Reveal: The Way Magic's Avatar: The Last Airbender Expansion Revives 2 Popular Tribal Gameplay Features

Magic: The Gathering enthusiasts consistently adopt tribe-based tactics — what player hasn't assembled a zombie strategy at some point? — and the upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender Universes Beyond release brings back two beloved mechanics that match seamlessly with the flavor.

Reappearing Tribe-Supporting Mechanics

One first mechanic, called "Allies," first debuted with a Zendikar set and gives buffs each time additional permanents bearing the Ally subtype come onto the battlefield.

Meanwhile, "Shrines" is an enchantment-based type that first appeared in Champions of Kamigawa. While not exactly a creature tribe, Shrines also become strength as you has more of them on the battlefield.

The Comeback of Allies Ability

Although Shrines have been appeared occasionally across newer releases, Allies subtype was seldom seen — until this changes in ATLA, where this mechanic gets heavily featured.

The protagonist Aang must recruit numerous companions on the journey to restore balance across the world, so it's no better method to reflect that through an Magic expansion.

Revealed Card Preview

After its initial card announcement, here is a look of one Ally plus a Shrine card from the new ATLA release.

Teo: The Fan-Favorite Figure

This character stands as a popular supporting character in Avatar: The Last Airbender, a young man from the Earth Tribe that lived at the Northern Air Temple following his village was destroyed by a flood, which left him paraplegic.

Due to his father's prowess in mechanics, Teo is able to glide in the air using a flying device, even challenges the Avatar to an aerial contest.

The card Teo represents his passion for flying and the Earth Tribe's use of flying machines by allowing the player draw and discard each time a player attacks using a flying creature, and additionally boosting your team with counters at the same time.

The Temple Card: The Strong Shrine Enchantment

Speaking of Teo's dwelling, this appears as a card named The Northern Air Temple, that drains your opponent's life total upon coming into the battlefield, depending on how many of Shrines you have.

The card also removes an additional point anytime another Shrine enters the battlefield.

It looks like a powerful card, given the card's low mana cost plus valuable ETB effect.

One big weakness for Shrine strategies in formats besides EDH are the fact that Shrines are always legendary permanents, but this card is great when paired with Sanctum of Stone Fangs, that drains every opponent at the beginning of your turn.

The Welcome Collaboration

At a time while Universes Beyond products have been garnering a lot of hate by the community, a beloved series like Avatar can be exactly what Magic: The Gathering requires.

Spoiler season has begun, and the full set will be released November 21st.