines are Crescent Island Temple, Kyoshi Island Plaza, Northern Air Temple, Southern Air Temple, and The Spirit Oasis. All of these have excellent effects for a Shrine deck, and are all worth including in one (which isn’t a trait of every Shrine).
Avatar Allies
The Ally creature type got a big boon of power with Avatar. Originally, the only real option for an Ally commander was General Tazri or Munda, Ambush Leader. Otherwise, you had to rely on something like Morophon, the Boundless to build an Ally deck.
Now, you have plenty of options for a dedicated Ally deck. You can use Katara, the Fearless if you fancy a deck with trigger doubling. Or you can use Sokka, Tenacious Tactician for an Ally deck with a Spellslinger theme. You can mix Allies with Equipment with Sokka and Suki at the helm. Or if you want a more aggressive deck, you can utilize Aang and Katara. You even have the option of a more Control/Midrange Ally deck with Mai and Zuko.
The Ally type got a big overhaul to become a formidable typal deck as opposed to one that was more of a gimmick if you had nostalgia for Allies and Zendikar. Great Divide Guide turns all your Allies into mana dorks to easily flood the battlefield (especially with all the Ally token support). Earth King's Lieutenant can put a ton of +1/+1 counters on all your Allies while progressively growing its own stats after. United Front can lead to a ton of Allies entering the battlefield if you put a lot of mana into its cost.
Biggest New Staples
As with every set release, you have a handful of cards you have to learn to start expecting. Avatar, in particular, brought in some powerhouse cards that most decks want to include. The mana value for a lot of these staples are low, making them even better.
Wan Shi Tong, Librarian
Wan Shi Tong, Librarian is perhaps the strongest card in the Avatar set release. While it does cost , making it harder for multi-color decks to cast it, it’s worth the price of admission. Its effect is amazing, drawing you cards whenever any opponent searches their library. You’ll almost never pay any mana into its cost, so it’s usually being played for two mana. Thanks to its flash, you can cast it in response to any of your opponents’ effects that will tutor for a card.
In Commander, there are so many ways for your opponents to be searching their libraries, so the odds of it triggering multiple times are incredibly high. Any opponent playing a fetchland like Arid Mesa? That’s a draw trigger. Someone tutoring with Vampiric Tutor? That’s a draw a trigger. Cheating in a creature directly from your library with something such as Chord of Calling? That’s a draw trigger. Something as simple as an opponent playing a Cultivate? Oh, you better believe that’s a draw trigger.
The strength of Wan Shi Tong, Librarian is how often it triggers. Even when you don’t spend any mana on the cost, the stats of it will grow anyway. Thanks to having both flying and vigilance, Wan Shi Tong, Librarian makes for a fantastic attacker and blocker, especially late-game if it never gets removed. Speaking of, Wan Shi Tong, Librarian is a great removal check. With how much tutoring goes on in Commander, it’ll give you so much advantage that if you’re opponents don’t get rid of it, they are asking to lose.
Badgermole Cub
Badgermole Cub is a huge boon to many decks. It turns any creature that taps for mana into one that taps for two, always providing you with an extra mana. This is great for any deck that heavily relies on creatures to generate mana.
It is important to note that Badgermole Cub only grants the extra mana if the creature itself is tapping itself to produce mana. If you use a card such as Relic of Legends or Springleaf Drum, then you won’t get the mana, as it’s not a creature tapping for mana; it’s a creature tapping to activate an effect.
Badgermole Cub plays well into decks with a lot of mana dorks like Llanowar Elves and Avacyn's Pilgrim. If you love using Raggadragga, Goreguts Boss as a commander, Badgermole Cub is the perfect addition since that deck plays a ton of mana dorks.
If you are playing a deck that animates lands (such as an Earthbending deck), then Badgermole Cub gives your lands an extra boost. Since they are creatures and lands at the same time, they can always tap to generate mana. With Badgermole Cub on the battlefield, they’ll be giving you an extra mana. You animate a land with earthbend when it enters, and in dedicated Earthbending decks, you can animate plenty more.
The Cabbage Merchant
The Cabbage Merchant might not look like much at first glance, but the card is a powerhouse. Whenever any opponent casts a noncreature spell, you get a Food token. If any creature deals damage, you have to sacrifice a Food, but this isn’t much of a downside, as there is no penalty if you can’t. The strength of The Cabbage Merchant is being able to tap two Foods to add a mana of any color. This ramps you dramatically and allows you to have high amounts of mana generation and mana fixing without ever lifting a finger.
In Commander, noncreature spells are among the most common card types. Every Commander deck is running mana rocks like Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, and Commander's Sphere. For the most part, outside of niche gimmick decks, every Commander deck has multiple noncreature spells, so The Cabbage Merchant isn’t ever going to be a dead card on the battlefield.
Another strength of The Cabbage Merchant is that it is great in any artifact-heavy deck. Just with Academy Manufactor alone it is incredible, giving you extra Clues and Treasures for every noncreature spell being cast. All of the Food tokens can lead to a giant Kappa Cannoneer that potentially can’t be blocked. With Master Transmuter, you can turn these Food tokens into any artifact in your hand, cheating around expensive mana costs. Unwinding Clock keeps untapping your Food tokens so you constantly have access to mana. You can even turn your Food into a win condition with Mechanized Production.
These are just some of the reasons why The Cabbage Merchant is so good. The potential for it is through the roof, and its floor is already great. For a three mana card, you get a ton of value out of The Cabbage Merchant that any deck that can play Green should be including it.
Firebender Ascension
Attack triggers are very common in Magic, making Firebender Ascension one of the best new cards for any combat-focused decks. It is incredibly easy to get four counters onto it, and comes with a body on the battlefield that can trigger Firebender Ascension. Once you hit four counters, every time you have an attack trigger, you get a free copy of that ability.
Isshin, Two Heavens as One is a very popular commander for a reason, and a deck that Firebender Ascension slots right into. It’s fantastic with any creatures with powerful effects when attacking, such as Aurelia, the Warleader for extra combats and Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin to get a ton of creature tokens.
Firebender Ascension is especially good with creatures that can deal a lot of damage just by attacking. Commissar Severina Raine and Arabella, Abandoned Doll can deal a ton of burn damage from just one attack and ability copy. It’s also very good with cards that create tokens when they attack. This can be found on creatures with Mobilize such as Zurgo Stormrender or cards with Myriad like Battle Angels of Tyr
Something important to note with Firebender Ascension is that it only triggers if the attacking creature caused the trigger. Cards like Adeline, Resplendent Cathar and Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon have a trigger when you attack. However,
In Conclusion
The impact Avatar had on Commander is rather notable. The biggest winners are Ally, Shrine, and Lesson decks. Before Avatar, with the exception of Shrines, these archetypes simply didn’t exist in a powerful state. After Avatar, however, all of these archetypes are very playable and ones that you can run into in various Commander pods.
Avatar also brought along many powerful staples. These cards do a whole lot to power up various Commander decks, and can be impactful across every bracket of Commander. The cards talked about here are only the most impactful, but there are plenty of other, lower-power cards and archetypes that came along with Avatar. You can build a commander deck for all four types of bending (or one that uses all four of them), for example.
Overall, Avatar was a fantastic set with a ton of cards that fit into many different Commander decks. The set made a big impact on Commander with new permanent staples and new archetypes to play with. For a set with so many cards included, it’s a big hit that’ll affect the Commander formats for years to come with all the new mechanics it introduced.
