Bending the Elements - Top 5 Best Bending Spells in Avatar: The Last Airbender!

If you, like me, grew up watching Avatar Aang's adventures on the TV, you've certainly imagined yourself as one of the characters, bending elements and fighting epic battles.

You might not be able to bend water, fire, earth, or air (or all of them, like the Avatar) in real life, but the last Magic: The Gathering collab with this classic animated show allows you to do that while you play fun MTG matches with your friends.

This set was incredibly successful. So, we, at Cards Realm, decided to bring you five bending spells (five for each element) so that you can feel like a real Avatar as you play.

Let's see them!

Earthbending

Earthbending turns a land you control into a 0/0 creature with haste and +1/+1 counters according to the number next to this ability. If that land creature is exiled or dies, it returns to the board tapped, as a land. Below, we added the five earthbending spells in TLA and TLE that you simply must know.

Badgermole Cub

This friendly badgermole shook competitive formats as soon as it came out. We even covered it before here at Cards Realm because it got to the Top 8 of several tournaments.

When Badgermole Cub enters play, it Earthbends 1. But what really makes it stand out is its second effect: when you tap a creature to create mana, you'll get one extra green mana.

This works really well in decks centered around Earthbending and many others: decks that play iconic "mana elves", like Llanowar Elves and similar or even Inga and Esika, also benefit from this generically great ability.

The Legend of Kyoshi

We can't talk about Earthbending without talking about one of the most iconic and striking Avatars in the series.

This Saga draws cards and Earthbends. When it turns into a creature, you'll get Avatar Kyoshi. She'll protect your lands and help you deal damage with them with trample.

Furthermore, this creature also creates mana equal to the greatest power among creatures you control.

Bumi, Unleashed

Bumi, Unleashed Earthbends 4 when he enters play, and gives you an extra combat phase specifically for land creatures.

Cards like Ashaya, Soul of the Wild get even more value out of this ability, as they'll give you infinite combat phases in Commander pods.

Ba Sing Se

The new land cycle, which represents striking locations from the show, also deserves a shoutout.

Ba Sing Se's activated ability lets you Earthbend 2 at any moment of the game you could cast a sorcery.

Toph, Hardheaded Teacher

All Tophs in the game deserved to be on this article. However, Toph, Hardheaded Teacher earned a spot because she Earthbends more than once per turn.

Because we can play cards like Halana and Alena, Partners and Hardened Scales with this Toph, you will have no issues buffing the land creatures you get from Earthbending.

Firebending

Firebending is directly tied to combat. Creatures with this keyword create X red mana when they attack, where X is the number next to Firebending.

That mana only remains in play until the end of combat.

Ozai, the Phoenix King

As we'd rather not lose Firebending mana, WotC gave us Ozai, the Phoenix King, the "in-theme" solution from this set for this problem.

Besides letting you keep the mana you'd lose, Ozai also has trample, Firebending 4, and haste. If you have six or more unspent mana, he also gets flying and indestructible.

This creature is so powerful we covered him on a deck tech before.

Fire Nation Palace

Just like Ba Sing Se interacts directly with Earthbending, this land, which represents the Fire Nation, interacts directly with Firebending.

If you pay a total of two mana, you can give a target creature under your control Firebending 4 until the end of the turn.

Keep in mind, Firebending mana is best used on combat tricks to catch your opponents off-guard.

Zuko, Firebending Master

This Firebending master has Firebending X, where X is equal to the number of experience counters you have. Whenever you cast a spell during combat, you'll get one of these counters as well.

This is a real Firebender who is ready to deal damage to enemies, either through combat or spells you cast with Firebending mana.

Firebender Ascension

Firebender Ascension creates a 2/2 Soldier with Firebending 1. However, what makes this card so cool is the ability that triggers when it has four or more quest counters.

Then, if an ability would be triggered during combat, it triggers an extra time.

This effect is similar to old characters most players know, like Isshin, Two Heavens as One and Wulfgar of Icewind Dale.

Firebending Student

Firebending Student is a new favorite in spellslinger decks.

Firstly, it has prowess and Firebending equal to its own power, so it grows and creates more mana as it does. It will give you resources through powerful attacks.

Airbending

Airbending exiles a creature in play and lets its owner cast it from exile if they pay two mana. This ability doesn't change the casting time for creatures.

Avatar's Wrath

Avatar's Wrath is a boardwipe and definitely stands out. When you cast it, you'll pick a creature to keep in play and then Airbend all the other creatures in play.

This sorcery also prevents your opponents from casting spells from outside their hand until your next turn, so it locks the creatures it Airbends, even commanders.

Appa, Steadfast Guardian

Appa, the beloved flying bison in the show, came out as Appa, Steadfast Guardian, a creature with flash and flying that comes in and Airbends any number of other nonland permanents you control. Whenever you cast a spell from exile (like the ones you Airbent or even Foretold), you'll also create a 1/1 Ally token.

You can use it as protection or as a way to create tokens and fill your board with many Allies.

Aang, Airbending Master

The main protagonist of the show obviously was a must in this list.

Aang, Airbending Master comes in and Airbends another creature. Whenever one or more creatures you control leave play but don't die (as in, they're Airbent or Blinked out of play), you'll get an experience counter.

At the beginning of your turn, you'll create an 1/1 Ally for each experience counter you have.

Monk Gyatso

Monk Gyatso is probably the best card to Airbend again and again in this set.

His effect triggers whenever a creature you control is targeted by a spell or ability, which you'll usually do anyway to equip Lightning Greaves or as you play small spells like Enter the Avatar State.

Airbender Ascension

Just like other spells in this list, Airbender Ascension comes in and Airbends a target creature. As more of your creatures come into play, this enchantment gets quest counters.

If this card has four or more quest counters, at your end step you'll exile and return a creature to the battlefield. It is the new Conjurer's Closet, but you can play it on turn 2.

You'll have to get four counters to use this effect, which actually isn't too hard. It will trigger quite fast, in fact.

Waterbending

Waterbending is a sort of Convoke/Improvise that lets you tap creatures or artifacts to discount the cost indicated next to "Waterbend". You can also pay for these costs with mana, as usual.

Spirit Water Revival

Just like the iconic Finale of Revelation, Spirit Water Revival has you shuffle your graveyard into your deck, draw cards, and lets you keep as many cards as you want in hand for the rest of the game. That is, as long as you pay for its Waterbending.

Otherwise, it still costs three mana and draws two cards.

Katara, Water Tribe's Hope

If you want to build a Commander deck around Waterbending, you'll need a Katara, Water Tribe's Hope.

This creature uses Waterbending to buff your other creatures, quite similar to Minsc, Beloved Ranger, and also triggers abilities that work with tapped creatures, like Unctus, Grand Metatect and Neerdiv, Devious Diver.

Waterbender Ascension

Cards that draw when your creatures deal combat damage to a player are always welcome. Waterbender Ascension is the same.

Furthermore, this enchantment's Waterbending activated ability makes one of your creatures unblockable until the end of the turn.

Yue, the Moon Spirit

Yue, the Moon Spirit stood out a lot during spoiler season because its Waterbending effect lets you cast noncreature spells from your hand without paying their cost (and my friends instantly thought about playing Omniscience for free).

As you can use this ability more than once per turn, cards like Staff of Domination, which untap creatures, are great with this Moon Spirit.

Secret of Bloodbending

Secret of Bloodbending has already helped me win a few matches with Iroh, Grand Lotus {if you'd like to see more about this card, click here).

If you Waterbend 10, this spell lets you control the next turn of a target player. An interesting detail is that this spell doesn't give that player another turn, like Emrakul, the Promised End.

If you don't pay for its Waterbend, it still lets you control an opponent's combat phase.

This Avatar: The Last Airbender set brought us some very fun spells, upgrades, and mechanics that benefit consolidated MTG cards.

All the bendings are unique, and I hope to see mechanics like this again in more sets.

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!