Introduction
Hello, my fellow Planeswalkers! I’m The MTG Hero, and Avatar: The Last Airbender has blasted into Standard like a comet, reshaping the format overnight. The set is overflowing with upgrades to established archetypes and even spawning brand-new ones—including some terrifyingly consistent turn-three kill combos.
While the Spiderman/Through the Omenpaths crossover barely made a ripple, Avatar has made a crater. Some players are excited; others think Wizards may have pushed too far. Let’s dive in and see how Standard players are pushing the format to its absolute limits!
There Is No War in Ba Sing Se
One of the first archetypes to get a major boost from Avatar is Landfall. The earthbending cards completely reinvigorated the strategy, giving it the mid- and late-game staying power it desperately needed while still supporting the deck’s core plan of making land drops and establishing a board worthy of the Earth Kingdom.
Previously, Landfall operated like an all-in combo deck. Pump one massive creature, protect it with cards like Snakeskin Veil, and try to end the game quickly. It was linear, predictable, and lacked alternative lines of play.
Earthbending changes everything. Animating lands creates a pseudo go-wide plan, letting the deck pressure opponents from new angles. And unlike other land animation effects, earthbended lands return to battlefield when destroyed or exiled so you don’t hurt your mana if they sweep or remove them.
But things get wild when you earthbend a fetch land like Fabled Passage or Escape Tunnel. You can sacrifice the land, get a land from the fetch ability, then get the fetch land back. That’s absurd value.
New standouts for this strategy include Badgermole Cub, Toph, the Blind Bandit, and Earthbender Ascention.
The biggest surprise for me, though, has been Rockalanche, which ends games out of nowhere by creating a massive, hasty attacker. It provides a perfect mana sink for all the extra lands the deck gathers.
There’s also a powerful earthbending graveyard combo floating around that can generate infinite life or infinite damage as early as turn three.
You only need Beifong's Bounty Hunters, Bloodghast in the graveyard, and a sacrifice outlet like Umbral Collar Zealot.
- Play a land → return Bloodghast.
- Sacrifice Ghast to the Zealot → trigger the Bounty Hunters to earthbend.
- Sacrifice the earthbended land → it returns itself, triggering Bloodghast again.
- Repeat forever.
Your best payoff cards include Iridescent Vinelasher, Vengeful Bloodwitch, and Dredger's Insight.
If you thought graveyard hate was safe to cut after Vivi’s departure, think again. Sultai Reanimator and this new “Golgari Gravefall” build are absolutely real contenders.
Return of the Airbenders
Airbending has also surged in popularity. Appa, Steadfast Guardian has become an automatic inclusion in BWx bounce decks, giving them a recurring threat that reuses enchantments, develops the board, and provides a massive body all at once. They might not return to their pre-ban dominance, but the archetype is undeniably revitalized.
The biggest, and potentially dangerous, innovation, though, is Bant Airbending Allies. This deck abuses airbending with Doc Aurlock, Grizzled Genius, who effectively makes all your airbended cards free.
Combine Doc with Appa, Steadfast Guardian and any airbending card, and you can create infinite 1/1s.
Add Aang, at the Crossroads and things get even more degenerate. Aang grows the board while tutoring for creatures like Aven Interrupter or Aang, Swift Savior, which can be airbent into play at instant speed to shut the opponent out entirely. Cards like South Pole Voyager then generate infinite life and extra card draw every turn.
It’s extremely fun to assemble—and miserable to play against.
The deck is shockingly consistent thanks to rainbow lands such as
Cavern of Souls,
Secluded Courtyard,
Jasmine Dragon Tea Shop,
and the Standard staple Starting Town.
This is the most dangerous Avatar deck so far, and it feels like only a matter of time before someone perfects the build. The combo is powerful enough that it completely overshadows traditional Allies aggro strategies.
The Fire Nation Attacks!
Mono-Red and Izzet Prowess were fading after multiple ban announcements, but Avatar rekindled their flame thanks to Firebending Student, which enables turn-three kills when combined with any pump spell and Bulk Up. Yes, we really haven’t seen the end of all the pump spell based red decks.
For example:
- Attack and put firebending on the stack → Cast Dreadmaw's Ire or any pump spell → Student becomes 4+ power after Prowess.
- Cast Bulk Up → Prowess triggers again, Student hits 10+ power.
- Generate 10+ mana.
- Flash back Bulk Up.
- Swing for 22+ damage on turn three.
This combo also works fantastically with Slickshot Show-off so main decking some extra removal will go a long way.
Waterbending Is Far From Peaceful
Waterbending wasn’t left out of the combo frenzy, either.
A three-card engine featuring these cards:
This combo creates infinite 1/1 tokens by letting the pieces tap and untap each other indefinitely.
Water also gained Yue, the Moon Spirit, which lets players cheat Omniscience into play. Simic Omniscience was already a pain, but now it’s even smoother having another way to cheat the game breaking enchantment in. At least this way the enchantment is still cast, so counters remain a valid answer.
Some waterbending cards are of course showing up in UWx Artifact Midrange. Cards like ”Spirit becomes absolutely insane because it is so easy to pay the waterbending cost in a deck that’s whole plan is load the board up with artifacts and the last thing that deck needs is a way to grind the opponent out even more.
None Bending Stand Outs
”Wan has become the chase card for the Avatar set and it is not hard to see why. He has fantastic applications in eternal formats like modern, but in standard he gives control decks another top end pay off that also refuels them. Having flash also means that you can hold up all of your interaction and only play him when you have nothing else to do.
I am a big fan of ”Mai, I love a card that punishes combo decks. Unfortunately, most of the combos from Avatar are creature based, but Mai has quickly found a home punishing control and the non-creature combo decks. I expect this card to shine more in pioneer and modern. But players are jamming her in most black based decks because she is so free and a great attacker with first stike.
”The has become an amazing game breaker in control mirrors. It is almost impossible to deal with post board when most decks board out their sweepers. Not only does it pressure the opponent it lets you keep up with some of their card advantage for free.
Zhao, the Moon Slayer is appearing in red main decks and sideboards to punish greedy multicolor decks and slowing down some of the combo decks. While seven mana to use his activated ability might sound steep on the surface, firebending makes turning Zhao into a walking Blood Moon is shockingly easy.
”Boomerang has almost completely replaced ”Into in most blue decks looking for that effect due to its ability to hit anything and cycling itself if you target your own cards. Of course the esper bounce decks love it, but I have seen more and more tempo decks including it.
”Sandbending has been a huge upgrade in the BW sacrifice deck filling in most of the flex spots the deck had.
Origin of Metalbending, is an incredible sideboard option for green decks that destroys artifacts or enchantments while also granting indestructible. It solves the issue of bringing in too many narrow noncreature cards like Heritage Reclamation or Overprotect, which often led to clunky draws. Now you get both effects on one flexible card, dramatically improving sideboard efficiency.
Wrap-Up
No matter which nation you pledge allegiance to, there’s something exciting to explore in Avatar Standard. The meta feels more alive than it has in years. Yes, there’s some concern that combo might take over, but high synergy fosters brewing, adaptation, and innovation, the very things Standard has been missing.
Even after multiple ban waves, players kept reverting to whatever the previous “best deck” was until something else broke the format. Avatar might finally break that cycle.
I’m hopeful this is the start of a brewing renaissance, not just another round of emergency bans. Until next time Planeswalkers, Hero out!
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