Ever since the set’s debut, MTG players have been grappling with an odd design choice in Avatar: The Last Airbender. While most of the set’s new mechanics are great, one returning mechanic, Lessons, sparked a lot of confusion. This was down to Wizards’ strange design not to include Learn, the other “half” of Lessons as a mechanic, in MTG Avatar. These concerns simmered away quietly in the background over preview season, but now that cards are in players’ hands, they’re bubbling to the surface once more.
MTG Players Split Over Lack Of Learn In Avatar
The controversy around the lack of Learn in MTG Avatar is due to how the mechanic was used originally, in 2021’s Strixhaven. In this set, which introduced Lesson cards, Wizards also debuted Learn as a keyword. This mechanic allowed you to add a Lesson you owned from outside the game to your hand. In constructed formats, this meant you could use Learn to tutor up Lesson cards from your sideboard.
In MTG Avatar, however, Learn is nowhere to be seen, so the set’s new Lesson cards lack their former utility. Instead, they’re treated more like an instant and sorcery version of a typal synergy mechanic. Some cards, like The Lion Turtle, care about the number of Lessons in your graveyard. Others, like Sokka, Bold Boomeranger, simply care about you casting Lessons at all. In every case, these interactions are much closer to typical MTG mechanics than the unique entity that was Strixhaven Lessons/Learn.
After Avatar Prerelease last weekend, players have had the chance to check the set out first-hand and evaluate how this major shift for Lessons plays out. So far, the reception is decidedly mixed. Mark Rosewater’s Blogatog has received a number of questions over the last few days, coming down on both sides of the issue.
Some are baffled by the return of a mechanic without the element that defined it in the past. Others are impressed with how Wizards has managed to find a new, flavorful use for it. Whatever your opinion on the Avatar Lessons is, it’s clear they’re one of the most divisive aspects of the set.
A Loss Of Identity
For those who wish Learn had returned in MTG Avatar, like Jhoald, the issue here is largely one of expectations. After Strixhaven, we as players have been primed to expect Lessons and Learn to arrive together, as a unit. Moving away from that immediately creates some confusion, on both a mechanical level and an aesthetic one.
As Yuleooze pointed out, the set could’ve functioned exactly the same mechanically with a different instant and sorcery subtype, perhaps something new to Avatar, like “Elemental.” This would’ve removed the expectations of Lessons/Learn, and the associated disappointment that many players are feeling right now. Mark Rosewater has mentioned in multiple posts that Lessons and Learn aren’t innately tied together rules-wise. However, while the move is technically valid, it’s still odd since our only past exposure to Lessons came with Learn attached.
The removal of Learn also removes pretty much everything that made Lessons unique and interesting in the first place. In Strixhaven, Lessons were underpowered spells that made up for it by being easily accessible during gameplay. You sacrificed power for flexibility, which was an interesting choice that many players chose to make. Learn also brought the tactical play of sideboarding into the game itself, which added multiple new layers to both deckuilding and gameplay.
In Avatar, the removal of Learn allowed Wizards to push Lessons more power-wise, but at the cost of all of this intrigue. Now they’re just efficient spells that you’ll likely want to run in your deck anyway, even without additional synergy. The fact that most of the “Lessons matter” cards in the set feel fairly undertuned certainly doesn’t help matters here.
Valuable Lessons
On the other hand, there are plenty of players who view the omission of Learn from Avatar as a positive. Mzk83, for example, appreciated the fact that Wizards was willing to push the boat out and basically fully recontextualize a whole mechanic. While this new take arguably isn’t quite as interesting as the original, it’s hard to deny that trying one at all is bold. The idea of typal for instants and sorceries is pretty compelling, too. With better payoffs, it could be a genuinely great mechanic in the future.
Re-using the Lesson type also has some other upsides. As Rosewater pointed out, cards simply being Lessons makes them backwards compatible with previous Strixhaven Learn cards. While a new subtype may have been cleaner aesthetically, it would’ve lacked these synergies. It also would’ve added a new parasitic mechanic into the game, which is never ideal.
Keeping Learn out of Avatar also avoids the thorny issue of how Learn functions in Commander. Since the format has no sideboards, cards with Learn are essentially useless there. This was awkward back in 2021, and it’s even more awkward now, with Commander being the game’s biggest format. It makes sense for Wizards to avoid this mechanic where possible for this reason.
Overall, the omission of Learn from MTG Avatar is a major move from Wizards, with implications both positive and negative. While it’s sad to see such a unique mechanic change, it’s also undeniably great to see Wizards experiment and try new things. If this shift opens up exciting new avenues for Lessons in future, it may well prove worthy of the controversy it caused this week.
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