Pioneer Set Review - Avatar: The Last Airbender

Avatar: The Last Airbender, the final set of 2025, has arrived. Magic's collaboration with Nickelodeon brings with it the universe of the famous 2000s animated series and iconic characters such as Aang, Katara, Zuko, and Sokka, as well as Toph, with numerous memorable moments and lore elements from this universe.

In Pioneer, Avatar offers some relevant options, but few, if any, cards that, at first glance, could significantly impact the Metagame to the point of considerably altering the competitive environment.

Curious Farm Animals provides an answer against Cori-Steel Cutter and other artifacts and enchantments in a slot that can be found with Starfield Shepherd and gains life against Aggro.

Currently, there is no archetype for it, but it deserves an honorable mention.

The Human type with the ability to exile artifacts or enchantments on the same card that exiles creatures can provide some testing for Earth Kingdom Jailer in Humans, since these decks don't usually opt for Skyclave Apparition.

Invasion Reinforcements can be a relevant card to complement Resolute Reinforcements in Boros Convoke. Currently, the card seems redundant, but there may be circumstances that put it on the archetype's radar.

Momo, Friendly Flier is an option for decks that run many creatures with Flying, but today the main archetype with this category is Spirits, from which the creature does not benefit from any of the typal interactions while doing relatively little to favor its game plan.

If an Allies list exists as a competitive dck, it starts with four copies of South Pole Voyager as a source of card advantage.

Suki, Courageous Rescuer may deserve some slots in Boros Convoke. The archetype runs several cards that can be sacrificed to trigger her ability and create another token, while she also increases the power of your creatures.

Also deserves some slots in Humans and Mardu Legends variants.

Accumulate Wisdom could be relevant if we have effective ways to leverage Lessons. In Pioneer, we have access to cards with Learn, especially Divide by Zero in blue, which can serve as a tool for a Lessons toolbox, but I believe the power level of most new cards with this type is below what's desired to create an archetype in the format.

A Void Snare with improvements that can reuse the ETB of your permanents while drawing a card deserves an honorable mention, and Boomerang Basics is also a lesson.

Secret of Bloodbending is a bit too specific and demands a very high color commitment, but its effect is especially unique even in formats like Modern in blue, and may deserve some testing.

The Unagi of Kyoshi Island can be a counterplay if Izzet Cauldron or Izzet Proft become a strategy in Pioneer, as well as being a threat against Izzet Phoenix and even Rakdos Demons, since it punishes Unholy Annex while dodging Fatal Push and requires too much effort to be removed with other cards.

There are cards similar to Ty Lee, Chi Blocker, but the legendary subtype and the flexibility of Flash can make a difference in the right archetype — the problem is that this archetype probably wouldn't take advantage of her Prowess triggers.

Wan Shi Tong, Librarian seems to have much less space in Pioneer than in other formats. Its Metagame doesn't have many effects that search decks to benefit from its static ability, and almost every blue archetype already has better ways to generate card advantage.

Some Dimir Midrange variants might benefit from it as a one-of or two-of for longer games, but these archetypes play much more for Tempo than for the late-game, where "mana sink" effects would make more sense.

Day of Black Sun has the potential to be a flexible and effective sweeper, but competition with Path of Peril against Aggro and The Meathook Massacre or Extinction Event in other matchups presents some challenges—it deserves testing to prove it deserves a spot.

There might be some combo with Koh, the Face Stealer that makes it an archetype definer in Pioneer. Despite this, it seems like a decent one-of for Enigmatic Incarnation, especially for exiling a creature with a relevant trigger or activated ability.

Humans and Mardu Legends are viable archetypes, and the combination of Thalia, Guardian of Thraben with Mai, Scornful Striker matters far more than just holding back specific archetypes like Izzet Phoenix and Lotus Combo: they punish cheap interaction like few other cards, and if a Fatal Push costing more is already a problem, having it combined with a Shock will also be an issue.

Furthermore, both creatures guarantee more consistency in enabling Mox Amber for and , opening more space for cards like Jirina, Dauntless General which serves to protect both while also punishing graveyard-based strategies.

Potential staple. Graveyard Trespasser sees a lot of play in Pioneer, and Raven Eagle trades built-in protection for evasion and another constant source of card advantage—it could easily replace Trespasser in Black Midrange decks in the coming weeks to assess this card's potential, and you could also consider using it in Dimir lists, since Flying makes it easier to enable Kaito, Bane of Nightmares.

There are many attack triggers in Pioneer: from Voice of Victory to Arabella, Abandoned Doll, to Robber of the Rich, among others. It's possible to establish your own archetype with Firebender Ascension in Pioneer if you look for the best combat triggers.

While there are some relevant targets in Pioneer, Redirect Lightning's five-life cost might be a bit too high if the goal is simply to delay Greasefang, Okiba Boss or redirect All That Glitters to a creature you control if it doesn't win the game the next turn, and most red decks in the format today are too proactive to want a card that demands open mana for an occasional situation.

Furthermore, Redirect Lightning already competes in this category with Untimely Malfunction, which has more proactive properties.

Zhao, the Moon Slayer will struggle to fit into the Mono Red Aggro decks of Pioneer. The absence of Prowess or interaction with spells, coupled with the fact that the archetype runs, on average, between eight and ten nonbasic lands, can cause it to end up hindering the deck more than helping it.

It also suffers from the fact that Pioneer tends to respect nonbasic land hate due to the prevalence of Sunspine Lynx in the Mono Red maindeck, placing it, in this archetype, in a position where it seems more like a sideboard card in games where we need to delay an opponent's turn or two when they run many dual lands or Triomes than a maindeck option.

However, we cannot ignore that Zhao is a Legendary Human, which could offer him a place in decks like Boros Legends with Mox Amber, Zack Fair and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben to defeat the opponent through resource negation and a quick clock, or even in a list focused on Humans — but this one probably still requires a card like Aether Vial to avoid suffering too much from the disruption of nonbasic lands while trying to use cards like Adeline, Resplendent Cathar.

[Badgermole Cub] is an extremely difficult card to evaluate: the possibility of doubling the mana of any Dork tends to create explosive turns, and it, on its own, guarantees two bodies with different powers for Collector's Cage, and cards like Lotus Field, if transformed into a creature, can guarantee new interactions and possibilities that might not be possible otherwise.

Unfortunately, most double-faced modal lands are either sorceries - which doesn't trigger Earthbending's LTB effect - or aren't good enough to be worth the slots right now, so their combo isn't that great either.

[Rampant Growth] arrived in Pioneer with a new name and subtype. However, traditional Ramp is a non-existent archetype in the format, and cards like [Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx] tend to do that job better.

Possibly one of the best Avatar card for Pioneer.

Aang, Swift Savior is an effective Tempo Play that can be used proactively to remove an attacker or blocker for a turn, as well as being a legendary for interactions with Mox Amber, Serah Farron, and Relic of Legends.

Most of the best Allies are also Humans, so it's possible to use Earth King's Lieutenant as 5-8 copies of Thalia's Lieutenant for a specific creature type.

For seven mana, it's preferable to be doing something better than playing roulette with Scry and Surveil. Planetarium of Wan Shi Tong has little to no place in Pioneer, and there are better options if we want to cheat on mana costs.

Decks like Humans and Boros Convoke already commonly run Shefet Dunes to increase pressure for a turn, and Abandoned Air Temple is almost a free upgrade to this type of effect, guaranteeing more permanent power on the board that should also permeate strategies like Selesnya Company, Angels, and other Aggro decks.

Some Izzet Phoenix lists may want Agna Qel’a as a utility one-of, a trait it will share with Azorius Control. Other strategies, however, may treat the new land as too reactive or slow for their game plans, unless these have interactions with looting effects.

Ba Sing Se seems like a less impressive option in Pioneer than in other non-rotating formats, but if Badgermole Cub has potential to interact with lands like Lotus Field, the same can be said of it, although this is not an archetype known for using many basic lands.

Of all the lands in the cycle, Fire Nation Palace seems to be the weakest due to the specifics of its Firebending ability, which need to be properly tested.

The Firebending mechanic interacts with Electro, Assaulting Battery, where Fire Nation Palace grants extra red mana each turn, while also accumulating resources to deal damage to the opponent if Electro is destroyed. However, cards like Soulstone Sanctuary and Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance are also good cards enabled by the temporary ramp.

Realm of Koh could be a new tool for Mono Black Midrange and wouldn't be surprising if it complemented Hive of the Eye-Tyrant in Rakdos Demons' utility lands. After all, despite not guaranteeing such an effective clock, its tokens are difficult to block and can get out of hand in longer matches.

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thank you for reading!