Edge of Eternities is barely out, and Spider-Man hasn’t even swung onto shelves yet, but that’s not stopped Wizards of the Coast from marching on into promoting the next next set coming to Magic: The Gathering—its “Universes Beyond” crossover with Avatar: The Last Airbender. Alongside previews of how the world of Avatar will work mechanically in the landscape of the game, our first extensive preview of what to expect in the set confirms the obvious: Cabbage Guy is getting his own Magic card.
Today Wizards of the Coast hosted the first preview stream for the Magic: The Gathering – Avatar: The Last Airbender set. We had already seen a couple of cards a few months ago, in the form of an alt-art card for Aang himself illustrated by Avatar co-creator Bryan Konietzko, and then, at SDCC, a partial tease for a card for Princess Yue, Sokka’s romantic interest who famously sacrificed herself to become the new Moon Spirit. That’s rough, buddy, but at least she’ll now be forever immortalized on a Magic card.
Yue’s full card was one of many revealed during today’s stream—with fan favorites like Aang, Zuko, Sokka, Katara, Toph, and even Appa and Momo all getting highlighted cards, alongside legendary figures like the Fire Lord Sozin, whose mythic status in the Avatar world will be represented as a transformable Saga Creature, a mechanic introduced with characters like Clive Rosfield and Terra Branford in the Final Fantasy set earlier this year.
The stream also gave us our first indicator of how Magic will incorporate elemental bending as a major mechanic in the set. Airbending lets players exile nonland permanents to cast them for a reduced mana cost, Waterbending lets players pay an extra cost through mana and tapping their own artifact or creature cards in order to activate extra abilities, Earthbending is a keyword that lets you transform your land cards into creatures, and Firebending is another keyword that lets players spend extra red mana to amplify a card’s offensive power.
But of course, all those important mechanics are of no interest when there’s memes to be had. The Last Airbender is full of memorable moments, and the Magic set will be no exception: two particularly memetic cards were revealed in today’s preview in the form of Avatar Enthusiasts, a card inspired by the froth-mouthed freakout of the Kyoshi Island residents from the show’s fourth episode, “The Warriors of Kyoshi,” and the Cabbage Merchant, of course inspired by the one and only cabbage guy from episode five, “The King of Omashu.”
Naturally, as a purveyor of cruciferous vegetables, he helps green decks generate food tokens. Helpful!
Magic: The Gathering – Avatar: The Last Airbender is set to release on November 21, a couple months after the release of Magic‘s actual next set, Marvel’s Spider-Man, on September 26. Wizards of the Coast may be starting to hear fans’ concerns about sets capturing that Magic aesthetic feel, but perhaps not so much that their wallets want more of a break. You can check out all the Avatar cards revealed so far here.
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