The Magic: The Gathering community is home to its fair share of conspiracy theorists. In a game so dense with detail, it’s inevitable that some innocuous scraps of information will get imbued with importance beyond their station. Usually these accidental red herrings lead nowhere. Other times, players uncover a new set or product ahead of time. Right now the community are hoping that the latter is true, as rumors of an Avatar: the Last Airbender Universes Beyond set for MTG swirl.
The evidence for this is, admittedly, quite flimsy. There are arguments to be made, however, and some solid logic to support such a set existing in 2025. Whether this ends up a case of next-level detective work or a punchline only time will tell. For now, strap on your tin foil hat and let’s dive right in.
Avatar: The Last Airbender In MTG?!
The theory that Avatar: the Last Airbender is coming to MTG later this year has been picked up by a surprising number of players so far. Ultimately, it rests on the deals in the MTG Arena shop yesterday, January 6th. Over the past few days, deals have been released that reflect the different confirmed MTG sets for this year. We saw a Vehicle-specific sale for Aetherdrift, a Dragon one for Tarkir: Dragonstorm, a crystal-themed one for Final Fantasy, a star-themed one for Edge of Eternities, and a Spider-themed one for Spider-Man.
This brings us to the Avatar clue. Yesterday’s sale consisted of six cards: Into the Fire, Waterknot, Earth-Cult Elemental, Airdrop Aeronauts, Distended Mindbender, and Oswald Fiddlebender. Looked at through a conspiratorial lens, the first four represent the four elements in the Avatar universe. The last two, though seemingly random, both feature the word ‘bender’ in their names. For the uninitiated, those who can manipulate the elements in the Avatar universe are known as benders, so this does tie in nicely.
Based on this, a lot of players are convinced that the unrevealed Universes Beyond set for this year will be based around Avatar. There is some other evidence to support this, too. For example, we already know that a Spongebob Squarepants Secret Lair is coming this year. This means that Wizards is working with Nickelodeon in some capacity. A wider deal that also includes Avatar wouldn’t be totally out of the question as a result.
Avatar also recently appeared in a crossover with Overwatch 2, which shows that the rights holders are willing to entertain projects like this. Factor in the planned Avatar movie later this year, and it makes a surprising amount of sense.
Endless Possibilities
Right now, this is really little more than a theory. That hasn’t stopped hordes of enthusiastic fans expressing their hopes for an Avatar: the Last Airbender MTG set, however.
“It would be a pretty solid choice for UB, widely beloved and lots of Magic fans who already like it, as well as a fantasy setting that makes mechanical design more interesting. Appa would clearly be a mount, now.”
strolpol
All of strolpol’s points above are valid. Avatar as a world makes a ton of sense for an MTG crossover set. For starters, it’s low-tech enough to fit within Magic’s traditional fantasy confines. That’s assuming it doesn’t also encompass the sequel series Legend of Korra, of course, but that’s a bigger question.
Additionally, Avatar has a simple ‘magic’ system that would translate beautifully into Magic. The four elements fit pretty neatly within the five colors, and there’s scope for a diverse range of instants and sorceries that reflect different abilities seen throughout the series. Using waterbending to tap down a creature or metalbending to destroy an artifact would feel incredibly natural, which is a big plus for any UB project.
“Yeah I feel like Avatar is a property that translates pretty well into a magic set in terms of tone and world. There’s clearly defined factions in the show (the four elements and spirits) and the elements fit pretty well into existing magic mechanics. And there’s plenty of likeable characters to turn into legendary creatures for both the main set and commander decks.”
thetwist1
Another major positive factor here is the sheer strength of Avatar’s character roster. The majority of the characters in the original series, even minor gag characters like the cabbage merchant and Bosco the Bear, have become icons in the 20 years since the show originally launched. This gives Magic’s Designers ample scope to create a wide range of powerful legendary creatures on which to hinge the set.
There’s a ton of potential here, in other words. Based on the outpouring of comments about it over the last day or so, there’s clearly an audience for it too. Avatar isn’t in the same league as Lord of the Rings or Marvel in terms of sheer fan numbers, but it has a dedicated base that still love and discuss the show to this day. Tapping into said base with a UB set would be a smart move on Wizards’ part.
A Fool’s Hope?
Of course, this being a fan theory, there’s no guarantee that an Avatar: the Last Airbender MTG set is actually happening. It’s worth bearing in mind that everything so far is based on a single set of deals on MTG Arena. While they do seem to near-explicitly reference Avatar, it’s equally possible that they signify nothing. There are often little jokes and references made in the daily deals on MTG Arena, and this could simply be another one of those.
“It might just be that the one person who has to come up with these deals every day is a nerd who thought this was funny”
KZedUK
The context of other deals that reflect upcoming sets is interesting, but could equally just be a coincidence. Maybe the other five were intended as references to the five confirmed sets, and everything after is just business as usual? It’s impossible to say, and therefore impossible to put too much weight into the Avatar theory.
The fact that the set would line up with the planned Avatar movie at the end of the year doesn’t carry a huge amount of weight as an argument either. While some past Universes Beyond products, Fallout and Dr. Who specifically, have done this, most haven’t. Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth came out nine months before Rings of Power, for example. The Nickelodeon affiliation is also flimsy, since Spongebob could easily be a one-off thing. We’ve seen plenty of those from Universes Beyond in the past.
Overall, the evidence against an Avatar MTG set is stacked much higher than the evidence for. While such a set would make many players, myself included, very happy, we’ve seen enough theories like this amount to nothing that I would advise tempered expectations. Sometimes the signs we long to see are mere strands of chance, after all.
