Welcome back to The Jank Tank! This is our second Brewer’s Review, this time diving into the Avatar: The Last Airbender Universes Beyond crossover releasing on November 18th. As always, new cards means new brews! Avatar is an IP that’s very near and dear to my heart, and I’m excited to take a look at what this set has to offer my janky little heart.
A four-card cycle of enchantments, card name=”Airbender Ascension”], Waterbender Ascension, Earthbender Ascension, and Firebender Ascension. Each of them provides decent value when they enter, and with some additonal costs, you can turn them into strong engines.
Airbender Ascension — Exiles one of your creatures (airbends it), letting you recast it for {2}. Once ascended, it blinks something every end step. Basically Conjurer’s Closet for two mana. I’m very excited to airbend a Valki and cast a two mana Tibalt!
Waterbender Ascension — Draws cards once you hit four counters, and the waterbend ability makes a creature unblockable for a turn. A smaller version Coastal Piracy with extra value stapled on.
Earthbender Ascension — Three mana for a 2/2 and a tapped land. Landfall gives trample and a +1/+1 counters if you can get 4 quest counters on it. Earthbending utility lands like Prismatic Vista or Ghost Quarter can leads to some interesting value plays as you get them back after they’re sacrificed.
Firebender Ascension — Two mana for a 2/2 with firebending 1 that doubles triggered abilities once ascended. Sick synergy with the Mobilize ability and curves well off of Stadium Headliner.
These are super flavorful and flexible. Not too crazy power wise, but some nice cheap additions to the format and I think we’ll be able to find more fun interactions with them.
Enter the Avatar State is a one-mana instant that gives a creature flying, first strike, lifelink, and hexproof.
That’s ridiculous keyword density, and it’s instant-speed. This made my mind immediately jump toFeather, the Redeemed, letting you loop the protection and combat buff turn after turn. It even shields Feather herself. Is it better than Gods Willing or Fight as One? I’m not sure, but its sweet nonetheless.
And if you want to get more janky, Odric, Lunarch Marshal spreads those keywords across your whole board. I don’t think I would ever paly Odric on purpose myself, but still a notable interaction.
Two one-mana flying legends. Both adorable. Both playable.
Momo, Friendly Flyer — A ton of utility on this card and it gets +1/+1 until end of turn whenever another flyer enters. With Mox Amber, this turns into turn-two pressure out of nowhere. Can’t wait to cast Riddler for one mana and Ephemerate it on turn two.
Momo, Playful Pet — Flying and vigilance; when it leaves, choose between a Food token, +1/+1 counter, or scry 2. Kind of meh, but more legendary one-drops are always welcome for white weenie.
Friendly Flyer is the clear winner, but both make a solid foundation for a mono-white or Azorius flying-aggro list alongside Skycat Sovereign, Empyrean Eagle, and Clarion Conquerer. I think it’ll be a rather straight forward build.
Allies are back! And with real potential this time.
Earthen Ally — One-mana 0/2 that scales +1/+1 for each color among allies you control. With Leyline of the Guildpact, this is just a one-mana 5/2.
Earth King's Lieutenant — A new Thalia’s Lieutenant for Allies. Gives +1/+1 counters to your board when it enters and to future Allies too.
You can run full five-color Allies now thanks to lands like Secluded Courtyard, Cavern of Souls, and Unclaimed Territory. Mix in Humans synergy, maybe Tribal flames and Leyline Binding for removal and we’ve got a recipe for a functional, flavorful aggro deck. There’s some other okay allies on arena, but I think sticking to humans will give you best bang for your buck.
Five new Shrines join the fold, each with enter-the-battlefield and scaling triggers:
White Shrine: +1/+1 counters across your board.
Blue Shrine: Draws cards.
Red Shrine: Creates monk tokens with prowess.
Black Shrine: Drains opponents.
Green Shrine: Ramps out basics tapped.
They don’t outclass the original Hondens or Sanctums, but they create a midrange enchantment shell that could pivot toward pillow-fort gameplay with Sphere of Safety and Sanctum of Stone Fangs. Will shrines break the meta? No. But we’ll play them anyway. Northern Air Temple will be especially strong alongside Estrid’s Invocation.
Seismic Sense — Scales with lands to find creatures or more lands.
Solstice Revelations — Red card-advantage spell with flashback and free-cast potential.
These work fine as main-deckable value spells, but we still have somewhat playable Learn cards from Strixhaven to take advantage of.Divide by Zero, Professor of Symbology, or Retriever Phoenix might be able to do some fun things. Phoenix especially sparks my interest, as now we have stronger lessons to fetch with other learn cards, we could probably throw Arclight in there and paly 8-Phoenix.
Two mana for a 4/5 flyer with ward 2 and scry 2 sounds absurd, until you see the waterbend 5 cost.
Solution? Cheat it out with Helping Hand, Unearth, or Birthing Ritual. I have a dream of casting hitting it with a Break Out and swinging with a hastey one on turn two. Also seems cool in a basic tribal shell. Pair it with Rattlechains, Spell Queller, and Supreme Phantom for a hard-to-kill beater.
Gran Gran
Gran Gran, a one-mana 1/2 legendary looter that discounts noncreature spells once you have three lessons in your graveyard.
Plays great with Mox Amber, Rona, Herald of Invasion, or artifact draw engines like Smuggler’s Copter and Synthesizer Labship. It’s not flashy. It’s just a clean, efficient looter at one mana and that feels like it might be playable somewhere to me.
A one-mana 3/3 with vigilance (kind of). It taps itself but untaps whenever you draw your second card each turn.
Kind of similar to Delver, but also probably playable in the same deck. Cute with Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student, Curiosity, or Proft’s Eidetic Memory Turn-one Tiger Seal into turn-two Prof’s Eidetic Memory feels very old-school tempo and might scratch that itch.
Two-mana flash flier that grows and draws whenever an opponent searches their library.
Combine with Ghost Quarter, Field of Ruin, etc to trigger it at will. I’m a big fan of the recent two mana draw engined we have like Ledger Shredder andFairy Mastermind. Great utility creature for blue-white flash shells or Spirits decks. Jsut a good card all around and I’m excited to play it.
A black sweeper that hits creatures with mana value ≤ X and strips abilities first.
That means it nukes indestructible creatures, shuts off Young Wolf, Blood Artist, and other persist or undying loops. Solid sideboard tech for Historic and Pioneer.
One of the coolest designs in the set: exile creatures from graveyards (any), make token copies, sacrifice them at end step.
It’s like Rally the Ancestors with graveyard hate built in. Works beautifully with, Zurgo, Thunder’s Decree and allows you to keep all the warriors you renimate with it.
Most notably is that it seems sweet as hell with Exalted Sunborn. Doubling all token copies you create. Little pricy as you need to waterbend x to get things back, but I think it’s very doable in an aristocrats style shell.
Two-mana 2/2 that copies itself by sacrificing an artifact or creature.
Even outside of combos, it fuels sacrifice synergies and deserves testing. I’m sure it combo’s with something right? Tyvar, Soul Cauldron, Pitliess Plunderer, etc. I’m sure we’ll find some fun stuff to do with it.
Bitterblossom for artifacts. Two-mana enchantment that loses you one life each upkeep to create a Clue.
Pair with Academy Manufacturer, or Affinity-style improvise deck. using Herald of Anguish or Demonic Junker and it can function as ramp and card draw in one.
A blackEidolon of the Great Revel variant: 2/2 first strike Ally that makes players lose 2 life on each noncreature spell they cast.
Great anti-control and combo sideboard tech. Pairs nicely with Orcish Bowmasters and I’ve had a long time dream of “hatebears without white” build. We have a ton of punishing effects in the format and I’m lookign forward to jamming Mai in a shell and seeing where it goes.
Two-mana 1/2 with prowess that makes red mana equal to its power on attack. Combine Monstrous Rage and Temur Battle Rage and you’re swinging in for big damage. I think she provides some great redundancy to Slickshot Show-off in a red prowess build.
Sequencing matters since the mana only lasts through combat, but this thing is explosive.
One-mana instant that changes the target of a spell or ability, either by paying {2} or 5 life.
Basically Bolt Bend or Deflecting Swat. Counters a counterspell, hijacks a discard, or flips a burn back at its caster. A hilarious blowout tool, and it’s a Lesson, so you can tutor it up. The life loss is a high cost, but this seems great.
Two-mana 2/2 menace that eventually becomes a literal Magus of the Moon.
I mentioned above that I wanted to brew a non-white Hatebears list with cards like Magebane Lizard, Harsh Mentor, and Dire Fleet Daredevil. If we keep it mono red then Zhao could be a strong contender.
This one of the cards I’m most excited about. Two-mana 2/2 that earthbends 1 and doubles mana from creatures that tap for mana.
Turn-one Llanowar Elves, turn-two Badger Cub → you’re already generating six mana on turn three. Also combos with Prismatic Vista or Crop Rotation since earthbent lands return tapped. I think we’ll be able to do some very silly things with this and Leyline of Abundance.
I tried so hard to get a decent Moonmist list together with the release of OM1. Not sure these actually make it better, but at some point we’ll reacha critical mass of Human flip cards and we’ll actually do something with them.
Two-mana enchantment that gives creatures with flying +1/+1 and makes a Clue when it enters.
It’s literally better Favorable Winds for flyers decks. Clean design and an easy include. We played a jeskai Flying Men deck not too long ago on stream, and I can’t wait to drop a Mantis Rider after this guy.
A two-mana 2/3 Human Rogue with rotating main-phase choices: draw, pump, add red mana, or exile it under an opponent’s control.
We have a decent number of strong red rogues in the format, and I’m tempted to try a color shifter version of the popular Dimir version. Robber of the Rich, Generous Plunderer, relic Robber and friends are pretty strong together. Zuko seems like good glue for this one.
Six-mana legendary artifact that lets you pay {1} to scry 2, and every time you scry or surveil, you can cast the top card of your library for free (once per turn).
Ridiculous with Unwinding Clock, or any top-deck manipulation engine like Golbez, Crystal Collector. Expensive and slow, aka exactly the kind of cards we take onto the ranked ladder.
Each enters tapped unless you control any basic and each has a flavorful activated ability:
Air Temple: 4 mana – put a +1/+1 counter on your team.
Water Tribe Realm: Loot (draw then discard).
Realm of Koh: Create a wimpy 1/1 spirit token.
Fire Nation Palace: Pay 2 to add 4 red during combat.
Ba Sing Se: Earthbend 2 as a sorcery — repeatable land animation.
Utility lands are always welcome, and a few of these pay homage to cards of the past like Gavony Township or Desolate Lighthouse. White, Blue, and Green are probably the strongest here. The green one especially seems strong with way to repeatable use lands that sacrifice themselves.
Three-mana enchantment that creates a 2/2 Soldier with firebending 1 and makes another every time you cast a spell on an opponent’s turn.
No once-per-turn clause. It’s very adjacent to Sedgemoor Witch, and also hard to interact with as its just an enchantment. Stapling a 2/2 body to all your removal or counter spells in some sort of Dimir/Grixis shell seems hot.
Eternal Set Additions & Reprints Worth Noting
We are getting some other sweet cards with the supplemental products and the bonus sheet that are worth mentioning.
This enchantment is ridiculously synergistic with Estrid’s Invocation. Those two allows you to loop an spell for at no additional cost each turn. Pair it with soemthing like Orim’s Chant or Silence and suddenly your opponent is locked out of the game.
I have another idea to give Flood of Tears combo a new look as this also allows you to loop your board an infinite number of times once you jam your Omniscience. Pumped for this card!
All the creatures you want to bounce pay for the spell itself. This seems very strong at just two mana and instant speed. Also happens to loop with Saiba Syphoner so boucne your entire board for just two mana every turn.
Not Historic legal, but exciting for Timeless. Frantic Search is back — one of the most dangerous “fair” card draw spells ever printed. Draw two, discard two, untap three lands. Free.
It’s a Vintage playable for a reason, and every time it reappears, broken things follow. With the Timeless cardpool being so powerful, combo and storm strategies should get an upgrade with this inclusion.
We are hitting a decent collection of playable Fog effects in Historic. Fog, Darkness, Orim’s Chant, Haze of Pollen, and now this. This is especially strong because it stops annoying things like Questing Beast from getting around our cards because the opponent doesn’t get to attack at all. Abzan Turbo fog is going to be in our brew queue for sure.
We already have Mana Flare on the client and we’ve built a couple interesting Storm decks based on it. Having access to two more versions of that effect is nice and I’m sure we can come up with a way to abuse them.
My favorite red board wipe is here! I played this bad boy with Stuffy Doll back in the day, and lucky for us, we have Screaming Nemesis and Boros Reckoner to abuse with it too. I’m already eyeing up a Red Devotion style list that combo kills with the cards above.
Yes — Dark Depths is making an appearance in Timeless. Combine it with Thespian’s Stage, Vampire Hexmage, Shifting Woodlands, or even Mirage Mirror to get a 20/20 Flying spaghetti monster. Crop Rotation is going to make Lands a real deck in Timeless and I’m totally here for it
A deeply underrated tribal card in my opinion. Descendants’ Path lets you reveal the top card each upkeep and drop it onto the battlefield for free if it shares a creature type with something you have on the field.
So picture this: Turn 1: Eldrazi Temple -> It that Heralds the End Turn 2: Forest -> Descendants’ Path Turn 3: Upkeep trigger, cast Emrakul for free.
We even have Sylvan Tutor to make it consistent. Obviously we could use changelings to flip whatever creature we wanted off the top, but Eldrazi seems like the best place to start.
And finally, the mountain that never stops burning.
Paired with Dryad of the Ilysian Grove or Leyline of the Guildpact, we bascailyl have a fully powered Modern Scapeshift list on Arena. Prime Time and Crop Rotation seem like auto-includes but I’m sure we’ll see people brewing with all sorts of variants.
I hope its good because my brain is feeling nostalgic for this deck.
Closing Thoughts
What can I say. I’m excited for this set. I love MTG, I love Avatar, and now I can have my cake and eat it too. I don’t see a ton of over the top cards in the set, some have more obvious places for them than others, but I do love how interesting and creative these designs are. I’m sure we’ll have a blast playing around with everything in the coming weeks.
Thanks for reading!
As always, feel free to comment and leave any questions you have below. And make sure to come back next week for even more Fun & Jank!
If you want to see these decks in action, come hang out with me on stream, now streaming on YouTube too!, where we test, refine, and have a ton of fun together.
Happy Brewin’!
Premium
Enjoy our content? Wish to support our work? Join our Premium community, get access to exclusive content, remove all advertisements, and more!
No ads: Browse the entire website ad-free, both display and video.
Exclusive Content: Instant access to all exclusive articles only for Premium members, at your fingertips.
Support: All your contributions get directly reinvested into the website to increase your viewing experience!
Discord: Join our Discord server, claim your Premium role and gain access to exclusive channels where you can learn in real time!
Special offer: For a limited time, use coupon code L95WR9JOWV to get 50% off the Annual plan!
Plum is the creator of the Jank Tank.
He started playing at the ripe old age of 12 and immediately fell in love with the infinite possibilities that deck building could lead to.
He truly understands that jank is a mindset, and spends most of his free time brewing and concocting new and exciting deck lists to help inspire and promote creativity within the MTG community.
