Despite the upcoming Spider-Man set still being weeks out from release, Wizards of the Coast has begun to reveal and pull back the curtain on cards featured in their Universes Beyond Avatar: The Last Airbender set, releasing in November. In today’s livestream, we received a trailer that not only provided details on the product line itself (notably, the absence of Commander decks is an interesting choice), but also gave us a glimpse at a handful of cards. This final set of the year features characters, locations, and mechanisms pulled straight out of the series. When the set was first announced, I was most interested in seeing how the team would adapt the series-defining “bending” styles, and now, we know.
Here is a breakdown of how the four different bending styles have been translated into Magic: The Gathering!
Earth Bending
Showcasing the “Earthbend” mechanic, we have “Toph, the First Metalbender” and Sorcery- Lesson, “Earthbending Lesson”. Among all four types of bending, “Earthbend” is perhaps my favorite from the set as it turns a target land you control into a creature with haste with different amounts of +1/+1 counters on it. These beastly lands still can be tapped as lands, and even if the land “dies,” it comes back into play only tapped. Considering the lands get counters and don’t simply have a specific power and toughness, it means Earthbend effects can benefit from the likes of Doubling Seasons, Tidus from the recent Final Fantasy set, or other cards that add and move counters around.
Air Bending
Shown off with the “Appa, Steadfast Guardian” card, Airbending allows you to bounce a card(s) you control into exile and then cast them out again for two colorless mana at a later time. The first time I read the description for Airbending, I got flashbacks to the recent “Warp” mechanic from Edge of Eternities that released last month. Airbending feels like a better version of Warp. In Appa’s case, he basically lets you Warp out to safety any of your permanents, avoiding something like, say, a Farewell or other board wipe, only to bring them back for a low cost. I am curious to see how this will play with Warp, though, letting you warp something in for cheap to then Airbend them out before they leave play via their warp effect. Depending on what the cards feature this mechanic, I can see Airbending quickly becoming a staple in decks with heavy ETB triggers. That said, I don’t know how I feel about Wizards making exile into another zone to play cards from, alongside the fact that players will have to be careful to keep track of what sort of exile each card is in, and how/if they can return.
Water Bending
“Katara, Water Tribe’s Hope” and “Aang’s Iceberg” highlights “Waterbend” in this initial reveal, with Katara serving as considerable boost in power to your side of the field, changing the base power and toughness of all the creatures you control to X, where X is the amount of mana you pay and Aang’s Iceberg letting you Waterbend to scry your deck. The main aspects of Waterbend are that you can cause an additional effect to happen by paying mana with the added element of being able to tap creatures and artifacts that you control, for this specific effect’s cost. Compared to Earth and Airbending, Waterbending feels a bit lackluster to me, as it dwsaxzis just an alternate payment option as opposed to a specific effect to get excited about.
Fire Bending
Lastly, we have Fire Lords Zuko and Sozin to showcase firebending, which is all about a limited mana ramp. When a creature with firebending attacks, you will gain a certain amount of red mana to use that lasts until the end of combat. It’s a bit of a bummer that the mana that is gained doesn’t stick around until the end of your turn. It is very on-brand for Firebending to be a great addition to burn decks that rely on quick and damaging instant burn damage. For decks that utilize things like burn spells or fire breathing, firebending will fit perfectly, giving you free mana to dump into your reserves.
We still have a good bit of time between now and when the Avatar set releases, including a whole Spider-Man set first, but this first taste gives players a chance to start brainstorming and theory-crafting decks. From this cursory look, I find myself certainly more excited about some bending styles than others. Avatar is a beloved animated series for many people, and with new movies and series on the horizon, this set couldn’t be releasing at a better time. It will be interesting to see how this set utilizes these various bending mechanics, a fact that we will be discovering over the next few months as more and more cards get revealed. In the meantime, what combos can you think of that take advantage of the new options?
Here are all of the cards that were revealed during today’s livestream!
Avatar: The Last Airbender Universes Beyond launches on November 21, 2025.
