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

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)

Accumulate Wisdom

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

A solid card selection spell. It’s cheap, instant speed, and a lesson. I’m not sure how realistic having 3 lessons in your graveyard is, but if this draws 3, it’s insane.

Benevolent River Spirit

Rating: 2.5 // 5.0

It should be easy enough to cast this for 5 or so, and this is a powerful creature for that CMC.

Boomerang Basics

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

This is a bit weak for a bounce spell, given that it’s sorcery speed. It does have a nice bonus for bouncing your own ETB stuff though.

Crashing Wave

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

This one is a bit tricky to evaluate due to it’s very high variance. You can waterbend 0, and put up to 3 stun counters on a single tapped creature (or spread them around). You can also set up future attacks. I’ll have to see this one in action to get a better grasp on how strong it is.

Ember Island Production

Rating: 1.5 // 5.0

This will be worse than a 5 drop creature the vast majority of the time.

First-Time Flyer

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

Assuming you have a high lesson count (5+), this looks like a solid 2 drop flyer. I’d try not to play it with few to no lessons in your deck.

Flexible Waterbender

Rating: 1.5 // 5.0

This trades down with a 3 drop 3/3. It’s a cool design with waterbend, but not a creature I’m interested in playing.

Forecasting Fortune Teller

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

A nice early game blocker for Blue. Not quite Thraben Inspector, but still solid in most decks.

Geyser Leaper

Rating: 1.5 // 5.0

This is a good-sized flying threat, that provides some late game card selection opportunities. I don’t think you’d ever want more than 1 copy in your deck.

Giant Koi

Rating: 1.5 // 5.0

This is one of the better land cycling options. It’s not amazing, but I wouldn’t mind having it in my deck.

Gran-Gran

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

Gran-Gran scales up with the amount of waterbending your deck has. With little to no waterbending, I wouldn’t really want to play this.

Honest Work

Rating: 1.5 // 5.0

In any other set, this would be a better removal spell. There is a good amount of Airbend and bounce to completely negate this.

Iguana Parrot

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

This is a go-to Blue flyer that should be playable in most every Blue deck.

Invasion Submersible

Rating: 2.5 // 5.0

Keep in mind that you can tap itself to help pay for waterbend, and you can do so at instant speed.

It’ll Quench Ya!

Rating: 1.5 // 5.0

Unless you care about lessons, I’d try not to play this in most decks, due to the fact it does not have a failsafe for the late game.

Katara, Bending Prodigy

Rating: 2.5 // 5.0

A nice mid-game creature that only needs to grow once to be relevant.

Knowledge Seeker

Rating: 2.5 // 5.0

This will likely need two triggers to get big enough to not trade with another 2 drop. The on-death trigger is what makes this awesome.

Lost Days

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

This is a bit expensive for removal, but it does provide a ton of value.

Master Pakku

Rating: 1.5 // 5.0

This is far less exciting than it looks. If you do get to start milling a player, you likely will want to start milling yourself to get more lessons in your graveyard.

North Pole Patrol

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

This can do some cool stuff, but it will untap lands more often than not.

Octopus Form

Rating: 1.5 // 5.0

A decent trick that’s also a lesson. Not super exciting, but playable.

Otter-Penguin

Rating: 1.0 // 5.0

This is pretty bad filler for any deck.

Rowdy Snowballers

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

These are good as a one/two-of. You still need to have other good creatures to take advantage of stunning your opponents creatures.

Secret of Bloodbending

Rating: 0.0 // 5.0

This is too difficult to cast, and has very high variance.

Serpent of the Pass

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

It’s not too hard to cast this for 5 on turn 5. It’s not powerful enough to build around it, though.

Sokka’s Haiku

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

Counterspell + draw is incredibly powerful, even though the mana cost is steep. This is another card I wouldn’t really want more than one in your deck.

Spirit Water Revival

Rating: 2.5 // 5.0

At worst, this is a , but the ceiling is shuffle + draw 7 in the late game, which is well worth putting this in your deck.

Teo, Spirited Glider

Rating: 1.5 // 5.0

This certainly isn’t for every Blue deck. If you have a good amount of flyers and discard outlets, this is fine to include as a one-of.

The Legend of Kuruk // Avatar Kuruk

Rating: 3.5 // 5.0

This is a bit slow, but the amount of value it gets you is insane.

The Mechanist, Aerial Artisan

Rating: 2.5 // 5.0

This doesn’t do all that much by itself, but can make huge waves if you get some tokens from him.

The Spirit Oasis

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

I would want a minimum of 3 shrines in my deck before considering playing this one.

The Unagi of Kyoshi Island

Rating: 3.0 // 5.0

A solid flash creature that’s difficult to address.

Tiger-Seal

Rating: 0.0 // 5.0

This is a cool design, but far too unreliable for limited.

Ty Lee, Chi Blocker

Rating: 3.0 // 5.0

A cool pseudo-removal spell at instant speed.

Wan Shi Tong, Librarian

Rating: 4.0 // 5.0

Not only is this creature incredibly powerful, it scales throughout the game!

Waterbender Ascension

Rating: 0.0 // 5.0

This is a win-more card, that can do absolutely nothing.

Waterbending Lesson

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

This is a very potent draw spell.

Waterbending Scroll

Rating: 1.0 // 5.0

This should only be played in a very heavy Blue deck, that can afford being slow.

Watery Grasp

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

This can get rid of any creature via waterbending. Just be mindful of Airbend/bounce.

Yue, the Moon Spirit

Rating: 2.0 // 5.0

The majority of this card is a 3/3 vigilance flyer. The activated ability will rarely come up.

Top 3 Blue Commons:

Forecasting Fortune Teller Lost Days Watery Grasp

Big surprise, Blue is one of the slowest individual colors in the set. I do like the waterbending mechanic quite a bit, and there are some powerful cards available if you can activate them easily. It feels a little light on good evasive threats, but it certainly has plenty of control-oriented cards! I’ll be breaking down Black next, stay tuned!

Lose and Learn, Learn and Win!