We’ve seen some big crossovers already this calendar year, but Avatar: The Last Airbender has to be one of the most hotly anticipated Universes Beyond sets to hit Magic. The beloved cartoon series has retained its relevance for a generation now, and there’s fans of all ages who can’t wait to enjoy seeing its fantastic world and characters portrayed through this new medium. The cards are made by fans, for fans, with tons of little references that revisit details from across the whole show – not just the main characters.
Of course, these new cards are a big deal for all Magic players regardless of fandom. Once the set is released, they will be legal to use across all formats, and a lot of them look powerful enough to find a home in existing decks.
But if you want to enjoy a pure Avatar-themed experience first, and properly celebrate this dream crossover event? There’s no more fun way to do it than signing up for a prerelease event at your local game store!
WHAT’S A PRERELEASE?
A prerelease is essentially the launch party for players to try a new Magic set. With the cards so new, everybody is on an even playing field when it comes to understanding and using them. There’s no huge prizes or high-intensity matches, and the entire atmosphere ends up as some casual fun that unites players of all experience and skill levels.
If you’re interested in trying out a prerelease yourself, trying calling your local game stores to find out what times their flights start over the weekend. Each of these flights is its own mini-event with its own chance to get more Avatar: The Last Airbender cards, and there are other bonuses for those dedicated enough to enter more than once across the prerelease period!
Most of these flights will be using the Sealed format, which I’ll give some more tips on later. But go and preregister your interest with your LGS first, and check their event times. I’ll wait for you to get back.
OK, everyone signed up? Let’s talk about how to play an Avatar Sealed event.
SEALED’S THE DEAL
For those of us who haven’t attended a prerelease event before, Sealed is the format (type of Magic game) normally played with new cards. Each player is handed a prerelease kit which contains six booster packs, plus some other goodies – including a bonus foil rare.
The idea is to build a deck using only the cards from this kit, plus basic lands (which are available to borrow from a public “land station” in most stores). This means two things: the entire event will be played with Avatar cards only, and there’s no advantage for players who have a pre-existing deck or collection.
The first hour or so of the event are set aside just for you to read your new cards and think about your options, so you don’t even need to have studied the Avatar set beforehand – although you can do a bit of homework if it makes you more comfortable and confident on the day.
You’ll end up with a deck of 40 cards (including 16 or 17 lands), which you’ll use to duel other prerelease players in a mini round-robin. Depending on the store you play at, there might be a small prize for winning games, or even just participating in each round.
There is also the option to play Sealed with a partner, referred to as “Two-Headed Giant” or 2HG. When you play 2HG, you get the same amount of cards in your prerelease kit, but you and your partner combine both your kits into a shared pool before building your decks. So long as you agree to use different colors from your partner, this usually results in stronger than average decks.
In the actual games, each “head” still has their own deck, hand, graveyard, and mana pool – you can’t pay for your partner’s spells, or count their cards as ones “you control”. But you do take your turns at the same time, and in combat you count as one unit, attacking and blocking together to defend a shared total of 30 life.
Two-Headed Giant is a separate option to the “singles” flights, usually running on alternating schedules across the prerelease weekend. So double-check with your LGS when you register that you’re signing up for the version you want to play!
BEND TO YOUR WILL
As a Magic fan, what strikes me most is how well A:TLA works as a concept for a set. The elemental spectrum which defines Avatar’s world overlays nicely onto Magic’s color pie, and their political and military struggles are the kind of conflict Magic does well. Even the smaller, more personal beats from Aang’s coming-of-age journey with his friends are captured by the “Lessons” mechanic – talk about a teachable moment!
I already wrote a full article previewing the elemental bending mechanics in this set, so I won’t repeat myself at length here. But suffice it to say that these are all really exciting and innovative new abilities that give each tribe a totally unique feeling on the battlefield. Besides your choice of colors (the average prerelease deck uses two) the other big influence on your Sealed gameplan will be your choice of character!
Avatar: The Last Airbender is putting a twist on the prerelease formula, as each prerelease kit is themed around a particular hero or villain from the show. One of the six booster packs inside is replaced with a “character pack” full of cards featuring your fave.
This is a great bonus not just for fans who are really hanging out to play with Zuko or Toph specifically, but also for anyone who wants an easy starting point for building their Sealed deck!
All your character cards should match the same color and general strategy, so you can lock that in as the baseline of your deck. Then just look through your five normal booster packs to find which other color has the most rares or other cards you like, and boom: the hardest choices in deckbuilding are behind you.
ELEMENT-ARY TACTICS
Since we have a little more time here, let’s take a look at what each of the available characters does well on the battlefield and what color options might work best when you pick them up!
Aang’s cards use white mana and the airbending mechanic, which can temporarily lift cards back out of play. Since the airbenders also rule the skies, this can be a good way to pick off any defending creatures with flying and allow an unblocked aerial attack! Opponents have no choice but to try and counterattack on the ground, but there you have animal friends to block and healing spells to keep you high on life.
If that sounds like a good plan to you, then you might want to choose blue as your second color, since that combination specifically focuses on a strong air force.
Another option is to pair white with green: these colors share a focus on the “ally” creature type, which in A:TLA represents the secretive White Lotus faction and their associates in the struggle for peace. You can summon an army of allied soldiers whose abilities strengthen each other, then airbend away the most powerful defending creatures right before you send the army charging in.
Katara’s cards use blue mana, with a focus on careful, reactive gameplay. The waterbending mechanic doesn’t do one specific thing like airbending, but it can let you do a lot of different things without having to pay mana. With your waterbenders effectively acting like extra lands, you’ll be able to play more spells and abilities than your opponent each turn and gradually pull ahead of them – so make sure to play defensive and slow the game down to give that time to happen.
Choosing green for a second color can help grow your resources even faster, as green generates extra mana and blue gives you extra cards. You can use that fuel to put really massive creatures into play before your opponent is ready, or you can build your deck to have lots of Lesson cards which will power up your future spells.
It might not suit everyone’s sense of honour, but the sinister combination of blue and black is maybe the strongest when it comes to defensive gameplans. Those colors have a lot of cards which reward you for drawing two or more cards in a turn – which blue can do very easily. Black’s unmatched ability to destroy enemy creatures covers the biggest weak spot in blue’s armor, so you should easily parry anything your opponent throws at you.
Azula’s cards use black mana, of course, giving the villains among us a chance to bust out their evil laugh! Black decks know that this world is made up of the strong, and the weak. Your own weak creatures exist to be sacrificed: either to power up their strong leaders, or as meat shields to absorb enemy attacks. Meanwhile your arsenal of killing spells let you pick off the opponent’s strongest warriors with ease, leaving the weak ones in a mismatch against your best creatures
As a firebender, Azula actually also generates temporary red mana when she attacks. That doesn’t mean you need to choose red as a second color, but it is the best option if you want to play a full “Fire Nation” themed deck. The forces of the empress attack without mercy or self-preservation and trust that their firebending powers will ensure the opponent’s life runs out first.
If you prefer a more patient, even torturous brand of evil, then choose white as your other color. This combination really sells the idea that anything can and should be sacrificed if it advances your master plan. Creatures, artifacts, even your own life points: you build these resources efficiently and then burn them as needed to grind your opponent down into nothing through a long, brutal siege.
Zuko’s cards use red mana to fuel a tactical offense and dominate the combat phase. Firebending only provides mana while attacking, so try and play a lot of instants or creatures whose abilities work in the heat of combat. But you don’t ALWAYS need to charge ahead, especially if your opponent currently has the bigger army. Red also lets you spend mana to draw and use extra cards, so stay in the game and explode when the moment is right.
Pairing red with blue levels up the combat step by introducing Lesson cards to power up your attackers. Many firebending creatures naturally have the ability to increase their power, so look for cards which can give them abilities like flying, menace, first strike or double strike. Remember that you can use your firebending mana on these buffs before OR after your opponent chooses their blocks: think carefully about which is best for the current situation.
Choosing white as your second color changes your focus from enhancing single attackers to buffing a whole team. One such buff spell can deal huge damage when the effect is multiplied across ten or more ally tokens and small-but-feisty firebenders. It’s not a complicated gameplan – but sometimes the simple plans are the best ones.
Toph’s cards use green mana to raise the earth itself in anger against your foes. The earthbending mechanic is complicated to read, but basically means that your lands turn into creatures, with the exact size depending on which card was used to animate them. You can use future earthbending spells to either make additional land-creatures, or stack more stats on the ones you already have, allowing you to eventually have the biggest monster on the battlefield.
The combination of green and red cares a lot about the size of your monsters, with cards granting special rewards whenever you control at least one with power four or greater. If you don’t have one that big already, you can use +1/+1 counters to permanently upsize whatever you do have. Be careful not to lose those big bodies in combat, and attack once your advantage is truly overwhelming.
Choosing black as your second color helps ensure your size advantage a different way – by shooting down any enemies big enough to threaten your dominance. Black also has a lot of ways to slowly grow your team with +1/+1 counters, and a combination of lifelink and food tokens to keep you alive against sneaky flyers or other decks that might be faster than you.
AVATAR STATE OF MIND
Attending a prerelease might sound intense, but it’s one of the most fun and friendly experiences you can have playing Magic. I’d recommend anyone who wants to get a taste of this Avatar set try it out, regardless of whether you’re a 20-year Magic veteran or a novice dipping your toes in the water. Just make sure you contact your local store and register soon if you want to make sure you’ll be playing with your #1 character!
Tom’s fate was sealed in 7th grade when his friend lent him a pile of commons to play Magic. He quickly picked up Boros and Orzhov decks in Ravnica block and has remained a staunch white magician ever since. A fan of all Constructed formats, he enjoys studying the history of the tournament meta. He specializes in midrange decks, especially Death & Taxes and Martyr Proc. One day, he swears he will win an MCQ with Evershrike. Ask him how at @AWanderingBard, or watch him stream Magic at twitch.tv/TheWanderingBard.