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Magic the Gathering’s latest Universes Beyond expansion is Avatar: the Last Airbender, which will see its full launch occur today. While it met some amount of skepticism when first announced at how well the setting and characters would fit into Magic’s own setting and mechanics, the early returns on the set are that it is a giant success.
As with pretty much all of the other Universes Beyond sets, those that designed it did an excellent job blending story elements, jokes, and other thematic elements of the show into Magic’s mechanics and card designs. Fans of the show who are new to Magic will be able to look at the cards, know the scene or character that’s being represented and reminisce about one of the best animated shows of all time, while fans of Magic who aren’t Avatar fans inherently will be able to figure out the context of some characters and scenes simply based on how their cards function. As a huge fan of both, I wanted to highlight five cards that best exemplify the blending of these two universes.
- It’ll Quench Ya
The scene from the show that this card depicts features the main group of the show getting dehydrated while lost in a desert, when the character Sokka, shown on the card, drinks water from a cactus to try and hydrate, however the water makes him go loopy. In a stupor, Sokka says the line shown in the flavor text “Drink cactus juice. Nothing’s quenchier. It’s the quenchiest!”
Where this ties in so well to Magic is with the already existing card called Quench, which is functionally effectively identical to the new card It’ll Quench Ya. While it is admittedly a bit of a layup to take this scene and make it adjacent to the card Quench, it does a good job of tying one of the more ridiculous, yet popular, scenes from the show into Magic in a way that makes sense.
- Corrupt Court Official
Corrupt Court Official was actually an already existing card, first being printed in Portal: Three Kingdoms and then later again in Streets of New Capenna and now we see it hear, crossing universes entirely to enter the Avatar universe, and they knocked it out of the park with the character they chose to depict on this card.
In this scene, the main cast got in trouble in a small town and had to face the “Wheel of Punishment” as depicted in the art, with the character portrayed in the art serving as the only judge on matters of the town. This character is the definition of a corrupt court official in this setting, and printing this character with a reprint with this card name is one of the excellent blends of flavor that makes this set stand out.
- Zhao, the Moon Slayer
If you don’t know the show, the art is just going to look like a guy holding a random bag in front of a red moon, but those that do know the show understand the significance.
Zhao is trying to get rid of the moon, as it is where waterbenders get their strength. In this picture, he is holding the moon spirit, represented by a Koi fish in the show, in the bag and is about to eliminate it.
Blood Moon is one of the most iconic cards in all of Magic, evoking either strong feelings of hate or admiration, and they made Zhao a variant of Blood Moon or, more fittingly, Magus of the Moon. This card easily demonstrates Zhao’s own motives in the show while tying in an iconic Magic card to display to those that don’t know the show just what he’s all about.
- Secret Tunnel
Perhaps the most remembered scene from the show, Secret Tunnel will evoke a strong reaction out of any Avatar fan.
For starters, giving the land a keyword or ability, in this case it is unblockable, without being able to animate itself is a very fun bit of flavor, representing that the Secret Tunnel and the cave in which it lies is alive and constantly shifting to keep out unwanted trespassers. The flavor of giving two creatures of the same type unblockable is a tie in to the only people that can pass through the tunnel being two people who are in love, as the tunnel was created in Avatar as a way for two lovers from warring families to meet up in secret.
It is one of the best and most memorable episodes of the show and they once again did an excellent job marrying mechanics to story beats.
- Wan Shi Tong, Librarian
Wan Shi Tong is one of, if not the most, powerful cards in the set and is currently the most expensive base card in the set. It is also a major flavor win on top of being a card that will lead to a lot of game wins.
Wan Shi Tong assembled and tended to a hidden library in the middle of the desert. Those that come into the library must offer something they have as a tribute to seek knowledge in the library, which is incredibly well represented on the last ability, which has you draw a card every time your opponent searches their library.
Wan Shi Tong is also terrifying, elusive, and powerful, which are all represented in the keywords, with Flash and Flying showing off the elusiveness and Vigilance showing off his intimidating nature.
Early returns on this set are an absolute success, which hasn’t exactly been the case for all the Universes Beyond sets so far. But when they nail one, they really nail one, and Avatar is certainly no exception to this. If you are a Universes Beyond fan, this set excites you for all the upcoming Universes Beyond sets as well, giving a strong affirmation of the love and care they put into making these sets for the thematic elements and the mechanical elements to match the theme.
