Black Shines in Magic: The Gathering's Avatar Crossover

Unleash the Shadows: Black Dominates the Avatar x MTG Battlefield!

A Conundrum of Colors: Bridging Elemental Magic with the Color Wheel

When Wizards of the Coast unveiled the ambitious collaboration between Magic: The Gathering and Avatar: The Last Airbender, a central design challenge immediately arose. Avatar's universe is intrinsically linked to its four elements—water, earth, fire, and air—while Magic operates on a distinct five-color system. The crucial question facing developers was how to harmoniously blend these two foundational magical frameworks.

The Unexpected Might of Black: A Sacrifice-Driven Strategy

The ingenious solution, as revealed in early previews, involves empowering the black color identity within the Avatar: The Last Airbender set. Given that black lacks a direct elemental counterpart like white (air), blue (water), red (fire), and green (earth), its mechanics are largely built around a sacrifice-oriented "aristocrat" archetype. Initial playtests suggest that this strategic choice has made black an exceptionally formidable force within the new expansion.

Aristocrat Archetype: Gaining Advantage from Sacrifice

At its core, the aristocrat playstyle revolves around the tactical sacrificing of one's own creatures to generate various benefits. For instance, a card like Callous Inspector rewards its controller with a Clue token upon its demise. Pairing this with June, Bounty Hunter, who provides additional Clue tokens for sacrificing other creatures, allows players to significantly amplify their resource generation and board advantage.

Jon Dee, One of Many: A Synergistic Powerhouse

A standout card exemplifying this strategy is Jon Dee, One of Many from the Avatar set. Its unique ability creates a duplicate of itself while simultaneously allowing players to surveil, optimizing their deck's flow. While the created copy of Jon Dee serves as an ideal sacrifice target, any other available fodder can further enhance the card's value. This mechanic can lead to overwhelming board states, as demonstrated by a game where an army of duplicates secured victory.

Black's Control Arsenal: Potent Removal Options

Beyond its sacrifice synergies, black also provides a robust suite of removal spells to counter opponent's threats. Swampsnare Trap is a particularly effective example, offering a reduced cost against creatures with Flying (a common trait in Avatar) and bypassing indestructible abilities by applying a -5/-3 reduction rather than direct damage or destruction.

Expanding Horizons: Black's Synergies with Other Colors

While these black cards function powerfully on their own, their true potential is unlocked when integrated with other colors. Although black-white is officially designated as the aristocrat combination, black-green surprisingly emerges as a more effective pairing. This combination masterfully merges the sacrifice strategy with green's signature earthbending mechanics, creating a potent and versatile gameplay experience.

Beifong's Bounty Hunters and Long Feng: Amplifying Black-Green Power

Consider Beifong's Bounty Hunters, a rare creature with an ability that triggers when a nonland creature you control dies, allowing you to "earthbend X," where X is that creature's power. This transforms sacrificed creatures into new threats, with lands becoming creatures equal to the sacrificed creature's power. Another impactful black-green card, Long Feng, Grand Secretariat, grants a free +1/+1 counter to any target whenever a creature or land dies. These synergies allow players to build formidable boards and ultimately secure victory with cards like Dai Li Agents.

A Personal Preference: Black's Dominance in the New Expansion

Based on extensive testing with various Avatar prerelease kits, the black color identity, especially when paired with green, stands out as the most compelling. While this observation may reflect individual playstyle preferences, players intrigued by the aristocrat archetype will find this new expansion an excellent entry point into a rewarding and strategic gameplay experience.