Scoop: How Magic: The Gathering's Avatar: The Last Airbender Expansion Brings Back 2 Fan-Favorite Tribal Mechanics
Magic: The Gathering players consistently enjoy tribal strategies — what player hasn't assembled a goblin deck at some point? — while the upcoming ATLA Universes Beyond set is reintroducing 2 well-known examples that align seamlessly to its setting.
Reappearing Tribe-Supporting Abilities
The initial ability, known as "Allies," first debuted with the Zendikar set which gives boosts each time more creatures bearing this type enter the battlefield.
Meanwhile, "Shrine" represents an enchantment type that first appeared with Kamigawa. While not exactly a creature tribe, Shrines also become strength as a player owns more Shrines on the battlefield.
The Return for the Ally Mechanic
Although Shrine cards have been appeared here and there across newer releases, Allies subtype was far less common — until that ends in ATLA, where the feature gets heavily featured.
Aang has to recruit a lot of companions during the journey to restore balance to the four nations, so it's no more fitting way to reflect that in a Magic set.
Revealed Card Preview
After its first set announcement, here is previews of one Ally plus a Shrines card from the new Avatar: The Last Airbender release.
Teo: A Beloved Figure
This character is one beloved supporting figure from ATLA, a young man of the Earth Tribe that lived at an Air Temple following his village was destroyed in a flood, which rendered him unable to walk.
Because of his father's skill with engineering, Teo is able to fly through the skies with a flying device, even dares Aang to a flying race.
The card Teo, Spirited Glider represents his fondness of flying along with his tribe's use of gliders through letting the player loot whenever a player attacks with a flying unit, while additionally boosting your team via +1/+1 counters in the process.
The Temple Card: The Powerful Shrine Enchantment
Speaking of Teo's dwelling, this is represented as the card The Northern Air Temple, that reduces an opponent's life when entering the battlefield, depending on how many of Shrines you have.
It also drains an additional life whenever a Shrine enters the field.
It looks like a strong card, considering its low cost plus good ETB effect.
One big drawback of Shrine-based strategies in formats besides Commander are the fact that these cards are typically legendary permanents, but Northern Air Temple can be effective when paired with another Shrine, that deals damage to all opponents during the start of your main phase.
The Timely Collaboration
Currently when Universes Beyond products are receiving a lot of criticism from fans, a beloved franchise such as Avatar can be precisely just what Magic: The Gathering requires.
Spoiler season is already here, and all cards set to be released November 21st.