Avatar: The Last Airbender, the latest Universes Beyond set, releases November 21. Avatar’s product lineup includes a Jumpstart set, replete with 64 brand-new cards legal in Eternal formats. Which of those cards are hits? Join us as we look at the Top 20 Cards from Avatar: The Last Airbender Jumpstart.
AVATAR JUMPSTART
Before we get stuck into the list proper, it’s worth pointing out that the Avatar Jumpstart set is, on the whole, really quite good. Many of the new cards are phenomenal, have great art, and in general, it’s a great looking product. There are way more than just 20 cards we could talk about here, but in the interest of brevity, we’re sticking to the cream of the crop.
Anyway, without further ado, let’s get stuck in.
TOP 20 CARDS IN AVATAR JUMPSTART
AANG, AIRBENDING MASTER
Aang, Airbending Master is a pretty powerful token engine, and that’s kinda how I see him playing out. You run some flicker – which is one of white’s best forms of card advantage – and you end up with a board of Ally tokens. In an Allies deck, getting a whole raft of EtBs is also very, very good. All around great card, especially as you get to Airbend when he enters.
JET, REBEL LEADER
Jet, Rebel Leader is the kind of card advantage in white we used to only dream of. He encourages you to build your deck with a lot of mana value 3 or less creatures, and gives you a mini-Winota style effect. While he’s far and away from the dominant power that is Winota, he is going to fit well into Boros decks, and – like many of the cards here today – will shine in decks like Isshin, or with a Windcrag Siege, or similar way to double dip on value. Oh, and as an upgrade for Allies decks, he’s pretty good too.
MONK GYATSO
Monk Gyatso is pretty sweet. On the face of it, you’re getting some free value when your stuff gets targeted. You get to protect it, and re-buy the EtB. That’s just the tip of the iceberg, though. If you can combine a free to activate ability and cost reducers, you can generate infinite EtBs with ease. So, Nomads-en-Kor for the ability activation, and a combination of Pearl Medalion, Cloud Key, or Urza’s Incubator for cost reduction, and you have a creature able to keep flickering in and out ad nauseum.
SUKI, KYOSHI CAPTAIN
Suki is a very straightforward Magic card, but don’t let that fool you. A Warrior anthem for three mana is excellent, and having the ability to double strike the team for just four mana is a great deal. She’s also a Human Warrior Ally, which is very synergistic for creature types. At three mana, I’m more than happy to be playing Suki.
THE BLUE SPIRIT
This card is neat. It’s a shame it isn’t a Ninja itself, but either way, it sets up Ninjutsu really well. The Blue Spirit gives your first creature spell each turn flash, and if those creatures enter during combat, you get to draw a card.
I’m interested in this in numerous decks, not only in Ninjutsu decks, but also in UW blink strategies, and in decks where you have reanimation going on via the combat step.
CHAKRA MEDITATION
Chakra Meditation, to me, is kind of a perfect utility card. It gets you back an instant or sorcery for three mana, which is pretty standard, but it offers more. You get a repeatable loot engine, and you get devotion to blue, and a way to trigger casting non-creature spells. If you can flicker a permanent, you also get to enjoy the effect again.
Lovely design.
KATARA, WATERBENDING MASTER
Katara is competitively costed considering her ceiling. Blue decks that love casting in the opponents turn are going to love this, because she can get to drawing you 3-5 cards on attack in no time at all. If you’re coincidentally also on a U/x deck that cares about experience counters? Well, you’re over the moon. Ezuri, Claw of Progress says hello there.
WATERBENDER’S RESTORATION
March of Swirling Mist sees a lot of play for me, and I’m always grateful to have access to it. Sometimes, though, it can end up a little pricey, and feels quite far away from white’s Eerie Interlude. Ripples of Potential introduced an option for blue decks that use counters, but blue still lacked a more universal option.
Waterbender’s Restoration is an option I like quite a bit. It’s still quite restrictive, but for a whole host of decks, it works out to cost close to just the initial UU. It essentially has Convoke and Improvise, which means if you do artifacts or go wide, it’s basically UU for an Eerie Interlude. That’s hot.
FIRE LORD OZAI
Fire Lord Ozai is a sweet Rakdos card, and one that offers a pretty interesting play pattern. It kind of goes in a loop turn to turn, provided you can cast a creature for free from the cards you exile with the {6} cost ability. Where it gets truly strong, though, is playing those creatures that get arbitrarily large – think Malignus, or Taurean Mauler – and following up with instant speed Burn spells. This feels like a deck that would want Vedalken Orrery for sure.
FIRE NATION SALVAGERS
I compare everything to Sun Titan, because it truly is a Sun that never sets. Redemption Choir has been great for me, and so anything below five mana that can repeatedly reanimate is worth a look. Fire Nation Salvagers can help reanimate multiple cards each combat in a counters deck, provided opponents have them available. I like it a lot, and I think it’s great value – just remember, include plenty of wraths and mill, because otherwise those yards’ll be empty.
LO AND LI, ROYAL ADVISORS
Lo and Li, Royal Advisors is a great pickup for mill decks. This is a sweet pickup for Persistent Petitioners decks, and whether it ends up in the CZ replacing Phenax, or just in the 99, it’s well worth a look if you have a mill deck.
AVATAR ROKU, FIREBENDER
King of pirating the latest movies and TV shows, Avatar Roku is a really fun politics card that also lets you indulge in combat tricks. If there was ever a deck for Mercadia’s Downfall, it would be this one. At base, you’re getting to boost +3/+0 twice, every time any player attacks. That means opponents too, and it means boosting Roku up to 12, which is a two hit KO with Commander Damage.
Of course, you’re not just going to be messing with this, are you. You’re going to be casting combat tricks, activating abilities, and committing shenanigans. Fun card.
CHONG AND LILY, NOMADS
If nothing else, remember that this can go in Tom Bombadil, which makes it a huge pick-up. It’s not quite as good in the Naya Sagas decks of Assassin’s Creed, but it’s still pretty great. Bello, Bard of the Brambles sagas could be pretty fun too. It’s a little niche to be in a Top 20, but good enough to earmark.
LONGSHOT, REBEL BOWMAN
To be Uncommon and on this list is quite the feat indeed. Longshot, Rebel Bowman is here though because it’s a Legendary Guttersnipe that also cost reduces your non-creature spells. Need I say more? No, no I do not.
OVERWHELMING VICTORY
Oh hey, it’s the red Craterhoof Behemoth! Finally. You might laugh, but provided you have a one or two toughness guy to pin with this, you’re getting a huge +4/+0 and trample to the team, at instant speed, in red. Where this gets even better is with cost reducers and damage doublers. If you can make that 5 damage 10 damage, you’re giving your team up to +9/+0 and trample, which can effectively be even more once those same creatures deal their own damage. You gotta think big with this one. It’s sweet.
RECKLESS BLAZE
Red feels like the best support color these days, and it’s arguably the most fun either way. Reckless Blaze sweeps the board of early to mid game threats, and refunds you red mana for each creature you lost this way. I love tempo-shifting cards like this, and the fact that this can be a ritual and a wrath in some decks makes it really good value indeed.
SMELLERBEE, REBEL FIGHTER
Okay, so Smellerbee is pretty good, right? A 3/3 First strike can attack quite well, especially given you get to discard and draw equal to attacking creatures when Smellerbee attacks. The icing on the cake is that it gives the rest of your board haste, which means you can pump a sorcery speed token spell, get an instant board, and then use that board to refill your hand. Delicious.
HEI BAI, FOREST GUARDIAN
Hei Bai is a slam dunk for Shrines decks. Whether in the 99 of Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin, or leading the deck, Hei Bai is the real deal. Digging until you hit a shrine allows you to build Hei Bai with a light flicker sub theme. The tokens you make are basically unblockable, by the way – so keep note of that being a good wincon.
MASTER’S GUIDANCE
I love Master’s Guidance. It slowly grows your board, while keeping your hand topped up. It’s not as egregious as other card draw or counters engines, meaning it earns bonus under-the-radar points, too.
TOPH, EARTHBENDING MASTER
They saved earthbending by allowing a dead creature-land to return to play tapped, eh? Toph gets experience counters on landfall, which might well be the easiest way to get experience counters we’ve yet seen.
Add in some proliferate, and you can become experienced enough to do great things. A 2/4 for four is more than fair here, and overall Toph excites me more than the other Earthbender in the set.
END STEP
Avatar: The Last Airbender is resonating with Magic fans because it fits pretty well into Magic’s fantasy flavor. The illustrations are a treat, and so are the mechanics. Here are the 20 cards we’re excited about from Avatar Jumpstart – what about you? Let us know on socials.
Kristen is Card Kingdom’s Head Writer and a member of the Commander Format Panel. Formerly a competitive Pokémon TCG grinder, she has been playing Magic since Shadows Over Innistrad, which in her opinion, was a great set to start with. When she’s not taking names with Equipment and Aggro strategies in Commander, she loves to play any form of Limited.