Standard - 7 Decks with Avatar: The Last Airbender to try out!

Avatar is coming! Today the cards from the Magic: The Gathering collaboration with Nickelodeon arrive on the MTGArena and Magic Online digital platforms, giving players the freedom to explore new mechanics and interactions.

As usual, we've prepared decklists for various Magic formats using cards from the new set, and today we present seven Standard decks with Avatar to try out with the set's release!

Mono-Red Aggro

Zhao, the Moon Slayer could be the ideal two-drop to keep Mono Red Aggro on the radar. The possibility of stalling a turn, combined with effective one-drops and the potential threat of a Nova Hellkite through Warp or Tersa Lightshatter can be enough to leave the opponent behind long enough to win the game.

As a complement, we also use the interaction between Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might with the ping effects of Hired Claw and Razorkin Needlehead, where each damage is replaced for a total of four, and we can amplify these effects with cards like Fanatical Firebrand and Sunspine Lynx.

Iroh’s Demonstration is one of the cards with high competitive potential in Avatar due to its flexibility: Dimir Midrange still runs many X/1 creatures, and having a two-mana removal to take down many blockers on the board in the same slot where it deals with an opponent's Nova Hellkite is worth some testing.

Izzet Prowess Aggro

The banning of Vivi Ornitier may not have been because of Izzet Prowess, but the archetype took a considerable hit without one of its main win conditions and now needs to reinvent itself.

While it's not a This Town Ain't Big Enough, Boomerang Basics offers added value with Stormchaser's Talent and Astrologian's Planisphere as well as serving as a bounce against the opponent's permanents, and we also have Firebending Student as another threat with Prowess.

It's worth noting that Firebending allows the use of abilities or instants with its mana until the end of combat, and we aim to maximize this with a range of instant spells to trigger Prowess and win games, relying on the combination of Burst Lightning and Lightning Strike as interaction, while Dreadmaw's Ire and Opera Love Song function as pumps.

Izzet Lessons

Accumulate Wisdom and Ran and Shaw are great motivators for a Lessons-focused deck in Standard, and while we can follow a Temur line to use Iroh, Grand Lotus, the Izzet combination seems better in merging the already established core of Control decks with the inclusion of sixteen Lessons to transform the new cards into potential bombs.

Stock Up and Consult the Star Charts complement Accumulate Wisdom in terms of card advantage, and having eight dragons means extracting more value from Dispelling Exhale, while Marang River Regent also works as a win condition.

Azorius Flash

With Wan Shi Tong, Librarian and Aang, Swift Savior, it seems like an opportune time to revisit Azorius Flash in the new season, complementing it with other quality creatures that are still present after rotation, such as Floodpits Drowner and Aven Interrupter, and taking advantage of the fact that most of our creatures fly to play with Enduring Curiosity as a source of card advantage.

Most of our creatures are also interaction, in addition to having the Seam Rip and Sheltered by Ghosts packages as spot removals and No More Lies for the stack, and with so many creatures available, Abandoned Air Temple becomes an must-have to amplify our pressure.

Allies

Allies gained a lot of support with Avatar and became the main archetype to make the most of the series' characters. In this list, however, we bet on effectiveness instead of flavor and included creatures that maximize the ability to interact with the board while advancing our position — Aang, Swift Savior, Ty Lee, Chi Blocker and Earth Kingdom Jailer guarantee removals and bounces.

Earth King’s Lieutenant increases the power of our creatures, and we have Mockingbird to copy it, in addition to Suki, Courageous Rescuer to increase pressure and punish removals along with Mai, Scornful Striker.

Another important card that can be copied with Mockingbird is South Pole Voyager, whose trigger offers both life and draws if we use two or more allies per turn, an interaction that we can also sustain in the late game with Jasmine Dragon Tea Shop.

Esper Pursuit

Obsessive Pursuit has mechanical similarities with cards like Up the Beanstalk and Proft’s Eidetic Memory, it's simply a matter of finding the right home for the enchantment to work and generate value for a more dedicated deck.

Initial plans would likely involve a list more dedicated to Sacrifice to trigger three or more +1/+1 counters per turn, but in this version we tried something different: merging the card with a Bounce and Tempo plan to extract value from it with Map and Clue tokens while increasing the power of Warden of the Inner Sky.

We also use the interactions these effects have with Elegy Acolyte to put more bodies on the board, and Quantum Riddler can transform all Clue or the Acolyte trigger itself into extra draw effects, ensuring more resilience and resources for longer games.

Mardu Firebender Ascension

There are several attack triggers in Standard today, and we tried to maximize the best available to take advantage of Firebender Ascension, mixing cards like Hired Claw and Arabella, Abandoned Doll for extra damage while Voice of Victory increases the amount of power on the board and prevents the opponent from interacting on our turn.

For card advantage, we have Dark Confidant, which, despite not directly interacting with Firebender Ascension, grants value through the archetype's relatively low curve to secure more resources each turn, while Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate brings back the main creatures in the list each turn and has a "combo" with Spectacular Spider-Man to dodge removals and sweepers every turn.

That's all for today!

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

Thank you for reading!