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Thoughts about why MTG Universes Beyond doesn't fully work for me, ludonarratively:

-Franchises like Doctor Who and Spiderman have no actual wizards and magic. Representing them in a game where the whole thing is casting spells, doesn't make a lot of sense. (Spiderman doesn't do sorceries or enchantments… The Doctor arrives by living alien tech in the form of a Tardis, not summoned by magic...)

-Everything and everyone in the Magic Multiverse is constructed in relation to the 5 types of mana inherent to the world and the game. Bringing in stories where the 5 colors aren't a thing, means you have to fit them in these boxes retroactively. Does every UB card have an appropriate color identity, both fitting in mechanics and philosophy? I assume this is quite a big challenge in designing cards, sets, and decks.

-In the adapted stories, colors already have different meanings and associations. I think it looks odd when an existing and known character design visually doesn't match their MTG colors. But sometimes it even feels like there's a direct clash between the story world's colors and the MTG colors. (How can you translate Avatar, which is inherently about 4 elements, into a 5 color game? You get cards like 'Avatar Aang//Aang, Master of Elements', where everything refers to the 4 elements, and yet the backside suddenly includes a 5th type of mana.)

#mtg #this is not even meant as “everything about UB is bad”#I would like other tcg's about those franchises #mtg doctor who #magic the gathering #mtg lore #mtg fandom #universes beyond #mtg universes beyond #mtg spiderman #mtg avatar #avatar the last airbender #avatar aang #tcg

Avatar: The Last Airbender Retrospective - Top 20 Competitive Cards

Number 9 - 68 points

Gran-Gran

Standard (61), Pioneer (3), Modern (4)

Gran-Gran is a staple card for the new Standard Lessons deck. While it does allow for a bit of draw and discard on early turns, letting you more quickly get over the three Lesson threshold in your graveyard, the primary benefit is cutting the mana value of your Lesson spells like Combustion Technique, which appeared earlier on this list, in half, greatly improving their versatility and power. This makes Gran-Gran a priority target to remove for your opponent, as it can essentially double the amount that you're able to do in a turn.

(I score competitive cards by assigning them points for appearing in the main deck or sideboard of Top 8 decks at larger tournaments such as MTGO Challenges or Magic: Spotlight events, and cards earn 2 points for appearing in the Top 8 at the biggest tournaments such as the Pro Tour and Regional Championships.)

#magic the gathering #mtg #mtg avatar #avatar competitive retrospective

Maro in an article about designing UB sets: "Magic players are used to being tossed into new worlds."

Well... I like when those new worlds are part of the bigger world. And when I can get to know the new world through Magic's story, instead of the cards being an ad for a whole different franchise.

#magic the gathering #mtg lore #mtg fandom #mtg universes beyond #universes beyond #mtg ub #maro #mark rosewater #mtg #mtg avatar #magic lore

Avatar: The Last Airbender Retrospective - Top 10 Commanders

Number 4 - 7,350 decks

Iroh, Grand Lotus

Iroh, Grand Lotus is the commander for decks that want to build around Avatar's Lesson spells, allowing you to cast any Lesson from your graveyard for only one mana. Most Lessons are slightly overcosted to balance them out with the other support cards in the set, but that doesn't particularly matter when you can double them for only one more mana. And since he gives your spells flashback rather than just copying them normally, you still get the full benefit from any Lessons you cast before Iroh was in play, rather than having to save them up for once you have him out. With enough mana, you can cast Iroh, then flashback a bunch of Lessons in the same turn.

Iroh synergizes with another version of himself that cares about Lessons, Uncle Iroh (62% synergy), which allows you to ignore the reduced flashback cost entirely, and with Lessons that get good value with his flashback ability like Waterbending Lessson (72%) and It'll Quench Ya! (65%). Although, It'll Quench Ya! ends up being worse due to Iroh's ability only giving your spells flashback during your turn, meaning you can't use it to counter things your opponents cast on their turns.

Iroh is currently the 11th most popular Temur commander and is ranked as the 8th most popular commander of the month. Iroh is an extremely popular character with fans of Avatar, and this works great as a thematic deck as many of the Lesson spells in the set capture iconic moments from the series. On top of that, he's just very powerful, letting you cast everything, not just Lessons, twice. The main issue with Iroh is that he suffers from a condition I like to call Magistrate-itus: players assuming their opponents won't remove their commander and building decks accordingly. His 6 MV cost means that if he gets removed, it'll be difficult to cast him again, and you need to untap with him in play to get full value. Regardless, Iroh will continue to see lots of play from fans, and is likely to pass up Haldan/Pako (#9) and Eshki, Temur's Roar (#8) in the near future.

#magic the gathering #mtg #mtg commander #mtg edh #edh #mtg avatar #avatar commander retrospective

Avatar: The Last Airbender Retrospective - Top 10 Commanders

Number 8 - 3,850 decks

Ozai, the Phoenix King

Ozai, the Phoenix King is built to support the new firebending mechanic which adds mana that has to be spent during combat. Ozai removes that restriction by causing all of your unspent mana to become red mana, allowing you to keep it not only between phases, but between turns as well. This makes him a powerful ramp commander in colors that don't typically do that very well, since you never have to worry about having mana with nothing to spend it on: it'll all be saved up to use later. Additionally, he becomes really hard to deal with as long as you have six unspent mana, something pretty easy to do since he makes four of it himself when he attacks.

Ozai synergizes with creatures with high firebending abilities like Firebending Student (63% synergy) and The Legend of Roku // Avatar Roku (60%), and with Firebender Ascension (64%) which can double firebending triggers.

Ozai is currently the 30th most popular Rakdos commander and is ranked as the 65th most popular commander of the month. Rakdos Big Mana is a pretty good niche with not a lot of competition, making Ozai one of the better options for someone wanting to build a non-green ramp deck. Additionally, Ozai has a pretty straightforward build path for more casual builders: just shove a bunch of creatures with firebending into the deck and it should work fine. While a couple other commanders in this set can support firebenders, Ozai is pretty clearly the option for someone who wants to make a thematic deck built around the series' conquering villains. I can see Ozai getting up to the 6,000-deck range in the next few months, passing up Magar of the Magic Strings (#17) and Rakdos, the Muscle (#16).

#magic the gathering #mtg #mtg commander #mtg edh #edh #mtg avatar #avatar commander retrospective

Avatar: The Last Airbender Retrospective - Top 20 Competitive Cards

Number 1 - 262 points

Boomerang Basics

Standard (144), Pioneer (109), Modern (2), Legacy (7)

Boomerang Basics doesn't do much, but it does it extremely well. For one mana, it gets annoying blockers out of the way for the turn, as well as any planeswalkers, artifacts, or enchantments. This kind of effect is always desired in Tempo-style decks, as they don't care if you cast it again next turn since they've essentially spent one mana to undo your last turn. The ability to target your own stuff is a great bonus, letting you get enter triggers again, like Fear of Missing Out in Standard Looting or Stormchaser's Talent in Pioneer Prowess, or if you have the mana, letting you reset your Monument to Endurance's choices in Standard Lessons.

#magic the gathering #mtg #mtg avatar #avatar competitive retrospective

Avatar: The Last Airbender Retrospective - Top 20 Competitive Cards

Number 2 - 198 points

Badgermole Cub

Standard (112), Pioneer (65), Modern (14), Legacy (7)

Badgermole Cub offers a lot for a two-mana body, putting 3 power and toughness on the board across two permanents on top of being a mana dork all on its own by doubling the amount of mana the earthbended land generates, and when paired with other mana generating creatures it can give you access to lots of mana early on. Its points come from Standard Landfall and a Ouroboroid decks (in the latter, it's created a secondary win condition of ramping into a massive Nature's Rhythm to bring in Craterhoof Behemoth), and in a few midrange decks in Pioneer, most notably Collected Company decks where it greatly accelerates how much the deck can accomplish in a turn.

#magic the gathering #mtg #mtg avatar #avatar competitive retrospective

Avatar: The Last Airbender Retrospective - Top 20 Competitive Cards

Number 3 - 156 points

Firebending Lesson

Standard (53), Pioneer (101), Modern (2)

Firebending Lesson is a new version of Burst Lightning, already an amazing spell in aggressive and tempo decks, trading the ability to target players and planeswalkers for being a Lesson. Its low mana cost and ability to destroy smaller creatures makes it a great spell to cast early in the game in a Standard Lessons deck to blow up a Llanowar Elves or Deep-Cavern Bats while adding to the count of Lessons in your graveyard. Its kicker cost means that even late in the game it's decent removal. Like Iroh's Demonstration, Pioneer Prowess decks almost always play at least a single copy in the sideboard to bring in with Learn to blow something up.

#magic the gathering #mtg #mtg avatar #avatar competitive retrospective