The Lesson cards in Avatar: The Last Airbender are a bit of a weird lot. Unlike this mechanic’s original appearance in Strixhaven: School of Mages, Avatar doesn’t have any Learn cards. Due to this, the new MTG Avatar Lessons can’t be pulled out of the sideboard in Limited or Standard.
While this is a massive downside in terms of playability, it appears to have opened up the design space significantly. Taking advantage of this, Wizards have created a handful of absolutely cracked Lessons for MTG Avatar. Even with Standard due for a shake-up next week, these cards are bound to be staples in the near future.
Shared Roots
Out of all the recently revealed MTG Avatar Lessons, Shared Roots is arguably the most surprising. This card is simply a strictly better version of Rampant Growth, although the only real difference is the Lesson subtype. Admittedly, this might not be the biggest difference on the surface, but there are plenty of Avatar cards that care about Lessons in the graveyard.
Beyond this inherent synergy, Shared Roots is just an insanely good card, and not one we expected to see in Standard. Previously, MTG’s Head Designer, Mark Rosewater, stated that Rampant Growth is “a little more efficient than we want ramping in Standard,” yet here it is. While design sensibilities can change over time, this is still a shocking twist we didn’t see coming.
In Standard, Shared Roots could potentially see play within Mono Green or Simic Ramp decks, but these aren’t huge at the moment. There’s always the potential for a breakout, especially post-bans, but Commander is definitely a safer bet. Essentially, any deck running Rampant Growth could use Shared Roots, and many will want both.
Considering Rampant Growth sees play in over 1,130,000 Commander decks, it’s safe to say this card is a soon-to-be staple. Just how expensive that will make this uncommon, however, remains to be seen. Don’t be surprised if it’s easily the most expensive uncommon in the entire set.
Enter the Avatar State
For just one white mana, Enter the Avatar State is absolutely loaded with keywords. Getting Flying, First Strike, Lifelink, and Hexproof all on one body, even for just one turn, is obscene value. As far as combat tricks go, this is undoubtedly one of the best, especially at uncommon.
Admittedly, while Enter the Avatar State is cracked, it doesn’t protect against everything. It’s no Heroic Intervention, for instance, as it doesn’t grant indestructible. That said, it still grants First Strike, so using it in combat can still put you on top. With Lifelink included too, the value swing this card presents is quite frankly obscene.
Despite offering tons of keywords and potential value, in Standard, it’s unclear where this card might see play right now. White really isn’t doing so hot at the moment, with Azorious Control being one of the few viable white-aligned decks. While the Hexproof that Enter the Avatar State provides could be somewhat useful to this deck, a counterspell is equally effective.
Even though white isn’t amazing in Standard right now, there’s definitely the potential for it to see play. Looking beyond this format and toward Commander, and Enter the Avatar State suddenly looks a lot better. Outside of a board wipe, which admittedly are prevalent in the format, Enter the Avatar State has an answer for most situations.
Whether you want to sneak in damage with Flying, flip a trade with First Strike, or protect a creature with Hexproof, this Lesson does it all. For one mana, you really can’t ask for more, and this card is bound to be popular as a result. It might not end up as expensive as Shared Roots, but this card is definitely one to watch as well.
Boomerang Basics
Keeping the theme of soon-to-be staple uncommons going, Boomerang Basics also looks like a hoot. Admittedly, while this card will definitely have its uses, there is one big factor holding it back. As a sorcery, the amount of value you can exploit from Boomerang Basics is somewhat limited.
Despite this rather steep drawback, Boomerang Basics still has potential. Getting to bounce a creature for one mana is always decent, but getting to draw a card on top is potentially fantastic. Sure, you do have to bounce something you own, but that’s hardly a bold idea in Standard anymore.
Esper Pixie might have fallen out of favor when Hopeless Nightmare was banned, but the Orzhov Pixie variant occasionally puts up results. By offering a cheap bounce effect and card draw, Boomerang Basics could be a reason to splash into blue once again. In theory, this could make it a future Standard staple, but that will depend on the state of post-ban Standard.
Sadly, outside of this potentially lucrative use case, Boomerang Basics is worse than the other staples on this list. In Commander, unless you’re running a self-bounce deck, this is effectively a worse Unsummon. It could still see play, of course, but I definitely wouldn’t expect it to be as expensive as the other uncommon MTG Avatar Lessons.
Elemental Teachings
Shifting up in rarity, Elemental Teachings unsurprisingly offers a pretty explosive effect. For five mana, you get to pull four lands from your deck, and you get to keep two of them. While the other cards are sent to the graveyard, unfortunately, it’s up to an opponent to choose which cards you keep.
Due to this requirement, you’re almost always going to get the worst possible two of the four cards you choose. While this is a pretty major downside, it is entirely possible to break this card and get some stellar value.
Unsurprisingly, the best way to break Elemental Teachings is with Dark Depths. Picking it, alongside Petrofied Field, Shifting Woodland, and Thespian’s Stage, can guarantee you a 20/20 Marit Lage token. The catch here is that you might have to pay upwards of eight mana for the privilege, depending on your opponent’s choices.
Admittedly, this combo is far from perfect, since the cards from Elemental Teachings enter tapped. On top of this, you’d need a token doubler and a Haste enabler if you wanted to get close to a one-shot kill. Thankfully, you don’t need to jump through these hoops to make Elemental Teachings a staple in some archetypes.
Essentially, Elemental Teachings is a better, albeit more expensive, version of Realms Uncharted. By putting lands onto the battlefield rather than in your hand, Elemental Teachings is bound to see play in graveyard-focused Lands Matter decks. This might seem like a niche of a niche, but Realms Uncharted is played in over 33,000 Commander decks, so it’s no slouch.
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