Master the elements.
Magic: The Gathering | Avatar: The Last Airbender is hitting Prerelease today and fully releasing next week, where it is safe to say that it’s a banger of a release. The aesthetics, story, and incredible abilities all make Avatar: The Last Airbender an incredible backdrop for Magic: The Gathering, and it helps that Wizards of the Coast have done an excellent job making all of those elements work in our beloved card game. With it being so exciting, it’s only natural that people would be pre-ordering all sorts of cards leading up to release, but maybe not the ones you’d expect.
The Bestselling Presales from MTG | Avatar: The Last Airbender
Market Price: $17.37
Today, we’re going to work our way through the bestselling cards sold so far from Avatar: The Last Airbender. But before that, there have been a few other cards that are on the move, which didn’t quite make the bubble, and they are Bender’s Waterskin, Sokka, Tenacious Tactician, and The Cabbage Merchant from the Eternal Legal release. As for The Cabbage Merchant, there’s plenty of hype around the card due to competitive Commander (cEDH) applications, with Bender’s Waterskin becoming an improved take on many of the mana-generating artifacts you see at three mana in Commander. As for Sokka, he’s turning out to be an exciting option to lead an Ally Commander strategy, especially if you’re in the market for pure aggression.
It’s a mixed bunch for the Bestsellers, as we have everything from Walls and Shrines to adorable animals and all-powerful beings. If you want to know what cards have all of the hype behind them leading up to release, then just keep on reading to find out.
#10 The Walls of Ba Sing Se
The Walls of Ba Sing Se
Avatar: The Last Airbender, Mythic
The Walls of Ba Sing Se is one of the many Avatar: The Last Airbender cards that is a must-Commander buy if ever we saw one. It’s not only incredible in decks where toughness matters (such as Betor, Kin to All), but it is also strong in artifact decks that can reanimate often, such as Daretti, Scrap Savant. Just being able to grant every other permanent with indestructible is good enough that it’ll likely earn a spot in decks that have nothing to do with either of those things. The Walls of Ba Sing Se is also a bit of a novelty, as it’s now the card with the highest toughness in Magic: The Gathering, and it’s one of the many reasons why it’s selling well so far.
#9 Avatar Aang
Avatar Aang
Avatar: The Last Airbender, Mythic
Avatar Aang is a fascinating card and was one of the early previews leading up to the set’s release, which is one of the few reasons it’s already a bestseller. This four-color card turns into a five-color card upon flipping, making it one of the few five-color Commanders that can home all of your Avatar: The Last Airbender cards. If that wasn’t enough, Aang cares about each of the unique bending mechanics and comes with an incredibly unique effect once transformed, reducing the mana cost of your spells by one of each mana. Unlike other versions of this effect, this also reduces the generic mana cost of your spells, which means that every spell you cast can end up costing five mana less.
Market Price: $14.44
It also means you can play every single printing of Aang in the set and Avatar: The Last Airbender: Eternal Legal, and trust me, there’s a lot of them! Not only that, Aang is the main character of the show, and more often than not, these characters tend to perform well in terms of purchases due to cultural trends with newer audiences entering Magic for the first time.
#8 Firebending Student
Firebending Student
Avatar: The Last Airbender, Rare
Firebending Student is our first competitive card and one that’s seeing a lot of interest already. This two-mana red threat comes with prowess and gains firebending equal to its power. That means that whenever it attacks, it generates red mana equal to its power, which you can then use on cards like Full Bore and Bulk Up to finish off your opponent swiftly. Prowess has been an important keyword since its initial introduction in Khans of Tarkir, but in recent years, the keyword continues to shine brighter than ever thanks to the sheer power of aggressive archetypes in Standard, Pioneer, and beyond.
#7 Momo, Playful Pet
Momo, Playful Pet
Avatar: The Last Airbender, Uncommon
Momo, Playful Pet comes with a lot of text for a one mana card, and one that rewards you for airbending often. He also comes with flying and vigilance, which are pretty pushed abilities given the cheap mana cost. From creating a Food token to putting a +1/+1 counter on a creature you control to even scrying 2, Momo offers a lot of value and could easily lead to an airbending strategy in Standard. That said, Boros has been doing well in multiple formats within a few different archetypes, and this card should slot into those quite nicely as a way to boost your creatures when needed, or to try and guarantee you draw the card you need next (thanks to the scrying). If all else fails, it can rumble into combat well enough.
#6 Redirect Lightning
Redirect Lightning
Avatar: The Last Airbender, Rare
Redirect Lightning is another card catching the eye of competitive Commander players, as it’s a one-mana instant that lets you change the target of a spell or ability with a single target. You do have to either pay five life or two mana on top of the one mana cost, but that’s not a significant price to pay in Commander most of the time. We’re expecting this one to climb in value over time, given how good cards like Deflecting Swat have been in competitive spaces since its first printing in Commander 2020. Redirect Lightning also comes with the Lesson typing, which could bring further value if we see Learn cards in Secrets of Strixhaven next year.
#5 Northern Air, Southern Air, and Crescent Island Temple
Shrines are back in Avatar: The Last Airbender, which means it isn’t much of a surprise to see these selling well leading up to the set’s release. Since Commander: Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, Shrines have become a viable option in Commander with Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin leading the charge, and there’s always interest in more Shrine cards to bolster the strategy. Much like the other Shrines, the ones printed in Avatar: The Last Airbender care about the number of Shrines in play — Northern Air Temple forces each opponent to lose life and you gain X life, Southern Air Temple adds X +1/+1 counters to each creature you control, and Crescent Island Temple allows you to create 1/1 Monk tokens for each Shrine you control.
Market Price: $17.71
Also, these Shrines each trigger upon another Shrine entering under your control, meaning there’s further value to be made as the game progresses. Avatar: The Last Airbender also sees Hei Bai, Forest Guardian as another Shrine-matters Commander, meaning there’s going to be a lot of interest in building Shrines in the coming months.
#4 Badgermole Cub
Badgermole Cub
Avatar: The Last Airbender, Mythic
Badgermole Cub was one of the later reveals from Avatar: The Last Airbender, but it’s seeing a lot of interest as it can create infinite loops with cards such as Pili-Pala and Enduring Vitality. The Cub enters play and earthbends 1, and then can add an extra green mana to your mana pool whenever you tap a creature for mana. It’s very likely going to see play in Standard since Llanowar Elves is legal in Standard, but even just earthbending a land gives you extra green mana and a threat all in one. We’re expecting to see this one more in Commander than anywhere else, as throwing this together with a few mana-generating creatures is a surefire way to ramp up to new heights very quickly. It’s also very cute, which probably doesn’t affect the price, but we’d regret it if we didn’t mention it.
#3 Toph, the First Metalbender
Toph, the First Metalbender
Avatar: The Last Airbender, Rare
Toph, the First Metalbender was one of the first legendary creatures we saw from this set, and it’s an absolute banger. Toph turns all of your nontoken artifacts into lands, and then lets you earthbend 2 in your end step. Earthbending places +1/+1 counters on lands and lets them become a creature if they’re not already, but also means they return to the battlefield tapped when they die or become exiled. This mix of protection and aggression makes Toph a very potent Commander option, and we’re expecting it to be one of the most popular options from the set for most Brackets because of the sheer volume of things you can do with her. Not to mention, it’s one of the few Commanders that have caused several cards to spike in the second half of this year.
#2 Wan Shi Tong, Librarian
Wan Shi Tong, Librarian
Avatar: The Last Airbender, Mythic
Archivist of Oghma saw plenty of attention during Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate, but what if the card was blue, could fly, and come with vigilance instead? Enter Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, who enters play with X +1/+1 counters on it and makes it so you can draw X cards (rounded down), and whenever an opponent searches their library, you place a +1/+1 counter on Wan Shi Tong and then draw a card. Basically, not only does this scale well no matter how much mana you have, it also does well in formats with various cards that care about searching other cards (which is a lot of them). With all of these effects combined, this makes Wan Shi Tong a powerful game-ender for Control archetypes, but it also has a ton of potential in cEDH.
#1 Fire Lord Azula
Fire Lord Azula
Avatar: The Last Airbender, Rare
Fire Lord Azula wasn’t the card we were expecting to see at the top of the presales for Avatar: The Last Airbender, but Azula remains a popular character even if her card isn’t the most powerful from the set. This printing of Azula comes with firebending 2, and if you cast a spell while she’s attacking, you get to copy that spell. This is a solid ability, for sure, but she does need a bit of work to make it viable outside of just casting combat tricks. With the various Avatar: The Last Airbender Commander gameplay videos dropping over the last week, Fire Lord Azula is one that’s looked pretty impressive and is the likely reason she’s seeing a ton of sales at the time of publication.
Market Price: $92.47
Market Price: $166.49
Market Price: $520.80
Magic: The Gathering | Avatar: The Last Airbender globally releases on November 21, where you can grab Play and Collector Boosters, Bundles, Prerelease Kits, and more. Avatar: The Last Airbender also sees Scene Boxes, Commander’s Bundle, and Jumpstart Boosters — offering a more approachable way to enter Magic: The Gathering for the first time.