Avatar: The Last Airbender (TLA) Limited Set Review: Black

As a fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender, I think this is one of the best crossovers Magic has had, in terms of how well the IP transfers to the card game. The elemental “bending” abilities are all fun, and I look forward to seeing how they play out in limited. Let’s jump into breaking down some cards!

5.0: Disgustingly powerful and basically unbeatable. Either answer it the turn it comes down or just pack up your cards. (Gruff Triplets, Virtue of Persistence, The Eternal Wanderer)

4.5: Incredible bomb that still gives your opponent a slim chance. (Virtue of Loyalty, Imodane's Recruiter, Realm-Scorcher Hellkite)

4.0: Great rare or the absolute best uncommons and removal. (Faunsbane Troll, Gumdrop Poisoner, Talion’s Messenger)

3.5: Great role filler or removal that you never cut. (Candy Grapple, Hearth Elemental, Torch the Tower)

3.0: Good playable that I’m basically never cutting. (Shrouded Shepherd, Spellscorn Coven, Sharae of Numbing Depths)

2.5: Decent playable and the bar I hope nearly every card in my deck to reach. (Evolving Wilds, Archon's Glory, Flick a Coin)

2.0: Mediocre filler that normally is your 20-23rd card(s). (Mintstrosity, Ice Out, Grabby Giant)

1.5: Replaceable, overall bad filler. Could also be decent sideboard cards. (Titanic Growth, Scarecrow Guide, Territorial Witchstalker)

1.0: Bad filler. Gets cut most of the time. (Dark Tutelage, Kindled Heroism, Impact Tremors)

0.5: Very unhappy to main deck this, but maybe it has fringe sideboard applications. Cards that “could” be situationally decent, but bad in most situations. (Smothering Tithe, Rhystic Study, Mana Flare)

0.0: Unplayable in every possible situation. They rarely print cards this bad these days. (Hew the Entwood, One with Nothing)

Azula Always Lies

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

I’m always a fan of Subtle Strike. This iteration has the added bonus of being a lesson.

Azula, On the Hunt

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

As long as you get to have an attack with this, she has done her job. Multiple attacks are all upside from there.

Beetle-Headed Merchants

Rating: 1.0 // 5.0

This is a pretty bad 5 drop.

Boiling Rock Rioter

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

This will be a 3/3 firebend 1 the vast majority of the time. But sometimes it can get you a “free” creature.

Buzzard-Wasp Colony

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

This seems decent if your deck has good fodder.

Callous Inspector

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

While not quite Thraben Inspector, it works really well with sacrifice synergies.

Canyon Crawler

Rating: 1.5 // 5.0

This is alright if you need a landcycler/top end creature.

Cat-Gator

Rating: 2.5 // 5.0

7 mana is a lot, but this guy is worth it. Not only is it a Corrupt (a historical limited bomb), but it leaves behind a 3/2 lifelinking body.

Corrupt Court Official

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

I will always love Burglar Rat, and if that makes me wrong, I don’t want to be right

Dai Li Indoctrination

Rating: 1.5 // 5.0

While I do enjoy failsafe discard cards, you can still often miss with the discard option, given its limitations.

Day of Black Sun

Rating: 3.5 // 5.0

Scaling removal spells are always powerful. It doesn’t do a great job at killing opponents creatures with 6 cmc or more though.

Deadly Precision

Rating: 2.5 // 5.0

A reprint of Annihilating Glare. This gets better the more sacrifice fodder you have, and worse with few-none.

Epic Downfall

Rating: 2.5 // 5.0

A solid, efficient piece of removal, despite being sorcery speed.

Fatal Fissure

Rating: 1.0 // 5.0

The ceiling of this card isn’t all that amazing, and there’s a lot of things that can go wrong along the way.

Fire Nation Engineer

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

This can be great if you can continue to attack, but it’s easily dealt with.

Fire Navy Trebuchet

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

I really liked the design of the predecessor, Mordor Trebuchet, and even had some fun build-arounds with multiple copies. This version is strictly better, and more importantly, keeps the token creature around until EOT to be used as sacrifice fodder.

Foggy Swamp Hunters

Rating: 1.0 // 5.0

This seems bad

Foggy Swamp Visions

Rating: SB? // 5.0

This is far too unreliable for me to want to main deck. I could see it coming in from the sideboard in matchups where it has a good chance of becoming your finisher.

Heartless Act

Rating: 3.0 // 5.0

Premium removal.

Hog-Monkey

Rating: 1.5 // 5.0

An underwhelming 3 drop. It can do an alright job with counter-based decks, that also want to enable attacks.

Joo Dee, One of Many

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

A fun design, that will sometimes result in a bunch of 2/2’s if you have a good amount of fodder.

June, Bounty Hunter

Rating: 2.5 // 5.0

A fun follow up to Callous Inspector, that works well with any token generation, like Fire Navy Trebuchet.

Koh, the Face Stealer

Rating: 3.5 // 5.0

An incredibly powerful creature that can do some really fun stuff.

Lo and Li, Twin Tutors

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

Even though a bit slow, if you have 3+ options to choose from, this is some good value.

Mai Scornful Striker

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

This is definitely a constructed card, but still a decent 2 drop.

Merchant of Many Hats

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

Normally “fodder” cards with this ability are 1 drops. I really like this being a 2 drop 2/2.

Northern Air Temple

Rating: 1.0 // 5.0

This is likely the worst shrine. I would only consider playing it with a very synergistic shrine deck.

Obsessive Pursuit

Rating: 2.5 // 5.0

I think you can stack this with firebending, allowing you to get mana and sacrifice a clue, before it checks for X. Either way, this is solid card advantage if you can muster the mana.

Ozai’s Cruelty

Rating: 1.5 // 5.0

I normally prefer to play Mind Rot out of the sideboard, but sometimes it can hit so good.

Phoenix Fleet Airship

Rating: 3.5 // 5.0

This is incredibly powerful, so long as you get 1 additional copy. After that, it will end the game in short order.

Pirate Peddlers

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

Not overly exciting, but seems fine overall.

Raven Eagle

Rating: 3.0 // 5.0

This is very strong if it nets you one clue, anything more than that feels fantastic.

Ruinous Waterbending

Rating: SB // 5.0

A nice sideboard option to cut down White token-based decks.

Sold Out

Rating: 2.5 // 5.0

This won’t create a clue all that often, and it probably shouldn’t when used properly.

Swampsnare Trap

Rating: 2.5 // 5.0

Another solid piece of removal that will deal with most anything >6 mana.

The Fire Nation Drill

Rating: 3.5 // 5.0

Flametongue Kavu eat your heart out.

The Rise of Sozin // Fire Lord Sozin

Rating: 4.0 // 5.0

This bomb does a pretty nice job of closing out games.

Tundra Tank

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

This is likely not for every deck, but it can do some work in aggressive builds.

Wolfbat

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

This is a great use of the finality counter mechanic. I like the design of this card, and it feels nice if it was milled.

Zuko’s Conviction

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

Instant speed reanimation can be devastating. You only want to run this with some self-mill and great reanimate targets.

Top 3 Black Commons:

Deadly Precision Sold Out Swampsnare Trap

Blacks removal suite is absolutely insane, and easily castable in this set. There’s a good amount of value in black if you get the right pieces, via either firebending or sacrifice synergies. I think Black is the strongest color I’ve reviewed so far. I’ll be breaking down Red next, stay tuned!

Lose and Learn, Learn and Win!