Modern Set Review - Avatar: The Last Airbender

Avatar is knocking on the door. The last Magic: The Gathering sey of 2025 brings with it the famous universe of the Nickelodeon animation with iconic characters like Aang, Katara, Zuko, Toph, and Sokka, as well as mechanics inspired by the series' famous bendings.

For Modern, the collection brings some brief novelties: some that may have competitive relevance, but none that, at first glance, seem to reach the level of a Modern Horizons — however, the future is always difficult to predict, as proven by cards like Cori-Steel Cutter and Quantum Riddler, which were off the radar during previews and quickly became staples.

In this article, we present our review Avatar: The Last Airbender for Modern, focusing on the set's main cards for the format!

Curious Farm Animals may not seem like much in a format with Haywire Mite, but a card with properties similar to the staple alongside Urza’s Saga is relevant due to its interactions with cards like Ranger-Captain of Eos or Starfield Shepherd, especially in lists that don't run for Haywire Mite.

Boomerang Basics can function as extra copies of Repeal for Emry, Lurker of the Loch and Cori-Steel Cutter decks to reuse Mox Amber / Mox Opal while generating card advantage, with the bonus of dealing with targeted hate for only , but at sorcery speed.

Perhaps one of the best self-bounce spells to come out in blue in a few years, with possibilities also involving Stormchaser’s Talent, Quantum Riddler, among others.

In a vacuum, Wan Shi Tong, Librarian becomes a punishing effect for almost all Modern archetypes and its mana value fits in blue decks, but with some pertinent concessions regarding the slots where the card can fit: it's not a better card than most that archetypes like Dimir Frog or Jeskai/Esper Blink would run, and its mana requirement can be a problem against Blood Moon decks — its best interactions are probably in archetypes that can treat it as a source of card advantage or lock piece rather than a threat.

Lists running the interaction between Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd and White Orchid Phantom to guarantee extra draws or permanent LD are a good starting point, where it's also possible to include some sub-optimized options for the current Metagame like Path to Exile and Ghost Quarter in the list of interactions.

Furthermore, it also seems like a decent two-drop for Simic Ritual, in addition to functioning as a mix of another creature and draw engine for Izzet Control lists that, incidentally, can accommodate Blood Moon to amplify mana disruption.

Toxic Deluge is a more efficient sweeper, and there are better options in other colors, but removing the creatures' abilities can guarantee some tests for Day of Black Sun in Mono Black Coffers and similar lists.

For six mana, I'm not very optimistic about Koh, the Face Stealer in Modern, but we've already seen what copying abilities can do with Agatha's Soul Cauldron and there may be combinations that make it a sort of "one-card combo".

At the moment, however, it seems more like a glorified Necrotic Ooze.

Mai, Scornful Striker is a new variant of Hatebear that blends Thalia, Guardian of Thraben with Kambal, Consul of Allocation in a color that normally doesn't have specific hate spells against non-creature spells.

Comparisons to Thalia end when we consider the role these cards play: "locking down" the opponent's ability to use a sweeper early and/or sequence two spells in a turn through a taxing effect is quite different from punishing them with life loss and requires different decision-making.

Still, the card is an important piece for Modern and offers Black an effective answer against Storm, Prowess, Cori-Steel Cutter, and other archetypes that sequence many spells in a single turn.

Graveyard Trespasser has seen some play in Modern, and Raven Eagle seems like an upgrade of the card. Sure, you lose the ability to transform into a 4/4 and the Ward, but you gain a body with Flying and it generates recurring card advantage.

Between Guide of Souls, the Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and Voice of Victory, I believe there are enough combat triggers to consider how Firebender Ascension can be used in Modern, due to its low cost and easy-to-enable trigger, but the card seems more like a win more than a necessity for Energy decks today.

Price of Freedom is a sideboard choice for dealing with troublesome lands in the same slot where it resolves artifacts. The fact that it replenishes itself in its owner's hand may earn it some slots.

Redirect Lightning stands out in eternal formats as a multimodal tool for only one mana and five life (or , depending on the matchup).

In Modern, it can be used to change the target of Goblin Charbelcher after the card's activation, reversing the damage that would once be lethal to you against your opponent. For decks that require the graveyard for some reason, Redirect Lightning also negates the trigger of Endurance and cards like Nihil Spellbomb for a low cost, in addition to bypassing spot discards and Counterspells on important turns.

It may not be the best card, but it has the potential to deserve a slot or two in the sideboards.

Of all competitive formats, Zhao, the Moon Slayer seems a bit less useful in Modern due to the Metagame: it is, by nature, a card to negate the opponent's resources while advancing your own with it, and among the pre-existing options today, the one that best suits this purpose is Boros Energy.

The problem, however, is that this is a very aggressive archetype with its Fetch Lands and utility lands while using Blood Moon to disrupt greedy decks without losing access to since it can search for Plains; in this type of setup, having Zhao as a two-drop is counterproductive to its game plan.

Cards like Voice of Victory should still be the complementary two-drop of choice in Energy, with Zhao perhaps finding sideboard slots to delay archetypes more dependent on untapped nonbasic lands at the right time.

Badgermole Cub essentially doubles the mana of all dorks while "creating" a mana dork of its own when it enters. Potential target for Green Sun’s Zenith which can enable interactions with cards like Ghost Quarter, as well as easily doubling the resources of archetypes running Delighted Halfling or the Hierarch cycle.

True Ancestry deserves mention as a way to access permanents like Wrenn and Six while putting an artifact into play for Indomitable Creativity. It doesn't seem like a staple, but it's a flexible card that may be worth testing.

Like other cards with Earthbending, Toph, Hardheaded Teacher transforms sacrifice effects into potential ramp and recursion, and does so with relative ease by linking this effect to spellcasting.

Potential target for Green Sun’s Zenith and seems like a good complement to cards like Wrenn and Six, but lacks a relevant archetype in the higher Tiers today.

Meteor Sword is a potential target for Stoneforge Mystic or Karn, the Great Creator as it's an equipment/artifact with a Vindicate when it enters. In both cases, it seems too slow, and/or its abilities are worse than other existing Modern options, such as Kaldra Compleat or Cityscape Leveler.

If I'm paying seven mana to play a card for free in a non-dedicated list, I believe I gain more by paying those seven mana to play an Eldrazi. Planetarium of Wan Shi Tong might be fun and perhaps even potentially broken, but not for Modern.

Abandoned Air Temple is a Gavony Township with fewer color requirements, but with more relevant deckbuilding concessions.

There are a few strategies that still use Township in their lists and may, perhaps, replace it with the new card due to access to colored mana, in addition to it also deserving a slot as a test one-of in Energy lists for interacting with the more go-wide side of this archetype's plan.

There is no war in Ba Sing Se, but there are potential locks and interactions. The green land from the cycle functions as a slow but complementary win condition while also possessing the same interactions with Ghost Quarter and other lands that sacrifice themselves, such as Urza's Saga or the Fetch Lands, which become pseudo-ramps.

Realm of Koh may also warrant some testing in Modern due to its constant stream of hard-to-block tokens, but five mana to activate is a considerably high cost for most archetypes, and we don't want so many utility lands in decks like Mono Black Coffers as we need access to the Swamps without relying so heavily on Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.

That's all for today!

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

Thank you for reading!