🔗 Share this article

Magic: The Gathering fans frequently enjoy tribal decks — who hasn't assembled a goblin strategy at some point? — and this forthcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender crossover set is reintroducing two well-known examples that fit seamlessly with its theme.

Reappearing Tribe-Supporting Mechanics

The initial ability, named "Ally," first introduced in the Zendikar which gives boosts each time additional permanents with the Ally type enter play.

Meanwhile, "Shrines" represents an enchantment subtype which originated with Champions of Kamigawa. While not creature-based tribal theme, these enchantments likewise become power as you has more Shrines on the battlefield.

A Return for the Ally Ability

While Shrines have been shown up sporadically across recent releases, the Ally mechanic was far less common — until that changes in ATLA, where the feature is heavily featured.

Aang must gather a lot of friends on the quest to bring back peace to the four nations, and there's no more fitting method to show that in an Magic set.

Exclusive Card Showcase

Following its first set announcement, here are a look of an Ally plus one Shrines card from the upcoming ATLA release.

Teo: The Beloved Figure

Teo is one beloved supporting figure from Avatar: The Last Airbender, a young man of Earth Kingdom who lived in the Northern Air Temple following his home was ruined by a disaster, an event that left him paraplegic.

Due to his dad's skill with mechanics, Teo is able to glide through the skies with his glider, and dares Aang to a flying contest.

The card Teo represents Teo's fondness for flying along with his tribe's reliance on flying machines by allowing you loot each time a player attacks using a flying creature, and additionally boosting your creatures via +1/+1 counters at the same time.

The Temple Card: The Strong Shrine Enchantment

Regarding his home, this is represented in a card named Northern Air Temple, which reduces your opponent's life when coming into the battlefield, depending on how many Shrine cards you have.

The card also drains one more life whenever another Shrine comes onto the battlefield.

It looks like a powerful card, given its cheap cost and good enter the battlefield ability.

A major weakness of Shrine decks outside of EDH are the fact that Shrines are always legendary permanents, however this card can be effective in combination with another Shrine, that drains all opponents during the start of your main phase.

The Welcome Collaboration

Currently while crossover sets have been receiving a lot of criticism from fans, an iconic franchise such as Avatar could be precisely just what Magic: The Gathering requires.

Spoiler season is already here, with the full set set to be launched on Nov. 21.