After months of waiting, MTG Avatar: The Last Airbender prerelease is right around the corner. This set already looks a lot more powerful than the previous Spider Man crossover, and after playing some Draft myself, having a full ten two-colored archetypes that see support, alongside a lot of mono-colored payoffs, make Avatar seem like a fun set with a lot of depth.
Thanks to Wizards of the Coast, I was invited to the Early Access Stream event and played some Draft to help you win some extra prerelease packs this coming weekend. After multiple successful runs in the event, I’m confident that these tips will give you a competitive edge.
Clues and Other Artifacts Have A Lot of Versatility
Even when you have to pay two mana for it, card draw is good in any Draft format. Clues being good may not shock everyone, but many players may not realize just how good Clues actually are in MTG Avatar Draft and Prerelease.
Clue Tokens play particularly well alongside two of the big mechanics in MTG Avatar: Waterbending and Firebending. The main constraint to Firebending is finding ways to use the extra mana you generate, since it only sticks around during combat. Clues can turn that mana into card draw instead of letting it go to waste.
In the case of Waterbending, you can tap Clue Tokens to help pay for costs. This essentially allows a Clue Token to be used as a mana rock to activate certain abilities, but it can also directly help cast some of the more powerful uncommons in the set, like Benevolent River Spirit. This makes cards like Forecasting Fortune Teller and Messenger Hawk extremely powerful for commons, essentially tapping for two Waterbending mana. As a reminder, you don’t need to have your Clues untapped to draw cards with them.
These artifact synergies aren’t just limited to Clues, either. The same ends up being true for a whole bunch of different artifacts that have mana outlets throughout the set. Food Tokens aside, there’s a variety of different Vehicles that can also be used towards Waterbending costs, while offering mana sinks of their own for Firebending. Among these, Invasion Submersible seems like an all-star Blue uncommon that does absolutely everything. It can easily turn into a 3/3, and bounces an opponent’s card, creating a powerful tempo play. Don’t overload your deck with Vehicles that lack an immediate impact, but artifacts are just good.
Watch for Hybrid Uncommons
Interestingly, the Hybrid uncommon cards seemed to consistently be some of the strongest cards you could play. So long as you can pull off the synergies that these cards need to excel, the amount of value they provide seems far above even the golden signpost cards in the set. You can play these cards across more archetypes, too, making them a lot easier to fit into your prerelease decks.
Guru Pathik, for example, was probably the card that impressed me the most among the commons and uncommons in MTG Avatar: The Last Airbender during the Early Access Event. You get a body, card advantage, so long as your deck is built appropriately, and an ability that grows your creatures over time. Most colors have rewards for having a high Lesson count anyway, especially between green and blue, making this Guru a must-play if you can support it.
Similarly, Hei Bai, Spirit of Balance is exceptionally powerful, so long as you have some creatures to sacrifice. Entering as a 5/5 that can move its counters around after it dies, Hei Bai would be good enough if it triggered once, but this creature gets bigger every combat. Combine Hei Bai with Buzzard-Wasp Colony for some ridiculous +1/+1 counter shenanigans. Be on the watch for Pretending Poxbearers as a good sacrificial target.
Even the more generic Hybrid uncommons are great in a variety of strategies. Sokka, Lateral Strategist can draw a healthy amount of cards with little effort, and Suki, Kyoshi Warrior is basically Adeline, Resplendant Cathar, which is incredibly strong for an uncommon.
I’d Pick Katara
Unlike most MTG prereleases, Avatars are character-themed, providing optimized content for a specific color. If you want to optimize your chances of winning your Avatar prerelease, I’d pick Katara for a few reasons.
Not only does blue seem to be ahead of the other colors in this set, but the bombs you can get in the Katara packs are extremely powerful. Katara, Water Tribe’s Hope is very difficult to beat, demanding an answer or turning your entire board into gigantic creatures. When trying the Katara packet for myself on MTG Arena, I opened two copies of this card in the Katara-themed packs, and they won every single game that they went unchecked. That said, it has been confirmed that only one seeded pack will be available in your prerelease kits, so your choice will have a smaller effect on your pool. The other cards that come in the Katara packets, like Boomerang Basics, First-Time Flier, and many of the cards mentioned previously in this article, also seem to be some of the best things you can possibly be doing.
To me, as a first impression, blue seems to be slightly ahead of the other colors in MTG Avatar. Many of the standout cards I discussed throughout this review were in blue, and with Katara’s packet offering such an absurdly strong bomb, you should be able to consistently put a strong deck together. Watch for Clues, play to your synergies, and have fun living out one of the best animated series in your LGS.
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