Avatar: The Last Airbender preview season is here, and we’re getting absolutely spoiled already. The last two days have been packed to the brim with incredible new cards, including great tools for both serious constructed play and casual Commander tables. On top of that, it looks like Avatar is going to have a pretty stacked event calendar, too, with some very nice MTG promo cards. Even if you haven’t been down to your LGS in a while, you owe it to yourself to check some of these out.
Unlucky Cabbage Merchant
Wizards is really getting their money’s worth out of this fan-favorite character. Not only does the Cabbage Merchant have a powerful card in the Avatar Jumpstart set, but he also has a full Secret Lair drop dedicated to him.
This version is interesting in its own right. What’s particularly noteworthy here is you can actually get multiple lands with this if you’re able to sacrifice multiple Foods at once. Even if Cabbage Merchant leaves play, the other stacked-up triggers will still go off. This makes the card an explosive ramp piece in Commander, provided you’re in the right archetype. Golgari Food and Samwise Combo decks in Pioneer and Modern, respectively, may find room for it too.
You can find this card in the Avatar main set as an uncommon. The promo version above, however, will be available exclusively at Standard Showdown events. Win any of these events between November 21st 2025 and January 15th 2026, and you’ll get a copy for yourself. Most WPN stores will have a stock of non-foil copies, while WPN Premium stores will get foil versions.
Gran-Gran
Avatar: The Last Airbender will also feature both Commander Box League events and Two-Headed Giant Commander nights. If you attend either of these, you’ll be able to score yourself a sweet Gran-Gran promo card.
This is a surprisingly interesting card. At a base level, it’s effectively a looter for one mana. If you have a way to tap Gran-Gran outside of attacking, such as Springleaf Drum, you can reliably dig through your deck every turn. Even if you do have to attack, there are generally one or two open targets in the early game. We’ve never had a looter at this rate before, so this is pretty exciting. Gran-Gran is also legendary, which means it enables Mox Amber as early as turn one.
While that second ability might as well be more flavor text in both Commander and constructed, I think the card does enough without it to be worth a slot in a lot of different decks. It seems pretty great in Norman Osborn//Green Goblin, the current flavor-of-the-month Commander deck, for example.
As with the Cabbage Merchant above, you can find Gran-Gran in the main Avatar set as an uncommon. The version above, with adorable art from Mizutametori, is only available at Commander Box League or Two-Headed Giant Commander night events from November 21st to January 15th. It’s a participation promo in each case, so simply showing up is enough to add Gran-Gran to your collection.
Other MTG Avatar Promo Cards
There are a couple of other MTG Avatar promo cards to look at. As with all modern Magic sets, Avatar comes with a buy-a-box promo which, in this case, is Firebending Student. We looked at this card when it was first revealed during the set’s debut, and it has some real potential in Standard. If you buy a sealed box of Avatar you’ll get to enjoy the card in the special extended-art treatment above.
The last Avatar promo card for today is undoubtedly the trickiest one to get. If you take part in either of next year’s Magic Spotlight: The Avatar events, you’ll get a promo copy of Day of Black Sun. These events will be held from January 9th-11th 2026, in both Atlanta, Georgia and Lyon, France. Simply registering for the main events here will get you a non-foil copy of this promo, while making the top 128 will get you a foil version. The latter will be strictly limited to 256 copies, essentially making it a serialized card.
Day of Black Sun is one of the early highlights of Avatar for Commander, so this is a fine pick for a promo card. The full lineup is solid, honestly, especially given how dire MTG promos have been recently. While these aren’t going to be drawing players in by the hundreds, they are a step in the right direction.
Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage!