Okay I need to gush about the upcoming Avatar the Last Airbender set in Magic the Gathering for a bit.
So, I don't play much magic anymore, but I still keep tabs on the new sets as they are spoiled. Especially when I gel with the plane or it's doing a Universes Beyond of an IP I like. In the latter cases, I love checking out how WotC depicts memorable characters and scenes from a flavor perspective.
This Avatar set is no exception. And while there are a lot of flavor wins in this set, I want to talk about just a handful of cards that perfectly depict a specific moment from the show.
There are, by my count, four cards depicting Azula in the main set and the jumpstart tie-in. All of which have black and red in her color identity, with two of them also containing blue. This makes her unique as far as Fire Nation aligned cards go, as all other cards depicting them are black and/or red, but NOT blue. This ties well into her cunning, deceitful, and manipulative nature. But enough about her, because I really want to talk about these two:
Mai and and Ty Lee are Azula's closest friends and most loyal lackeys. The three of them serve as the main antagonists of Book Two, pursuing Team Avatar, Zuko, and orchestrating the coup of the Earth Kingdom by the season's end. The two take a back seat throughout most of Book Three, only really showing up during scenes of downtime with Azula and Zuko.
This all come to a head in the episode 'The Boiling Rock: Part 2'. By this point, Zuko, Azula's brother and Mai's boyfriend, has officially turned his back on the Fire Nation and has joined Team Avatar to defeat Fire Lord Ozai. And through a series of coincidences, Zuko and Sokka are orchestrating a jail break at the titular prison exactly when Azula and her gal pals happen to stop by for a visit. Azula, psychopathic egomaniac that she is, is more than willing to cut the line of the gondola Zuko and company are currently using to escape. If that line goes, the whole gondola falls into the boiling volcanic water that surrounds the prison, likely kill all on board.
At this point, Mai intervenes. Subduing the prison guards, she buys Zuko just enough time to escape. Azula cannot comprehend why her underling would betray her like this. They both know what will happen next, Mai will definitely be imprisoned for letting a traitor go, if Azula doesn't kill her first. Then Mai drops a line that begins Azula's descent into madness for the rest of the season.
"You miscalculated. I love him more than I fear you."
This enrages Azula, as it stands in direct opposition to her might makes right, rule through fear worldview. Azula is now fully prepared to shoot Mai with literal lightning and likely kill her where she stands for her treachery. At which point, it is Ty Lee's turn to intervene. She too chooses friendship over fear and uses her chi blocking technique to temporarily disable Azula, but she and Mai are captured by prison guards before they can escape. Azula, unable to even move, much less fire bend, orders the two of the them to be thrown in prison and left to rot.
This scene, where Mai and Ty Lee take agency in their lives and choose to not stand by while the people they care about die are depicted in two more cards.
There is so much flavor in these cards. The art capturing the exact moment of their respective change of hearts. The change in color identities from red to black and blue symbolizing them effectively cutting ties with the Fire Nation. The fact that they gain the Ally subtype as they now oppose Azula and by extension the Fire Nation. Mai's flavor text being the above quote while Ty Lee having none as she is mostly silent during the whole interaction. It is all so good. But more than all of that it is how these cards, as well as their previous cards, interact with the card Fire Lord Azula.
Fire Lord Azula's main gameplan is to cast spells while she attacks which then gives her a free copy. The only type of spell you can easily cast during combat without exception are instants, which trigger the ability Prowess. Mai, Jaded Edge and Ty Lee, Artful Acrobat each synergize very well with Azula here, gaining power very quickly as you cast spells while having abilities that make them more dangerous during combat. These cards depict them when they are allied with Azula, and as such, they compliment Fire Lord Azula beautifully. (As well as the other three Azula cards since they all have the Firebending ability which incentivizes playing spells during combat, but I digress.)
However, Mai, Scornful Striker and Ty Lee, Chi Blocker actually work as good counterplay to the various Azula cards, and especially Fire Lord Azula. Simply having Mai on the field will cause Azula's controller to lose life for every noncreature spell they try to cast during combat (which again, is most spells you can cast during combat). Ty Lee on the other hand, can flash in at instant speed to tap down Azula before combat and shut her down completely for as long as Ty Lee remains on the field. And even though these two do act as counterplay to Fire Lord Azula, they can still easily slot into her deck for those who really want to Vorthos it up and make a thematic Azula deck.
There are so many other cards in this set that are major flavor wins, but the Mai and Ty Lee cards are among this sets best thematically.
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