Exclusive: How Magic: The Gathering's Avatar: The Last Airbender Expansion Revives Two Popular Tribe-Focused Gameplay Features

MTG enthusiasts consistently adopt tribal tactics — who has not assembled a zombie strategy before? — and the forthcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender Universes Beyond release is reintroducing 2 beloved examples which match perfectly to its flavor.

Reappearing Tribal Mechanics

The initial ability, called "Allies," first introduced with the Zendikar set and gives bonuses each time additional creatures bearing this type come onto the battlefield.

On the other hand, "Shrines" represents an enchantment type which first appeared in Champions of Kamigawa. While not a creature tribe, these enchantments likewise become strength as a player owns additional of them on the battlefield.

A Comeback of Allies Ability

Although Shrines have appeared here and there in newer releases, Allies subtype was far less common — but that changes in Avatar: The Last Airbender, in which this feature gets heavily featured.

The protagonist Aang must assemble a lot of friends on his journey to restore balance across the four nations, and there's no better method to represent this through an Magic expansion.

Revealed Card Showcase

Following its first set reveal, here is a look at one Ally and one Shrines cards in the upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender release.

Teo, Spirited Glider: A Beloved Figure

This character stands as one popular supporting character in ATLA, a young man of Earth Kingdom that lived in an Air Temple after his village was destroyed in a flood, which left him paraplegic.

Thanks to his dad's skill in engineering, he is able to soar in the air using a flying device, even dares the Avatar in an aerial race.

The card Teo, Spirited Glider showcases Teo's fondness for the skies along with his tribe's reliance on flying machines by letting you loot whenever you attack using an airborne creature, and additionally boosting your team with +1/+1 counters in the process.

The Temple Card: The Powerful Shrine

Regarding Teo's dwelling, this is represented in the card The Northern Air Temple, that reduces an opponent's life upon entering the battlefield, based on the number of Shrines you control.

The card furthermore drains one more point anytime a Shrine enters the battlefield.

This appears to be a strong addition, considering the card's cheap cost plus valuable enter the battlefield ability.

One major weakness of Shrine decks in formats besides EDH are the fact that Shrines are always Legendary, but Northern Air Temple can be great in combination with another Shrine, which deals damage to all opponents at the beginning of your main phase.

The Timely Crossover

Currently while crossover products have been garnering significant hate from the community, an iconic series like Avatar could be precisely just what Magic: The Gathering needs.

Spoiler season is already here, with all cards set to be released November 21st.