Scoop: The Way Magic: The Gathering's Avatar Set Brings Back Two Popular Tribe-Focused Gameplay Features

Magic: The Gathering enthusiasts frequently adopt tribal strategies — what player has not constructed a zombie deck once or twice? — while the new Avatar: The Last Airbender Universes Beyond release brings back 2 well-known mechanics which match seamlessly to the setting.

Reappearing Tribe-Supporting Abilities

The first mechanic, called "Allies," first introduced in the Zendikar set and gives bonuses each time additional creatures bearing the Ally type enter the battlefield.

Alternatively, "Shrine" represents another enchantment type that originated with Kamigawa. While not exactly a creature tribe, these enchantments also become power when you owns more Shrines in play.

A Return for Allies Ability

While Shrines have appeared here and there across newer sets, the Ally subtype has been far less common — but that ends in Avatar: The Last Airbender, where this mechanic gets heavily featured.

Aang must gather many allies during the quest to restore balance across the four nations, and there's no better method to reflect this in an Magic expansion.

Exclusive Card Showcase

Following the initial card reveal, here is previews at one Ally and a Shrines card from the new ATLA set.

Teo, Spirited Glider: The Beloved Figure

Teo stands as one cherished minor character from Avatar: The Last Airbender, a boy from the Earth Tribe that lived at an Air Temple following his village was destroyed in a disaster, an event that rendered him paraplegic.

Due to his father's expertise with engineering, Teo is able to fly through the skies with his glider, even challenges the Avatar to an aerial contest.

This card Teo reproduces his passion of the skies along with his tribe's use on gliders by letting the player draw and discard whenever a player attacks using an airborne unit, and additionally boosting your team with +1/+1 counters in the process.

Northern Air Temple: A Strong Shrine

Speaking of his dwelling, it is represented as a card named The Northern Air Temple, which reduces an opponent's life when entering the battlefield, based on how many Shrine cards you control.

The card furthermore drains an additional life anytime a Shrine comes onto the field.

This looks like a strong card, given its cheap mana cost and good ETB ability.

A big weakness for Shrine-based decks in formats besides Commander is the fact that these cards are always legendary permanents, but Northern Air Temple is effective in combination alongside Sanctum of Stone Fangs, which drains all opponents at the beginning of your turn.

A Welcome Crossover

Currently when Universes Beyond sets are garnering a lot of hate from fans, an iconic series like Avatar could be precisely what MTG needs.

Spoiler season has begun, and all cards set to be released November 21st.