Avatar: The Last Airbender Mechanics Explained - Call a Judge!

Hello, everyone!

Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked…

With this setup, we're ready to witness the fantastic stories of Avatar: The Last Airbender within our beloved Magic: The Gathering!

In today's article, we'll take a look at the set's mechanics, which, as usual, brings a mix of old and new stuff. We'll also address some questions that may arise more frequently in card interactions.

For this set, we have an unusual larger number of new mechanics: four in total, which focus precisely on the mastery of each of the four elements - fire, water, earth, and air. In addition, we also have two returning mechanics, helping players familiarize themselves with the set.

Let's talk about the returning ones, and then the new ones:

Exhaust

Exhaust is an ability we saw in the Aetherdrift set, released earlier this year.

Basically, it's an indication, on permanents, of an activated ability with a special restriction: it can only be activated once in a game. In our example card above, it's possible to pay and activate the last ability only once. When it resolves, a Double Strike counter will be placed on the creature, which is also a reminder that the Exhaust ability has already been activated.

Exhaust is tied to the activation of the ability, not its resolution. If you activate exhaust and your opponent responds with a spell or effect, you cannot activate the same exhaust ability in response, even if the first one didn't resolve.

It's also important to remember that Exhaust will retain the activation information as long as that permanent is still on the battlefield. Returning to our example, if your opponent kills a Mai, Jaded Edge which had already activated its last ability, and you return it from the graveyard to the battlefield with a Zombify, you can activate exhaust again. By the rules, it's considered a new object.

Lesson

Lesson is a mechanic originally from the Strixhaven set, actually a very innovative and flavorful design for that set. Strixhaven takes place in a magic university, so the concept of a magic lesson really carries its weight.

In Avatar, the lessons are reflections of the teachings and wisdom of the masters, maintaining the connection. It's also worth remembering that the complete 2026 set calendar has already been revealed, and one of them will be a return to Strixhaven, which probably indicates that we will see this mechanic again in the future.

Back to Lessons, they are simply a subtype of instants and sorceries, which by themselves have no rule changes or special conditions. However, just as there are cards that, for example, give some kind of bonus to creatures of the same type, we can also find cards that give some kind of bonus related to Lessons.

An important reminder, especially for players more focused on Limited: the Learn mechanic, which is precisely what accompanied Lesson in Strixhaven, bringing this whole interaction between two mechanics, does not appear in Avatar.

Let's talk about new mechanics, perfectly aligned with the flavor of the set! The following four mechanics correspond to the Bending technique of each of the elements, thus demonstrating mastery and control over them.

Firebending

Firebending is a mechanic that always comes with a number or variable next to it. When a creature with Firebending X attacks, once the ability resolves, you gain X red mana, and this mana is not lost during combat, remaining in your reserve until the end of combat. In other words, once combat ends, if the mana hasn't been used, then it will be lost.

It's important to remember that although the ability generates mana, it is not considered a mana ability. That is, it is placed on the stack and there is a pass of priority, so your opponent can take actions before Firebending resolves.

It's also important to remember that the Combat Phase doesn't end immediately after damage is dealt. After damage is dealt, there's one last priority exchange before the active player resumes their turn and proceeds to the second main phase. This is the last possible window to use mana obtained from Firebending.

Finally, it's worth remembering that, even in situations with additional combat phases, since each one is a separate moment, the mana from Firebending will not accumulate between the various combat phases.

Waterbending

Waterbending indicates that a certain cost can be paid either with traditional mana, or by tapping creatures or artifacts, reducing the cost by for each creature or artifact you tap. It's kind of a tag-team between convoke and improvise.

Remember that it's optional. In our example card, you can simply pay mana and use the ability; it will work the same way.

Earthbending

Earthbending is an ability that causes a land you control to become a creature with haste, with 0/0 stats, and also gain X +1/+1 counters, as indicated by the number next to the ability. In other words, in our example card, you would normally end up with a 2/2 land/creature with haste when the ability resolves.

Furthermore, Earthbending also adds the ability: if the land/creature dies or is exiled, it returns to your battlefield tapped. In this case, upon returning, it will simply be a land again – and can even be targeted by earthbending once more.

It's important to remember that Earthbending does not remove the land type, and all abilities the land may have had are retained. Also, nothing prevents you from using Earthbending on the same land multiple times, thus creating a gigantic land/creature, to punish your opponent!

Airbending

Airbending is an ability that temporarily removes a creature from the battlefield. Upon resolution, the ability exiles the creature, and its owner may cast it again by paying instead of its normal cost.

Note that Airbending does not change the timing for casting creatures. Therefore, if you exile an opponent's creature on your turn, unless the creature has flash, your opponent cannot cast it until they have their turn back, are in the main phase, and with an empty stack—the normal timing for creatures.

The mechanics of Avatar are very symbolic of how much care the design team put into this set, bringing four new abilities representing the Bendings that truly give each element its own identity.

These mechanics blend well all the flavor with rules and gameplay, ultimately making the game very intuitive for players and making it easy to understand and follow.

I hope you all have a lot of fun with this set!

Cheers, and see you next time!