Avatar: the Last Airbender officially released last week, and while the set didn’t come with any Commander precons, the set has no shortage of powerful and interesting legendary creatures who make for great Commanders.
Arguably the most powerful of these is Fire Lord Azula, who may actually just be downright broken. In this article, I’m going to take a look at some of the most busted things you can do with her, and also discuss whether or not she should be designated as a Game Changer in the format.
HER SPELL COPYING EFFECT IS 🔥
Most of Azula’s power comes from her ability to copy any spell you cast while she’s attacking. Notably, she doesn’t care what kind of spell you cast and there’s no cap on how many spells she can cast in a turn. That makes her quite unique. While we’re used to seeing lots of Commanders that can copy spells, it’s usually far more limited – like to instants and sorceries, or at least non-creature spells.
This means that you can go in a number of different directions with Azula. As long as she can attack and you have stuff you can do at instant speed, she has the potential to really go off. And her Firebending makes it even easier for you to find the mana necessary to do that kind of thing. This all makes her very flexible, and capable of doing some pretty incredible stuff.
GETTING THE MOST OUT OF AZULA
Typically, the only spells Azula would be able to copy are Instants and cards with Flash, since those are the only spells that are fast enough to cast during combat. However, there is definitely a critical mass of effects that can give all of your spells Flash, and if you get one of those in play, you’re going to be able to copy some of the most powerful spells in the game.
Time Walk effects and tutors are almost always Sorceries, but once you can copy those, your opponents are in a world of trouble. Time Warp will give you two extra turns, and Demonic Tutor can now actually net you a card, which is absolutely absurd when we’re talking about searching up the optimal card in your deck twice.
If you really want things to get crazy, you can also make non-legendary copies of Azula. This can be accomplished with Sorceries like Irenicus’s Vile Duplication or Quantum Misalignment. Because Azula will copy the spell, you’ll end up with three Azula’s in play, and once you’re copying that many spells you’re going to be incredibly difficult to beat.
STORMING OFF WITH AZULA IS KIND OF BUSTED
In the show, Azula is capable of controlling lightning, so it’s fitting that she’s really great at helping you combo off with Storm – in other words, she’s great at helping you cast your entire deck in a single turn, and then winning with either a spell payoff or a literal storm card, like Tendrils of Agony or Brain Freeze. I think this is the most broken thing you can do with her.
Importantly, she has the perfect identity for chaining a huge number of spells together. Black, Red, and Blue have several cards that can give you tons of mana and cards, especially when you’re doubling them.
While Azula is capable of producing absurd mana with rituals – after all, Dark Ritual will now give you 6 mana, and Seething Song will give you 12 – it’s also necessary to have cards that let you rip through your deck while also being mana positive or mana neutral. You can do this with cards like Frantic Search and Snap, which will now let you untap double the lands, or Big Score, which spits out treasure and draws you cards at the same time.
There are more than enough of these types of spells to fill out your deck, so if your opponents don’t disrupt you, you have a very good chance at drawing all of your cards and killing all of them in a single turn with your Storm card of choice.
SHOULD AZULA BE A GAMECHANGER?
Right now, Wizards of the Coast is Beta Testing it’s “Bracket” system, a matchmaking tool that looks to make sure players who are playing Commander are on the same page when it comes to the power level of their decks.
Part of this system is a list of cards designated as “Game Changers,” this is a list of powerful cards that are only permissible in Brackets 3-5. In Bracket 3 you’re limited to 3 of them, while you can have any number of them in Brackets 4 and 5.
The Commander Format Panel defines Game Changers as follows:
Game Changers should generally be cards that easily and dramatically warp Commander games, allowing players to run away with resources, shift games in ways that many players find unpleasant, block people from playing, efficiently search for any of their strongest cards without downside, or have commanders that are highly unfun in casual games.
So, does Fire Lord Azula meet this definition? She can certainly allow you to “run away with resources” by doubling mana and treasure, and drawing your entire deck. And everyone at the table watching the Azula player combo off could certainly be “unpleasant” or “unfun.”
However, I think she is held back by one very important factor – she has to attack to get going. Because of that, your opponents have plenty of time to interact with her in most cases before she can go off. If you can keep Azula in play until your next turn, when the rest of the pod clearly sees her as a massive threat, I think you deserve to go off.
And sure, you could slap your Swiftfoot Boots on her, but that’s true of virtually any Commander, and not really enough for me to think that she’s unbeatable.
Furthermore, there are lots of ways to build Azula decks where she doesn’t have this one-turn combo potential. She can simply be a fun spellslinger Commander that just gives you good value, and putting Fire Lord Azula on the list is extreme. It would mean that people who are more casual players just can’t use her, and that’s more unfun than anything.
In the most recent update, the Commander Format Panel clearly stated a desire to avoid putting Legends that are just powerful Commanders on the list, so I think Fire Lord Azula will be safe for now.
END STEP
What do you think? Is Fire Lord Azula busted? Does she deserve to be one of the few legendary creatures designated as a Game Changer? Let me know your take over on X or Bluesky.
Jacob has been playing Magic for the better part of 24 years, and he especially loves playing Magic’s Limited formats. He also holds a PhD in history from the University of Oklahoma. In 2015, he started his YouTube channel, “Nizzahon Magic,” where he combines his interests with many videos covering Magic’s competitive history. When he’s not playing Magic or making Magic content, he can be found teaching college-level history courses or caring for a menagerie of pets with his wife.