Best Commander Cards from Avatar: The Last Airbender
Avatar: The Last Airbender is releasing soon, and with it comes some awesome new Commander cards and some great reprints for fans of the show as well.
Planetarium of Wan Shi Tong A six-mana casting cost may seem like a lot to play this card, but being able to cast cards without paying their mana cost is very powerful. The “once each turn” restriction isn’t as relevant in Commander, where you can potentially do it four times in a turn cycle. With so many cards that scry or surveil printed in the last few years, there should be plenty of ways to trigger this. The extended-art version is already selling for around $16, but I could see this card climbing a little in price when it starts seeing play.
White Lotus Tile Preselling for around $13, this mana rock for “typal” (tribal) mages could be very powerful, even if it is held back a little by costing four mana and coming in tapped. I could see this becoming a staple in many decks.
Redirect Lightning A redirect card that costs one red mana and 5 life (or three total mana)? Yes, please. The Showcase version is selling right now for around $13, but this is a very good value card, and the price could go up in the future.
Sozin’s Comet Borderless versions are preselling for around $20. Firebending is an interesting ability that you will definitely have to build an entire deck around. But getting free mana for combat abilities can be powerful in the right deck. This costs five mana and is a Sorcery, which limits it a little bit. But, if you play it right, you will get the mana right back and be able to use it during combat.
Best New Commanders
Avatar Aang Since this was one of the first spoiled cards from the set, we already have a proxy available! If you’re a big Avatar fan, this is probably going to be your new Commander.
Avatar Roku, Firebender Preselling for $19, this card seems great, even though it’s a little weird that Avatar Roku is a “Firebender” but doesn’t have the Firebending ability. He adds a whopping six red mana whenever any player attacks and comes with a way to use it himself. I think a lot of red mages will be sleeving this one up with Sozin’s Comet on release day.
Toph, Greatest Earthbender Preselling for $15, giving land creatures Double Strike can be brutal in the right deck. Toph also has Earthbend to start turning your lands into creatures. I think that this will be a fun build-around Commander.
Best Reprints of the Set
Besides being able to pick up your 99th printing of Sol Ring, there are some great reprints in Avatar for fans of the show.
The Banyan Tree (The Great Henge) This is a fantastic reprint for the set. This green staple has only had a few reprints so far, and with a $70 price tag, it really needed one. I don’t think this will change the price of the original card very much, however.
Force of Negation Because Force of Negation is a multi-format all-star, the price for any printing is around $60, and I don’t think that is going to change with this reprinting. But luckily, since it was one of the first revealed reprints, we already have proxies of this card available!
Aang’s Shelter (Teferi’s Protection) Even though this card has multiple reprints and is a game changer, it still carries a hefty price tag of $50. According to EDHRec, it is one of the top-played white cards in Commander and is in around 17% of all decks, so it is definitely a Commander staple and a good pickup.
Cruel Tutor This card made its debut in 1997’s Portal set but has only had one brief reprint on The List, so a new printing is sorely needed. It remains to be seen if it will lower the price of the card, since players who aren’t fans of Avatar probably aren’t going to like the artwork. I know we are not big fans of it.
Azula, Flame of Ember Island (Diaochan, Artful Beauty) This is an interesting reprint of a mono-red Commander from the very limited Portal Three Kingdoms set. It has a high price tag because it has only had one reprint since then (as a foil in Commander’s Arsenal). It is not widely used (ranked #1,930 on EDHRec’s top Commanders), but maybe the reprint will bring some renewed interest to the card.
Whether or not you’re a fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender or not this set has some great cards that will be good additions for Commander and other formats. Buying proxies of your favorite cards are a great way to save some money and be able to play the decks you want!
