With all the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles spoilers last Friday, it’s easy to forget that the next Magic: The Gathering set is actually Avatar: The Last Airbender. We’ve seen quite a lot of the set’s cards already, most of which arrived in a single 100-card clump. While most of that batch didn’t turn many heads on reveal, more potential has emerged for these cards over time. A great example is Haru, Hidden Talent, a powerful new MTG Earthbender from the set.
Like most of the cards in the big batch, Haru has flown well under the radar until now. As one of many legendary uncommons within it, this isn’t hugely surprising. Once you dig into the card, however, you discover a potent combo engine with serious game-ending potential in Commander. It’s not quite Toph, the First Metalbender, and nor should it be flavor-wise, but Haru is still a very scary Earthbending card to consider come November.
Haru, Hidden Talent MTG
- Mana Value: 1G
- Type: Legendary Creature – Human Peasant Ally
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Card Text: Whenever another Ally you control enters, Earthbend 1. (Target land you control becomes a 0/0 creature with haste that’s still a land. Put a +1/+1 counter on it. When it dies or is exiled, return it to the battlefield tapped.)
- Stats: 1/1
Haru, Hidden Talent looks simple, but under the surface lies a complex and powerful MTG card. Dropping Allies with Haru around lets you Earthbend, which is a fascinating new land animation ability. The most interesting part, however, is that said land also gains a trigger that returns it to play if it dies or gets exiled. This protects against the usual downsides of land animation effects nicely. The exile protection is also pretty much unheard of. There are very few effects in Magic that let permanents come back from exile-based removal, and there are plenty of ways to exploit the fact that Haru lets you do so.
We haven’t seen the full set yet, but Haru is one of only two cards that let you Earthbend repeatedly. The other is Toph, the First Earthbender, who lets you do so every end step. In this respect, Haru actually has a much higher Earthbending ceiling. There’s no pesky ‘once per turn’ clause on its ability, so as long as you can keep generating Allies you can keep Earthbending. Toph, by contrast, is more reliable but with less potential. It’ll get you a guaranteed Earthbend every turn, but no more than that.
Haru’s lack of limits opens the door for a number of spicy infinite combo plays, provided you’re willing to run some under-the-radar gems in your deck.
Crushing Combo Plays
There are a few key pieces required in order to unleash an MTG combo with Haru, Hidden Talent. First of all, you’ll need a way to put Allies into play repeatedly. This is actually the toughest part of the combo to fulfill, with very few options available. Your best bet is definitely Retreat to Emeria, which creates a 1/1 Ally every time a land enters under your control.
With Haru and Retreat set up, you’re almost ready to pop off. The last thing you’ll need is a way to sacrifice, or exile, your own lands or creatures. Interestingly enough, one of the best ways to do this is with the New Capenna “Fetchlands.” These are lands that sacrifice themselves on entry, gain you a life, and then fetch you a tapped basic in one of their colors. With the engine we just discussed set up, they can also do a lot more than that.
When your Fetchland, say Cabaretti Courtyard, enters play, you can stack the triggers so its enters ability activates after Retreat’s Landfall trigger. This means you’ll get your 1/1 Ally first, which in turn will trigger Haru, letting you Earthbend your Fetchland into a 1/1 before its trigger goes off. Then, when it does, it’ll return to play immediately after hitting the graveyard, letting you repeat the whole process again.
As infinite combos go, this one actually gives you a hell of a lot. You get infinite 1/1 Ally tokens, which give you infinite enters triggers, infinite dies triggers from your lands, infinite Landfall triggers, and infinite life. Between all of that, you should be able to win the game on the spot in most cases. All you need is an enchantment like Impact Tremors, or a Landfall piece like Sabotender, and it’s all over.
Rock On!
This is a potent MTG combo, but it’s also just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Haru, Hidden Talent. There are plenty of other ways to carry out the loop above, giving you a ton of redundancy in decks that want to run it.
For example, you can sub in the New Capenna Fetchland for any land you want if you have a land sacrifice outlet handy. Zuran Orb is probably the best option in this department, but you can also use the likes of Thaumatog, too. While this does add an extra piece to the combo, it also makes it easier to close things out. If you repeatedly bring in one of the ping Deserts, like Creosote Heath, you can end the game without needing another damage source.
In a similar vein, if you’re in bracket three or above, you can bust out the infamous Game Changer Food Chain. Since Earthbending works with exile as well as death, this lets you convert your animated land into a single mana each loop, thus generating infinite mana. You can then sink this into all manner of outlets for an instant win. This gives you yet another way to win with a Haru loop, which is fantastic for redundancy.
While it’s not quite as flashy, it’s also worth keeping Maskwood Nexus in mind. Turning all of your creatures into Allies lets you combo off with any Landfall token generator, not just Retreat. Strong candidates include Springheart Nantuko and Scute Swarm, since both are on-color and very affordable mana-wise.
For a mere uncommon, Haru has a ton of combo potential. If the rest of Avatar is this rich, we’re in for a real treat come November.
Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage!