Avatar: The Last Airbender spoilers are officially under way, and things got off to a powerful start. Between some ridiculous-looking constructed cards, and some flashy over-the-top effects for Commander, reception for MTG Avatar is already leagues ahead of Spider Man.
One product we haven’t seen much of so far, however, is the MTG Avatar scene boxes. Each box includes six mechanically unique cards primed to wreak havoc in Eternal formats. We saw the first card for the new Tea Time Avatar Scene box during spoiler season kickoff, but the best card in this box ironically looks the most innocuous.
Momo’s Heist
Momo’s Heist is a lot stronger than it looks, at least as far as Commander is concerned. An Act of Treason on an artifact isn’t exciting in the least, but unlike most of these steal effects, Momo’s Heist turns into removal at the end step.
Thanks to sacrificing the artifact you steal, Momo’s Heist essentially lets to squeeze the stolen artifact for value before tossing it away. This means you can draw cards from an opposing The One Ring before removing it for good. A bunch of popular artifacts in Commander, like Bolas’s Citadel and The Great Henge, can turn into disaster scenarios for your opponent if they’re on the receiving end of this spell.
Momo’s Heist does suffer from being a bit specific, but artifacts are all over the place in Commander. Even stealing a Sol Ring with Momo’s Heist can occasionally be worth it, especially if an opponent is ramping aggressively in the early game. Don’t be surprised if this becomes a red staple moving forward.
Mai and Zuko
Yet another card that reads better than it looks, Mai and Zuko isn’t just about Allies. Granting Allies Flash is a simple, but powerful effect, but the more interesting thing is the ability to grant Artifacts Flashback. This allows Mai and Zuko to see play outside of just Ally decks, and means that the duo could see play in any artifact deck that would otherwise want to run Vedalken Orrery.
This plays particularly well with Firebending, granting Mai and Zuko the ability to cast relevant spells with the mana they provide. There aren’t a lot of Allies with Firebending revealed yet, but they would all play well in a Commander deck with this card at the helm.
All of that said, Mai and Zuko probably fit most decks better in the 99 of existing Commander strategies due to its generic effect. The color identity holds this creature back in that department since few strategies would even be capable of including the card in the 99.
Aang and Katara
Aang and Katara offers a pretty splashy effect for Ally decks that plays a little better than it looks. Creating a massive board state is extremely valuable in this archetype since all of the best Ally Typal cards care about the number of Allies you have on board. Sea Gate Loremaster, for example, can easily refill your hand if you manage to resolve Aang and Katara with it in play.
All of that said, your creatures and artifacts need to be tapped to count, which can make things tricky, especially if you don’t have an easy opponent to attack. For this reason, Aang and Katara play particularly well in a Convoke theme since it both sets up Aang and Katara’s payoffs and creates a wide array of tokens to pay for other Convoke effects.
All in all, this should be an instant add to any Ally Commander deck that can run it, and seems ok in decks with a Convoke theme. Aang and Katara’s high mana value, combined with their tapped clause, seems too steep for anywhere else.
Toph, Greatest Earthbender
Toph, Greatest Earthbender functions best as a Commander. Her mana ability scales up the more times you cast her from the Command Zone, getting around the common pitfall of investing a full turn to get your Commander out. This promotes using a lot of mana sinks with Toph, something that synergizes well with a Lands Matter theme.
Even outside of that, Toph, Greatest Earthbender is essentially a free creature with a condition, making it an auto-add to any deck that can get value out of her. Any Earthbending decks will obviously want this card, as well as Ally decks that just want to play her as a free body. Going a bit deeper, decks that profit from creatures entering play, like Animar, Soul of the Elements and Eshki, Temur’s Roar, will likely consider this card as a way to accelerate their game plan. Free spells in Magic are incredibly powerful, meaning that any deck that has a reason to run Toph, Greatest Earthbender probably will.
Uncle’s Musings
Uncle’s Musings doesn’t offer a particularly flashy ability, but in the right Commander deck, it’s pretty powerful. Returning five cards to your hand for just four mana is strong, but thanks to the Converge requirement, Uncle’s Musings is stuck only seeing play in archetypes with multiple colors. Sadly, the exile clause on Musings prevents this card from being anything more than a decent value piece for the specific archetypes that want it. This is probably the least exciting card in the Tea Time Scene box.
While many players will likely be grabbing Tea Time for Momo’s Musings, there are some interesting cards to be found in this box. Whether you want Mai and Zuko for your artifact deck or Sokka and Suki as another payoff for your Captain America equipment deck, the variety offered in Tea Time means that many players may see something that they like.
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