eDH - 7 Most Fun Commanders From Avatar: The Last Airbender (with Decklists!)

The new Avatar: The Last Airbender set is very similar to other Universes Beyond sets in a few ways. Firstly, before any abilities or mechanics were revealed, many players got excited about their favorite characters, even though they didn't know what their cards did yet. This also happened when Spider-Man and Final Fantasy were released. We only began asking ourselves, "which of these commanders really bring something new to the game?" much later on.

In today's article, we'll go over the Avatar commanders that really stand out, both because of their themes and what they can do. With this in mind, it's time to review, carefully, what some of the most interesting commanders in this set can offer us!

As usual, we'll only go over the main set, TLA. So, we won't review the legendary creatures in Jump Start boosters and other products.

Zhao, the Moon Slayer

Zhao, the Moon Slayer is by far my favorite commander in this set. He is also a very simple Stax or Monored Prison piece. His ability impacts the board as soon as he enters play, as it makes nonbasic lands come into play tapped. This effect is usually worse for the opponents than for the player controlling it, particularly since this card in particular fits Monored lists better.

But what really makes Zhao stand out is his activated ability, which costs seven mana and puts a conqueror counter on him. He gets that counter, and it changes the course of the match completely. While Zhao has that counter, all nonbasic lands become mountains, lose their abilities and types, and can only create red mana from that point on. This means he is a Blood Moon that you can place in your command zone. In addition, his first ability disrupts enemy lands.

Blood Moon is already an iconic enchantment in Commander because, just like Zhao, it also disrupts nonbasic lands. These lands are very popular in the most central lists in the format, the multicolored lists. Being able to delay lands and limit which mana colors the opponents can create straight from the command zone is actually quite new for Stax fans.

Ty Lee, Chi Blocker

Ty Lee is one of the most beloved Avatar: The Last Airbender characters, as well as the most unique member of the Fire Nation villainess trio (consisting of Mai, Azula, and Ty Lee herself). This Universes Beyond set brought us two cards with her, but today we'll only discuss Ty Lee, Chi Blocker, which is the best commander out of the two.

Her main ability lets you tap a creature and prevent it from untapping as long as Ty Lee is in play. You can use this ability when Ty Lee herself enters play. It works as a temporary removal, as you can use it to remove the biggest enemy attacker/blocker for a while. It doesn't seem too impressive at first. However, if you play her in a list that centers around blink and clones so that you can reuse this ability again and again and freeze the enemy board, you can get a lot from her Prowess. You'll put so much pressure on the opponents that they'll check if you're really playing a Monoblue list.

In the end, Ty Lee, Chi Blocker won't win through brute force or commander damage. Instead, she'll interrupt the opponents again and again, get a lot from instant-speed tricks, and gain a lot of momentum this way. She is perfect for anyone who enjoys Stasis and other similar effects.

Katara, the Fearless

Katara, the Fearless, at first, seems to point to a traditional list centered around Allies, including her. At a closer look, though, we can tell she can see play in a different deck: a well-structured Voltron. Because of her colors, we can give her strong effects with equipment cards and auras, like Conformer Shuriken, and get twice as much value from them with her ability.

To build this type of deck, obviously we'll need Voltron pieces that give abilities to Katara, the Fearless or Allies in general. Ghostly Touch is a nice example, as it gives the creature it is attached to the ability to tap or untap a target permanent. Katara's ability will then double it. Power Fist and Mark of Sakiko are also great for a deck like this.

Katara will be great in Ally lists and Voltron lists. She is both a natural foundation for Ally lists and can be the core of Voltron lists centered around triggers and not just straight-up buffs. She rewards discreet synergies and a well-structured game plan. Sooner or later, we'll be setting up Eldrazi Conscription to trigger Annihilator 2 twice.

Sokka, Tenacious Tactician

As we mentioned above, Katara, the Fearless is an interesting support card for Allies but she'll be a lot more fascinating when we use her alone. On the other side, her brother, Sokka, Tenacious Tactician, is a very efficient card for "go-wide" Ally lists. He already has menace and prowess, which go really well with his colors: blue, red, and white. Furthermore, he gives all other Allies in play these two abilities as well.

That, by itself, already makes a few options (like Lantern Scout) a lot more interesting. Prowess is just an incredible ability for cards like that.

However, Sokka's second ability makes everything even better. It creates a 1/1 Ally token whenever you cast a noncreature spell, which is a perfect way to put more Prowess on the board. This means Sokka will be a small engine on your board. In spellslinger lists centered around cantrips, light removals, and instant-speed tricks, he'll allow you to build a board and not rely so much on the creatures in your hand. These tokens will also get menace and prowess, considering Sokka's ability applies to all Allies. With a Smellerbee, Rebel Fighter in play, your Allies will also have haste, so you'll be able to play long, spellslinging turns that will eventually lead you to win with a single attack.

Overall, this deck stands out because it doesn't need complex pieces to work. However, you'll need to set up your plays perfectly. This aggro list rewards concise deckbuilding, a low mana curve, and constant interaction. You'll move forward aggressively but still be able to deal with threats through low-cost interaction.

Iroh, Grand Lotus

Just like Ty Lee, Chi Blocker, Iroh got several cards in this set. Nonetheless, Iroh, Grand Lotus stands out because he is what we want commanders to be nowadays: a core, critical piece that makes the entire deck work.

Iroh, Grand Lotus gives all "non-Lessons" instants and sorceries in your graveyard flashback equal to their mana cost during your turn. Like so, they'll have another chance to shine, and you'll be able to play around the biggest restriction in Commander, that is, the fact we only play each spell once. As for Lessons, Iroh gives them flashback , so they're significantly cheaper once they're in your graveyard.

Iroh, Grand Lotus prefers consistency to aggressiveness. With him, you should focus on playing a sequence of recyclable resources. He'll also be better in long matches, in which you'll build an arsenal with your graveyard.

Koh, the Face Stealer

Koh, the Face Stealer stands out because it is flexible and can create unusual situations. For six mana, it'll come into play as a 6/6 and exile up to another target creature under any player's control. From then on, Koh can exile every nontoken creature that dies on the board. The creatures it does exile will then form a catalogue of new identities the Face Stealer can take on. The longer the match, the wider this catalogue will be.

If you pay 1 life, you may choose a creature Koh exiled and let it take its form. Whenever you do this, Koh will get all the activated and triggered abilities of the last creature you picked. This includes ETBs, death triggers, abilities that trigger in the combat phase or upkeep, besides classic activated abilities centered around sacrifice, discard, or mana.

Koh doesn't copy the body, type, or static keywords on that exiled creature, but rather any text they have that mentions "when", "whenever", and "cost". That is what matters for this card. The fact we can pick another creature at any point means Koh is a real toolbox: in one turn, it'll draw cards, the next it is a sac outlet, then it becomes a lifedrain piece. And, because this ability works at instant speed, it can even be all of this on the same turn.

Toph, the First Metalbender

Finally, let's go over the most iconic and combo-centric commander in this set, Toph, the First Metalbender. Toph turns all your nontoken artifacts into lands but doesn't give them the ability to create mana, which is something we can only use well in Commander. These permanents will then interact with any effect that interacts with "lands" but don't lose their original roles. For instance, a Sol Ring will be able to trigger a Tireless Tracker's landfall. In practice, this opens space for you to use cards that care about how many lands are in play or cards that protect lands, but, most importantly, it lets you earthbend these artifacts.

At the end of the turn, Toph earthbends 2, so she turns lands into creatures that can attack or block. Furthermore, she lets them return to the battlefield tapped when they die or are exiled. This means you can use them whenever you need to sacrifice something but don't want to lose your lands for good. Cards like Gonti's Aether Heart and Ugin's Nexus can create very fun "infinite turns" combos with Toph.

Toph rewards full boards, as she makes lands and artifacts an active part of the table as well as discardable in combat. She is perfect for malleable boards, that is, boards that become a larger puzzle as each piece comes in.

After Avatar: The Last Airbender, we'll return to Lorwyn. It's so nice to see, after so long, an original MTG set, even more so one centered around the first plane I got to know.

Still, A:TLA was a great set. It brought us effects and characters that go along really well with the original animated series. It was also a palate cleanser (after the bad taste Spider-Man left) and proof that Universes Beyond can do a lot more than just bring us characters from iconic franchises.

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

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!