Jank Rank - Avatar: the Last Airbender

Aang, Airbending Master

Aang gets eight cards to himself this set and, the Last Airbender aside, they’re all commander bait. Well, okay; he gets up to eight cards to himself, depending on what percentage of Aang and Katara you wanna give him. And what percentage of Aang and La, Ocean’s Fury you wanna give him. So if you’re being really pedantic, it’s 7¾ cards to himself, I guess.

Regardless, our Aangventure starts with Airbending Master, so let’s get into the meat of this vegetarian’s card. Whenever one or more of your creatures leave the battlefield without dying, Aang learns you an experience counter. Then, in your upkeep, he checks your balance and awards you a proportionate amount of Ally tokens.

The first thing that stands out to me is the ol’ “or more” clause rears its ugly head here, so no, you’re not gonna get fifteen experience counters off of one Eerie Interlude.

In fact, that restriction causes Aang to end up a lot like Abdel, in that you’ll wanna find a way to ping-pong blinks between creatures to end up with tons and tons of tokens. Thankfully, Aang airbends when he enters, so he’s a much more straightforward implementation of the strategy; just plop down a Felidar Guardian to blink Aang, then use Aang’s trigger to airbend Felidar Guardian.

Since you’re accruing experience counters this way instead of outright creating creatures, it’s pretty resilient to removal, as your progress isn’t completely reset with a board wipe. Of course, you’ll have to consider whether or not all those defensive benefits are worth giving up Abdel’s ridiculous exponential growth and access to a second color through Choose a Background.

From an intrigue perspective, though, the optimal deck is readily apparent to anyone with enough game knowledge; it’s Obvious Deck Disease. We’ll get to the commander that can abuse airbending soon enough, don’t you worry.

Aang, Air Nomad

Let me tell you, if all the Airbenders could do what Aang plus Meekstone does, it might be enough to justify Sozin’s actions in my mind.

Aang, A Lot to Learn

Boy, he’ll sure learn a lot when all those kids he’s teaching get merc’d by the Fire Nation. Weird flavor implications aside: ladies and gentlemen, we have a second Selesnya Aristocrats deck.

Meet Asmira, Holy Avenger, a flying Cleric that gets a +1/+1 counter every end step for each creature you control that died that turn. I’ve always considered that card jank for embracing a strategy that’s deeply out of Selesnya’s wheelhouse, so this Aang certainly qualifies. The question left to answer is, which one’s better?

Well, flying beats the crap out of vigilance, there’s no way around that. Aang is slightly cheaper, but I’m skeptical that it matters in grand scheme of things. That leaves the only real difference between the two, and that’s that Aang gets his counter immediately, while Asmira waits until the end step. After much internal deliberation, I’ve determined this is a win for Aang, but it’s close.

First, the points in Asmira’s favor: If you board wipe and replay Asmira, you get the counters. If you board wipe and replay Aang, you get nothing. You can use a single Strionic Resonator activation to double the counters on Asmira; you can’t do that with Aang. Asmira works really well with Brought Back; Aang doesn’t.

This is all small potatoes when compared to the fact that Aang does much better with the Hardened Scales of the world, and there’s far more of those in Selesnya than trigger copiers or whatever. You’ll have to do the work to get him through blockers, but that’s no big deal when you’ve got Auras like Spirit Mantle. Have fun finding interesting death triggers!

Aang and Katara

If you include a bunch of mana dorks, artifact lands, and mana rocks, Aang and Katara will consistently create four or so Allies when you inevitably cast them on turn four, and more every turn thereafter. You can even go exponential if you invest in cards like Cryptolith Rite or any single Vehicle, which let you easily tap all your creatures down.

Six mana is a hefty price point for this kind of power, though. The will-they-won’t-they duo have no built-in protection or evasion, and they, specifically, have to attack to get that trigger. I suppose you could blink them if attacking makes you squeamish, but six mana? I mean, are people really that eager to draw a bunch of cards off Sea Gate Loremaster?

…Hmm. I might be that eager to draw a bunch of cards off Sea Gate Loremaster.

Aang, at the Crossroads // Aang, Destined Savior

This Aang comes with a free four drop, but he’s otherwise a worse Obuun, Mul Daya Ancestor with a few colors and keywords swapped so the teachers don’t notice. Plus, it’s a massive flavor fail that his backside doesn’t die to Bolt.

I’ll concede that Earthbend does have a significant advantage over Obuun in that it returns any land creatures that die back to the battlefield, but there are much jankier options in this set (mostly named Toph) if you want to abuse that particular foible.

If you want to go nuts, though, consider filling your deck with nothing but Felidar Guardians or Clones and watch as you cascade a bunch of creatures onto the battlefield. That’ll be fun to watch a few times, but my suspicion is that it’ll get old, fast, and your friends won’t wanna play against it very often.

Aang, Swift Savior // Aang and La, Ocean's Fury

This Aang is the only card in the set that can airbend a spell, meaning you don’t even have to wait for your Eldrazi to resolve before you can copy its cast trigger. It’s terrible offensively — “pay two colorless whenever you want and it’s like I did nothing” isn’t where I want to be when it comes to three-mana counters — but there are unique jank applications to explore should you target your own spells.

My most evil ideas involve Displacer Kitten. Imagine Aang, Displacer Kitten, and a storm spell. All you gotta do each time is airbend the original copy, and you get to keep going, sorta like a build-your-own Haze of Rage.

Oh, I guess he transforms into something, too. That back side is aggressively a card. I suppose it’s a nice backup plan when your faffing about on the front side falls victim to a commander game that isn’t filled with people just trying to do something neat.

Aang, the Last Airbender

More like Aang, The Last Airbender I’d Ever Put In My Deck.

Okay, Michael, think positive. People will rag on you if you talk smack about this beloved children’s cartoon. Uh, this is the only Aang that airbends a permanent type other than a creature? I got nothin’.

Appa, Aang's Companion

I still have nightmares about Core Set 2019 limited’s Pegasus Courser, and here he is, promoted to commander. That’s not because Pegasus Courser was good or anything; it’s because it was Core Set 2019 limited, the Magic equivalent of a droning, lo-fi aural soundtrack some kid without a whiff of talent whipped up for a Backrooms game.

Appa, Loyal Sky Bison

This Appa can airbend, but he’s still largely irrelevant in the wake of his mythic version. At least the art’s cuter.

Appa, Steadfast Guardian

Appa, Steadfast Guardian is going to be absurdly annoying once you get the cost reducers online. Whether it be Pearl Medallion, Helm of Awakening, Cloud Key, or some other fucking thing, as soon as your chosen permanent type costs nothing to cast from exile, you are looping triggers for days.

Just imagine: monowhite enchantress, where you suddenly get to cast all your enchantments again for free? White weenies, where you get to trigger your Evangel of Heliod over and over? And did you know there’s a land that discounts colorless Eldrazi spells by 2, and it’s legendary?

The tactics I mentioned with Aang, Airbending Master apply here, too, so go ahead and blink Appa to start the fun all over again. This big bison’s practically designed to go infinite, and best of all, you’re given a lot of flexibility in figuring out what’s the most fascinating permanent type to build around yourself.

Appa, the Vigilant

Jesus Christ, seven mana? You better be generating loads of Allies immediately after casting Appa, the Vigilant, because if you’re not, you might as well spend the extra one on Moonshaker Cavalry so you can end it right there.

Avatar Aang // Aang, Master of Elements

Well, here’s a festering case of Obvious Deck Disease if I’ve ever seen one.

Seriously, what is there to say? You’re clearly just gonna jam your deck full of the best bending cards in an effort to flip Avatar Aang into Aang, Master of Elements, which might as well have the text of Omniscience stapled to an additional rider that compels your opponents to play Russian Roulette with a fully loaded gun. If that commander map were still getting updated, I bet the entirety of this guy’s decks would be a single, uniform dot.

Avatar Kyoshi, Earthbender

Sending a constant stream of 8/8s at your opponents is undeniably fun, but being forced to wait until you’ve got eight mana to do it is a bummer. You’re gonna have to include a lot of ramp to have any hope of casting Kyoshi before the game’s over, and that means sacrificing card draw or a wide variety of creatures.

Then again, I guess you don’t really need all that much card draw or a wide variety of creatures when you’re playing Kyoshi. Seriously, what more could you need to draw when you’re hurling 8/8 boulders every turn? Just make sure you can find a way to give them trample or something, because seeing them stonewalled by a Bnnuy would be depressing.

Avatar Roku, Firebender

Roku’s neat. He’s a political-slash-goad commander that messes with the dynamics of combat, sorta like my Ardenn and Jeska list.

You’re supposed to use his combat-generated red mana to pump up a creature that’s attacking somebody else (“Go ahead and swing at them! I’ll give your creature six power! This is a totally normal dynamic between a group of friends!”). What you’re actually gonna do is cast every red instant draw spell ever printed in a furious effort to find Leyline Tyrant.

In fact, I feel like the last thing people wanna do is put that mana into his firebreathing, because it turns out being decisive and handling your toxic friends yourself is better than faffing about like an idiot. Going so wildly against an intended design is always jank in my book, so I’m impressed.

Azula, Cunning Usurper

I’ve always maintained that theft isn’t jank, since you can’t control what you ultimately end up playing — and when it comes to theft, Azula isn’t even good at that. Come on, the two worst cards an opponent has, for five mana, and you have to pay full price for them? I know she has firebending, but any given Gonti beats her at her own game, if you could even consider her a player.

Azula, On the Hunt

This version of Azula clearly doesn’t have the divine right to rule, though I like that you can immediately crack the Clue she generates with her firebending mana if you find yourself without anything more pressing. Also, anyone else notice that they’re not using the investigate keyword in this set? Curious.

Azula, Ruthless Firebender

This is a mythic? When I read this card, all I can see is that you have the privilege of discarding a card for no payoff whenever you attack.

Azula, Ruthless Firebender eventually gets large with field-wide discard spells, sure, and you can activate her ability multiple times to double or triple the effectiveness of your experience counters, but being large isn’t exactly a unique selling point in Commander — and even if I merely wanted a discard outlet in the command zone, I’m picking Chainer every time.

Honestly, instead of helming her own list, she’s better off in the ninety-nine of those decks that play all the experience counter creatures. She works well enough with a Geier Reach Sanitarium to generate experience counters crazy fast.

Bosco, Just a Bear

Whatever this card is, it is not a Bear. Bears are 2/2.

Anyway, Bosco, Not a Bear scarfs down Foods like a maniac, since he gets two additional +1/+1 counters for each course he’s served. He doesn’t have any protection or evasion, though, and that makes me sad; it really limits his potential.

Honestly, given the rest of this set, Bosco should have gained experience counters whenever he eats, and that experience would grant him a power and toughness boost. Don’t look at me like you don’t get smarter after you wolf down brunch; it’s a scientific fact, like how most koalas have chlamydia.

Bumi, Eclectic Earthbender

Earthbend 1? Okay, Bumi.

This card’s a finisher for land animation strategies, with the idea being “swing when you have a ton of land creatures.” A 4/4 with nothing else combat-relevant does not a profitable attacker make, though, and getting to an overwhelming array of land creatures for a measly couple of +1/+1 counters feels like a waste of time when you could play Jetmir or Kamahl.

Bumi, King of Three Trials

I’ll say this: we actually get some really good Lessons this set, so Bumi, King of Three Trials is much less of a drag than he could have been. Origin of Metalbending, Shared Roots (only in the Lessons decks, Rampant Growth is still bad), Seismic Sense, Cycle of Renewal, all of these spells are fine to good.

I wish I could say the same about Bumi himself, who is at best a vanilla 7/7 that animates a land into a middling creature and scries 3 when he enters. There’s no world in which that justifies six mana, let alone the command zone slot.

Bumi, Unleashed

So we’re tutoring out Ashaya, right?

If only land creatures can attack during that additional combat phase, then it stands to reason that you should turn Bumi into a land. If you do, and you make him unblockable, that’s infinite combats.

Even if you aren’t going for the combo win, constant access to the good half of Sword of Feast and Famine is still excellent, because you can like, tap those lands for mana, and stuff.

Chong and Lily, Nomads

There are ten Commander-legal Bards in red, which is far more than I was expecting. Add changeling and changeling token-makers, and that number goes up to twenty-one, which is… low, don’t get me wrong, but at the very least respectable.

Bard typal is undeniably jank, but if you prefer, you can eschew that line of thought entirely and simply cram your deck full of Sagas. Chong and Lily’s trigger does not stack with additional Bards, which is a missed opportunity — any excuse to use more of a weird type is fun — but on the other hand, that frees you from being forced to add shit like Valor Singer to your deck.

Plus, you really only need two or three Sagas before that power buff becomes meaningful. Pound for pound, I still find Márton Stromgald the stronger and more straightforward red go-wide commander, but I really like the spin these guys put on the strategy.

Combustion Man

At some point, Combustion Man is just gonna blow up the most pressing permanent every turn, probably at the exact moment when he gets ten power and infect.

Maybe he’ll create more interesting choices than I’m imagining, but if I wanted a deeply political game in this vein, I’d look to Starke of Rath or Diaochan, Artful Beauty first. Oh hey, there’s an Azula-themed reprint of Diaochan here, neat.

Fang, Roku's Companion

Fang reminds me of those Glimmers from Duskmorn that nobody could ever kill. Having flying and twice the commander per commander is a great upside, even if, stripping away the mystique, you’re basically just playing Halana and Alena again.

If you plan on building this dragon, I’d focus on red anthems that buff power without being an Aura or Equipment, since those won’t go to the Spirit World with Fang when he bites it. Goblin Oriflamme, anyone?

Fire Lord Azula

Here’s the big ticket commander. Mark my words, Fire Lord Azula’s gonna lead the decklist race this set — and if it’s not her, she’ll be second only to Toph.

The most succinct way to describe Azula is that she’s Grixis Kalamax, but way more flexible. Not only does she give you two free red mana to help you pay for stuff when she attacks, she can copy any number of spells until combat’s over.

There’s tons of possibilities here. You can go hyper-budget combat tricks, like my friend modular cocoon did. You can go flash; blue and black are the kings of flash, whether it be through Faeries or Leyline of Anticipation. You could even go sneak, since that’s a version of Ninjutsu which actually casts the card.

If I had to come up with my own jank idea for her, though, it would be Grixis enchantress. Do you know how many flash Auras there are? Imagine getting double-blocked, only to dominate combat with two copies of Eaten by Piranhas, which draws you four cards, because you have two Entity Trackers since that has flash for no reason and you cast those during your last combat.

Fire Lord Ozai

Man, Ozai has to do a lot of extra work for what Etali, Primal Storm steals for free. He’s also a lot more inflexible than what Szeras can provide when it comes to generating mana. Don’t bother trying to marry the two strategies; just pick one or the other and leave the Loser Lord on his throne.

Fire Lord Zuko

Remember how I said Aang, Airbending Master wouldn’t get much value off Eerie Interlude? Well, Fire Lord Zuko will.

If you blink your whole board, all your creatures come back from exile to a number of +1/+1 counters equal to the number of permanents that came back. You only need four creatures or so before that becomes a giant problem for your enemies, and if that’s not enough, Zuko generates a ton of mana in combat afterwards.

If you want a more unique build, might I suggest Adventures? Use the firebending mana to cast the instant side during combat, then play the creature side from exile later for the buff. Suspend would also be a fascinating idea, since those spells are cast from exile, too.

Flopsie, Bumi's Buddy

It’s a shame menace isn’t in green, because it would be awfully fun to have Flopsie render your entire board unblockable. I guess there’s still some Equipment to play with, but it’s just not the same.

Gran-Gran

My Discord moderator, Wit, told me not to make any inappropriate jokes about how you really wanna tap this old lady. Before you protest, I’m merely describing the function of the card. Pervert.

As for Gran-Gran herself? Well, she’s one mana, and she works fine with Vehicles or anything else that turns her sideways. I like her in Tocasia, for whatever that’s worth. Not commander material, but go ahead and build Grandma typal if you’re up for it, alongside Grandmother Sengir and, uh, the other Grandmother Sengir.

Guru Pathik

You know what really blocks my chakras? The fact that, of all creatures, Guru Pathik doesn’t care about experience counters. His entire purpose in the show was to give Aang a series of escalating lessons which would unlock his connection to phenomenal cosmic power.

What does he get in the card game? A single goddamn +1/+1 counter per spell. He could have even done something neat when a creature has seven +1/+1 counters! Disappointing, Wizards. Unsubscribe.

Hakoda, Selfless Commander

Either Tazri is better at finding the Allies you want than Hakoda, and they both five colors to boot.

But you’re not here for mediocre Ally synergy. You’re here for his sacrifice ability, and +0/+5 is a lot of toughness. It also grants indestructible, which makes the toughness bonus seemingly redundant — unless you load your deck up with cards like Baldin, Century Herdmaster, which transforms it into one hell of a buff.

Of course, you’re better off having it the other way around — put Baldin in the zone and Hakoda in the 99 — but maybe you still want a little bit of Ally synergy, as a treat.

Hama, the Bloodbender

“Noncreature” feels like a flavor fail. Isn’t the whole point of bloodbending that you control people to make them do stuff they don’t wanna do?

Hama might look weak on the face of it, but it’s worth pointing out that you don’t have to target one of the cards you milled when she enters; you can exile any noncreature, nonland card from a player’s graveyard, and it doesn’t go away once you cast it like a flashback spell would.

In other words, if your opponent makes the mistake of playing a board wipe into Hama, then that board wipe is gonna linger over the game like an off-color sex joke at a funeral. Welcome to the Magic deck that takes the fun out of everything!

Haru, Hidden Talent

Haru can easily earthbend a wide berth of lands if you can make tons of Ally tokens, but he doesn’t do it as consistently or as interestingly as other commanders in this set.

Hei Bai, Forest Guardian

I’d be flabbergasted if Hei Bai eclipsed Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin as a Shrine commander. That commander basically doubles the effect of your Shrines; this one just finds you a free one on cast. That’s not a bad thing, though, and I think Hei Bai will carve out a nice niche as the fun power-down subcommander, for when you find yourself in a pod you’re too strong for.

Hei Bai, Spirit of Balance

I wouldn’t use this Hei Bai as an aristocrats commander, the way his color identity and sac trigger suggests. Instead, I would run a bunch of cards like Luminarch Aspirant and blink him so cards like The Ozolith and Lae’zel can rapidly amass counters on things.

Iroh, Dragon of the West

Iroh is a fascinating Riot / Modular / It Just Enters With A Counter commander. The more creatures you control with counters, the more mana you can get.

Plus, I fell compelled to tell you that Iroh’s combat trigger is one trigger, meaning it’s ripe for Strionic Resonator shenanigans. It doesn’t matter that you’re spending two mana every turn when you get to basically double your firebending output. Fun fact: did you know that Comet Storm is an instant?

Iroh, Firebending Instructor

Draft chaff uncommon aside, the fact that the firebending instructor doesn’t have firebending aside, is anyone else extremely bothered by the disconnect between depicted scene and flavor text here?

For background context for those of you unfamiliar with the source material, Zuko’s arc in the story is a reflection of the typical Hero’s Journey. Instead of starting his quest as an unimportant figure who ascends to greatness, Zuko is born ascendant; he’s the crown prince of the world’s major military and technological superpower.

The weight and responsibility of his lineage has convinced him that it’s his destiny to act in a certain way; to lead the Fire Nation to ultimate victory. When he’s banished by Fire Lord Ozai for speaking out of turn, his preconceived notions of his role lead him to believe it was all his fault, and that capturing the Avatar will restore his glory and rightful place at his father’s right hand.

At the beginning of the series, he carries that pride so deeply in his heart that he’s blinded to what a shitshow his life has become since his exile. He helms one measly Fire Nation ship, when the arc’s main antagonist, Zhao, gets access to a frankly absurd amount of resources, to the point where he’s commanding an entire fleet by the season finale. It’s quite the dichotomy to witness the cocksure Zhao assault the Northern Water Tribe with hundreds of ships, while Zuko, who at this point is recovering from a literal assassination attempt, undertakes what’s effectively a suicide mission in a blizzard to capture the Avatar alone. He has to. He’s been beaten down so many times, and he still gets back up, because of his pride.

After that fails, to such an extent that he would have died if not for random chance, things go from bad to worse for him. Now an outright fugitive, he’s forced into even more dire straits while hiding in the Earth Kingdom. Zuko starts to struggle on not just a literal level, but a mental one. He’s shown the real consequences of the Fire Nation’s aggressive onslaught, and he’s given opportunities to make amends. The audience sees time and time again that he has the capacity to do good, but he’s held back by a misunderstanding of what “reclaiming his honor” truly entails.

It’s around this point that Iroh says the quoted line about humility, when teaching Zuko how to redirect lightning. In context, it’s a single, sharp sentence that cuts through to the heart of his conflict. Zuko does not need to return to his old glory; he needs to break his tether to it, and that’s why pairing that quote with this scene from Book 1 is godawful. It depicts a point before Zuko has suffered the failures he needed to in order to accept humility. He’s yet to question his heritage and destiny. He is not remotely ready to hear that wisdom.

This is just a bad card, on all fronts.

Iroh, Grand Lotus

Rest in peace, Kess; Iroh, Grand Lotus is coming for your crown with a vengeance.

“But wait!” you cry, indignantly. “Kess only costs four mana!” Yeah, well, Iroh is green. They’re gonna get cast on the same turn, and better yet, he gets to reuse all those ramp spells whenever he wants. With Firebending mana to pay for them, too.

As with any commander that can recast instants and sorceries from the yard, it all depends on how mean you wanna be. Run the gamut from combat tricks to endless extra turns, or go all out on Slime Against Humanity, the choice is yours.

His Lesson discount is actually relevant, too; if you can self-mill enough of them and then stick a cost reducer, you can get quite the storm turn, and unlike Lier, your counter spells still work as you combo off. Devious.

Iroh, Tea Master

Another donation commander, another legendary I find pales in comparison to Zedruu.

If you’re tired of pawning off bad permanents that nobody wants on your opponents, might I recommend instead sowing some chaos with Iroh by using Act of Treason to steal a creature only to permanently give it away to anyone other than its original owner?

Imagine making a bargain with a third person to keep Light-Paws away from the guy constantly buffing it with Auras. That would absolutely crumble that deck, and I’m all about that.

Jeong Jeong, the Deserter

That exhaust ability could have some cool applications, if Lessons weren’t parasitic and Jeong Jeong wasn’t absolutely hamstrung by his restrictive color identity.

Jet, Freedom Fighter

As I peruse Jet’s card, I can’t stave off the creeping suspicion that this would have been a two mana uncommon if it were printed in any given Modern Horizons set. He’s even a 3/1! Jet is a five mana 3/1!

Jet, Rebel Leader

Mono-white Jet is a worthwhile value piece. I’ve played enough with cards like Armored Skyhunter to know that this sort of effect can really get you some gas in a pinch. It’s not enough to carry an entire deck, by any means, but there are worse choices for your white weenie ninety-nine.

June, Bounty Hunter

You don’t even need to sacrifice creatures to reliably trigger June (and if you wanna turn creatures into card draw, you should really be playing Yawgmoth). All you have to do is cast Phyrexian Arena, and then pump her up to a ridiculous level of power before swinging in with an unblockable commander.

Katara, Bending Prodigy

Katara is a machine that turns infinite creatures (or infinite mana) into infinite card draw, so lean into that. Play every degenerate combo you can, and when someone complains, counter by saying that “at least it’s not Thrasios!”

She’s also fine as a member of the ninety-nine if your deck creates lots of creatures, since you can activate her waterbend ability at instant speed. Leave your tokens up as blockers, and then tap them for additional card draw at your antecedent’s end step.

Katara, Heroic Healer

A 2/3 with lifelink and additional upside is two mana. A spell that puts a counter on all your creatures is two mana. This card is objectively less than the sum of its parts.

Katara, Seeking Revenge

More like Katara, Seeking a Reason For Me To Run Her Over Xande (spoiler alert: there isn’t one).

Katara, the Fearless

A trigger doubler? Excuse me while I go call emergency services for my regularly scheduled aneurysm.

Intended typal synergies aside, Katara is herself an Ally, so if you can grant her triggered abilities, they will trigger an additional time. Double Bear Umbra sounds fun, as does double Staggering Insight. Oooh, doubled Summoner’s Grimoire! I’m kinda liking this weird Voltron vibe we got going on, here!

Katara, Waterbending Master

Well, this is the epitome of “draw, go.” Katara, Waterbending Master may not have actual waterbending, but when it’s turn four and you’re drawing at least three cards on every attack, that flavor fail won’t matter much.

I don’t find generic value engines all that interesting, but I appreciate that at least this one encourages players to interact instead of simply vomiting engine pieces onto the battlefield like a goddamn pig.

Katara, Water Tribe's Hope

X can’t be zero? Cowards.

That stipulation actually kills my enthusiasm for this card. Katara could have had all the Mirror Entity combos right in the command zone, but noooooo, Wizards had to make cards that make sense.

If I had a gun to my head and was forced to build something outta this, I’d try to get as many copies of Training Grounds on the field as possible, so I could discount that X cost. Vigilant creatures are also a good fit, since they can swing and then tap to buff everybody up, a play pattern that is hinted at on the commander itself.

Koh, the Face Stealer

Yes! Here we go! A card that can gain all the activated and triggered abilities of another card, without gaining its static abilities!

I can’t wait to manifest some weird fuckin’ Aura, and then sacrifice it to exile it to Koh, and then sacrifice a Licid to exile that to Koh, and then I’d use Koh’s activated ability to grant Koh the Licid ability to turn Koh into an Aura with the correct enchant ability, because enchant abilities are static abilities so it wouldn’t be copied if I chose to Koh an Aura, and then I would activate Koh to give it the activated and triggered abilities of the Aura I manifested using its ability that lets me choose a creature card—

Wait, a creature card exiled with Koh?! Motherfucker!

That one little word crushed all my dreams into dust. I was so ready to make Jess Dunks answer fifteen million different questions about what happens if I give Koh an Aura’s abilities or whatever, but nooooooo, I still have to do that with Idris like a fucking peasant!

Okay, there has to be a way to salvage this. Uhhh, you can use it to give high-profile abilities like Magus of the Mirror haste? Ugh, my heart’s not in this anymore. This is the most disappointing card I’ve ever read, and I own a copy of Wood Elemental.

Lo and Li, Royal Advisors

“You know who needs a new commander?” said an unpaid intern at Wizards. “Persistent Petitioners.” Everyone clapped, and world hunger was solved. This was a cautionary tale.

Lo and Li, Twin Tutors

None of the Nobles or Lessons seem particularly synergistic with lifelink except for maybe Azula, Ruthless Firebender, so run these two in the zone if you wanna spend five mana to prop up a mediocre secret commander.

Long Feng, Grand Secretariat

I quite like Long Feng, just more as a support piece instead of a leader — an Advisor, if you will. If I wanted the actual commander version of this card, I’d play Mazirek.

Anyway, he’s excellent in decks that want to play fetch lands from the graveyard, such as Zask or Szarel. That’s more free counters for doing what those decks wanna do anyway, and three mana is a reasonable price point for this effect.

Longshot, Rebel Bowman

Tor Wauki exists, so I can’t justify a command zone slot here. In the ninety-nine, though, I sense a new $10 Storm staple in Longshot, provided he doesn’t end up costing more than a quarter or so.

Mai and Zuko

And here we have another open-ended commander, which I always approve of. If you attack with Mai and Zuko, you get three mana to spend on any Ally or artifact spells, so long as you cast them during combat.

If your deck is full of Equipment that automatically attaches to creatures, then you could easily trick your opponents into making bad blocks. I really doubt many people are gonna be going the Ally route, but I’ve been wrong before. I mean, it’s infrequent, but it has happened. Once. Maybe.

Mai, Jaded Edge

Practically every spellslinger power-buffer worth playing gives prowess or some prowess-lookalike to your entire board. Mai hogs it all to herself, so I’m left wondering why you wouldn’t run Bria in her stead.

Mai, Scornful Striker

Compare Mai to Kambal, who, for just one mana more, has access to two colors, is asymmetrical, and also gains you life when enemies play their cards. Think about it; realistically, how many people are casting enough noncreature spells on turn two that getting Mai out early actually makes a difference?

Master Pakku

Pakku’s juice ain’t worth his squeeze here. You’d have to assemble the magical Christmas-land of five or so Lessons in the graveyard, a tapper-untapper engine, and the protection spells in hand to get away with milling people out. This, in contrast to any other mill commander, and you can see why I’m not enthusiastic.

And don’t you dare bring up Persistent Petitioners, just because someone is an Advisor that cares about milling doesn’t automatically make them a good Persistent Petitioners commander!

Master Piandao

If you could cast the revealed card without paying its mana cost, then I’d be on board. Without that, and at five mana, Master Piandao comes down too late to make any significant difference in your commander game. You might as well just run a draw spell that actually draws you four cards.

Moku, Meandering Drummer

Moku gives all your creatures haste, which could have some application, but a one mana tax on noncreature spells for something that’s barely better than what a prowess trigger would get for free misses the beat entirely.

Momo, Friendly Flier

I suppose you could just run Momo as a 1 mana Sword carrier a-lá Hope of Ghirapur. Frankly, I’m more concerned with why they had to call out non-Lemur in his static ability specifically. Did play design find some weird in-set infinite loop that relied on multiple Momos (Momen)? I must know.

Momo, Playful Pet

This Momo does a lot for one mana. It’s not enough, but it’s still a lot.

Momo, Rambunctious Rascal

Jesus Christ, four damage? What, does Momo have rabies or something? That’s the type of damage a giant, hulking lizard beast pumps out, not a comic relief pet character designed to take the edge off an otherwise extremely depressing episode.

Monk Gyatso

Quick! Where’s my Shuko? Where’s my Nomads en-Kor? I need to find my Nomads so I can blink any creature I want whenever I want for just two mana! Quick, Chauncey, fetch me my Nomads!

By the way, if you discovered this combo yourself and thought you were clever by titling your deck “Air Nomads,” I regret to inform you that you’re right, because all the decks on Moxfield are fucking gyatt jokes!

Nyla, Shirshu Sleuth

Has anyone, in the last ten years, actually sacrificed a Clue for card draw? Nowadays, Clues seem to exist for the sole purpose of “being an artifact.”

Here’s what happens: you toss away some sixteen-drop, you exile it to Nyla, you make that many Clue tokens, and then you cast Rise and Shine to end lives. Except Nyla isn’t blue. You get the idea, though.

Ozai, the Phoenix King

Phew! At least this Ozai says what everyone else is thinking, and puts the Leyline Tyrant in the command zone for you. He’s also a 7/7 with flying, just like the format’s forefathers; are we sure he’s not supposed to be the Dragon King?

Wait, isn’t Dante Basco, who voiced Zuko, Ozai’s son, voicing a dragon in The Dragon King, a show created by Aaron Ehasz, a writer on Avatar: the Last Airbender? Am I going insane?

Pipsqueak, Rebel Strongarm

Pipsqueak finally grows a pair if Jet dies, which is thematic, if nothing else.

Princess Yue

That’s rough, buddy.

Professor Zei, Anthropologist

I always like a good looter, especially one that can get back one of the cards you threw away earlier. There’s not as much depth here as Vohar or Rona, but he’s definitely playable.

Also, this is the exact moment I learned that you don’t capitalize earth in “on earth.” I always thought it was referring to the planet, Earth, but apparently it doesn’t. The more you know.

Ran and Shaw

Ran and Shaw are destined for the command zone — but only briefly, before everyone thinking of building a deck around them realizes they’d be substantially better in the ninety-nine of any given Miirym deck and they all trash their in-progress Archidekt lists without a second thought.

Smellerbee, Rebel Fighter

Here’s a go-wide commander I can bet on! Smellerbee works really well with extremely cheap creatures, all of whom she gives haste. Cast a bunch of them for almost nothing, then swing out with everybody to refill your hand. Render them unblockable with spells like Break Through the Line, and you’ve got a neat little engine going on, here.

Sokka and Suki

Sokka and Suki basically give all your Equipment a variant of living weapon that makes Allies instead of Phyrexian Germs. 1 mana 11/11, anyone?

Seriously, your entire deck might as well be Equipment, with a few support pieces like Puresteel Paladin and Sram. Even better news: Sokka and Suki works with token Equipment, so if you have a four-color Dan Lewis deck like I do, all your Treasures and Clues now arrive with their own jealous wielder.

Sokka, Bold Boomeranger

This the best they could do for Sokka? A worse Sprite Dragon at rare? Come on, he deserves better.

Sokka, Lateral Strategist

And here we have a too-specific two-mana value engine, reimagined as a three-mana commander. What is with Sokka and being outclassed by random two-mana cards?

Sokka, Swordmaster

And this Sokka is just a worse Ardenn! What the hell, Wizards?!

I guess this deserves a bit more explanation. Most Equipment cards aren’t really held back by their mana value, they’re held back by their equip cost, so discounting the casting cost doesn’t really help you all that much. Yes, Sokka does cheat on equip costs, but he takes forever to do that with any reasonable quantity of Equipment, so I’d rather end up running Ardenn and a partner instead.

Sokka, Tenacious Tactician

Okay, one last shot for Sokka to impress me. And — wait, what’s this? A creature that not only makes a lot of creature tokens when you cast noncreature spells, but buffs them up, too? It’s a miracle! A good card!

Frankly, if this is your commander, you don’t need anything more than an endless bevy of Opts. Play some two mana ramp to get Sokka onto the field turn three, and then cast nothing but cheap cantrips to consistently hit your land drops while building a board of beaters. I don’t think this deck will be particularly interesting to pilot, but at the very least it can compete.

Sokka, Wolf Cove's Protector

Suki, Courageous Rescuer

Another commander ruined by the infamous “this ability triggers only once each turn” clause. Who’s tripping over themselves to get one Ally a turn? Yes, I know if they didn’t have this clause, as written, you could sacrifice infinite Allies. I’m saying they should have worded the ability differently to let you keep going in a reasonable matter.

Plus, Suki doesn’t even count herself, so it’s not like you can get anywhere by blinking her specifically, either. You’re much better off with Appa or one of the Aangs instead. At the very least, her power boost is useful in the ninety-nine.

Suki, Kyoshi Captain

Wanna play Warriors? Boy, do I have the commander for you!

Suki, Kyoshi Warrior

This Suki is a two-mana premium over Shanna, who also sets her power equal to the number of creatures you control. For that extra two mana, you lose the protection and get the weakest possible token generation on attack.

Huh. The math isn’t mathing for me here.

Teo, Spirited Glider

There are better flying-focused commanders you can put in the zone. If Teo outright read “Whenever a creature with flying attacks, it connives”, I might have been on board, but since he only triggers once per combat, I’m gonna pass.

The Blue Spirit

The Blue Spirit not only draws cards when you cast a creature spell during combat, he also works well with both ninjutsu and sneak, as well as any quick blinks like Ghostly Flicker.

He’s so ninja coded that I wish he was actually Dimir, which would make both gameplay and lore sense, but I can imagine a new player’s confusion that The Blue Spirit is also black. After all, he’s not The Black and Blue Spirit.

Oh, quit your booing.

The Boulder, Ready to Rumble

Earthbending is so prevalent in this set that I’d need something more than just the mechanic itself to sell me on a commander, though I’m pleased that The Boulder snowballs once he starts earthbending for 4.

The Cabbage Merchant

Woof, The Cabbage Merchant is gonna draw you a lot of heat. If your opponents like to take twenty minute turns with dozens of spells, you’ll never want for mana, but even in games with normal, well-adjusted players, you’ll never truly be tapped out.

It’s worth noting that The Cabbage Merchant only forces you to sacrifice Food tokens, so if you have nontoken foods, like Gingerbrute, they will remain safe sources of mana. Definitely pack an Unwinding Clock.

The Duke, Rebel Sentry

Oh yeah, that makes sense. The Duke is the creature that’s supposed to combo with Pipsqueak. If you’re in a +1/+1 counters deck, he makes an acceptable substitute for Mother of Runes, though I still prefer the original thanks to its interaction with blockers.

The Earth King

The Earth King is gonna find you a lot of Forests.

I’m actually more in camp “play a bunch of weenies to pump them up with an Overrun” instead of straight-up using big beaters. That way, you can make progress towards your ramp dreams even before you cast The Earth King, as 4-power creatures usually cost at least three mana.

The Fire Nation Drill

As far as I can tell, The Fire Nation Drill is a five-cost removal spell that just so happens to target hexproof creatures. It’s fine, but if I wanted to make a control deck out of this sort of thing, I’d rather run Shay Cormac.

The Lion-Turtle

In terms of Lesson payoffs, “being able to attack and block with a 3/6” is so minuscule that it rivals the actual narrative payoff of The Lion-Turtle’s reveal in the series finale.

The Mechanist, Aerial Artisan

The Mechanist represents the second time a character voiced by René Auberjonois has shown up on a Magic card, and with Star Trek coming up, we’re liable to get an Odo card, too. I’m holding out for a Paul Lewiston card, myself, but that’s because I have an unhealthy amount of appreciation for the David E. Kelly dramedy Boston Legal.

Anywho, what does this guy do? Makes Clues when you cast noncreature spells, and then animates them into 3/1 fliers? I suppose that’s okay, if a bit bland. I’d be more on-board if he were capable of animating any artifact instead of merely tokens, so I’m gonna stick with Leonardo Da Vinci for this general vibe instead.

The Terror of Serpent's Pass

I wish Kiora Bests the Sea God could be my commander, but I guess I’ll have to settle for The Terror of Serpent’s Pass.

The Unagi of Kyoshi Island

Oh, this thing is gonna be a pain in the ass.

Don’t get me wrong, nobody is running The Unagi as their commander; they’d go all-in on The Council of Four, first. But imagine this alongside a Howling Mine or a Kami of the Crescent Moon; that’s six additional cards a turn cycle, and that ward cost, while tempered by the fact you can pay for it with artifacts and creatures, is still substantial.

Wait, it has flash for no reason? That alone guarantees that this Serpent will never be a dead card. Unless you play like a dunce, you’re going to replace it and get an extra card in hand for your trouble. It’s not Consecrated Sphinx, but it’s a good approximation, and that’s scary.

The Walls of Ba Sing Se

The Walls of Ba Sing Se feel like it was built for the memes. They’re gigantic, they’re flashy, and they’re downright terrifying in Arcades — but on the flip side, they don’t do anything on their own, they cost eight mana, and they die to Abrade.

Frankly, I’m more excited to reanimate this in my Shorikai list than I am to build a commander deck around it, but I say that about every eight mana artifact Wizards releases, so let’s move on.

Toph, Earthbending Master

At least Toph’s better than The Boulder, which is on brand, actually.

Like all masters of neutral jing, Toph, Earthbending Master doesn’t personally have to attack to make a difference, so you can keep swinging out with your army of killing-me-doesn’t-matter animated lands to build an ever bigger assortment of creatures. Get her out alongside Greater Good, and you’ll be set for life.

Toph, Greatest Earthbender

This is the Toph you play when you actually want to swing with your earthbent lands instead of merely abusing the fact that they can’t die.

Toph, Hardheaded Teacher

And this is the Toph you play when you want to abuse the fact that earthbent lands can’t die. Seriously, any spell? How many variants of Roiling Regrowth are out there? How many cantrips now have a “search for a basic” rider thanks to Evolving Wilds, or an additional “draw two cards” rider thanks to Roadside Reliquary? What if you’re an absolute dick and wanna play ponza vis-à-vis Strip Mine?

I was so convinced that this was busted that I went ahead and built my own deck with her at the helm while drunk at a furry convention, and even when I’m half-assing my deck construction, she’s insane. You’re in an especially good position if you can cast something that lets your lands enter untapped, like Spelunking. Imagine every “sacrifice this land” was “tap this land” instead, and you’ve got a pretty good idea of how the deck plays.

Toph, the Blind Bandit

Well, not every Toph can be incredible.

Toph, the First Metalbender

Toph, the First Metalbender is a spectacularly interesting commander, and there’s so many ways you can build her.

She has only two abilities: first, all your nontoken artifacts are now lands. They don’t gain any inherent mana abilities thanks to this — it’s not like they’re all Forests — but they’re lands nonetheless, which means they’re capable of being earthbent. Coincidentally, her second ability earthbends at the beginning of your end step.

With this combo of abilities, it’s a cinch to animate any (nontoken) artifact you want. All your Darksteel stuff? Indestructible creatures. All your eggs? They come back when you sac them.

Things get even more wacky when Liquimetal Torque enters the fray. Now you can make anything a creature. They still retain their old types; you’re not gonna be able to remove the Enchantment type from an earthbent Aura, but you’ve still got a ton of options.

By the way, earthbend also recurs things that get exiled, meaning you could continuously reuse cards like The Stasis Coffin or Aeon Engine which were definitely not designed with that in mind. I guarantee you this will ruin friendships, but you’re playing Toph, the First Metalbender, so you’re clearly more interested in game mechanics than tangible, real connections with other human beings.

All in all, fantastic commander. I can’t wait to wrack my brain to come up with something truly unique for her. Ooh, what about artifact theft and sacrifice with Aladdin?

Tui and La, Moon and Ocean

Throw it on the “good in Tocasia” pile and let’s move on, shall well?

Ty Lee, Artful Acrobat

More nonbenders than benders get Prowess in this set, and there’s something about that which feels fundamentally wrong.

Ty Lee, Chi Blocker

This Ty Lee can shut down a Voltron player in their tracks, preventing them from swinging until they can find the one removal spell buried amongst their piles of Auras and Equipment.

Does that make her worth a slot in the 99? Nah, I think I’d still prefer an actual removal spell, but if you really hate the Ardenn player in your pod, this is a real option.

Uncle Iroh

All these Lesson-specific effects seem great, until you realize that they’re all instants and sorceries and thus subject to actual discounts from actual commanders like Vadrik.

Wan Shi Tong, All-Knowing

Couldn’t fit “He Who Knows Ten Thousand Things” in the name field, huh, Wizards? Had to squeeze in “All-Knowing” as the epithet instead?

I suspect that people are gonna rush to make Wan Shi Tong into some sort of Totally Lost typal, but I’m more interested in the Reito Lanterns of the world. It shouldn’t be hard to put plenty of Junktroller effects in your deck to create an army of Spirits, and since they all have what amounts to Spirit-shadow, you should be able to bowl over an opponent fairly quickly. Break out your Forsaken Monuments, kids.

Wan Shi Tong, Librarian

Baseline, Wan Shi Tong is the important half of Hydroid Krasis, which already means he’s playable (and as an aside, this version actually combos even better with Panharmonicon effects, since his counters are put on him as part of his enters trigger).

Afterwards, you’re left with a big, flying, vigilant beater that gets bigger whenever your opponent searches their library. Wan Shi Tong also has flash for no reason, so if your opponent ever cracks a fetch and you’re holding up two blue, you’re guaranteed to replace him in your hand at a minimum.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: can you force your opponents to search their library so you can get Wan Shi Tong’s trigger over and over? Well, as someone who’s been trying to force Ob Nixilis for a while now, the answer is pretty much no. Most search effects are mays (which broke me when I realized that my partner with variant of the deck didn’t work). There’s stuff like Field of Ruin, sure, and while earthbend has made that much more possible, you’re still not realistically getting there. Maybe in a few years.

Yue, the Moon Spirit

Well, Yue, we all know what’s coming: Expropriate, Time Stretch, Rise of the Eldrazi, the deck builds itself. Thank God she has to tap, or else the game would be over the instant she hits the field guaranteed.

Zhao, Ruthless Admiral

You’d have to bribe me to make me think Zhao is worth the one mana discount over Mazirek. You lose the counter synergy, you lose the boost to toughness, you lose the ability to see other players’ sacrifices, and you swap green for red, which isn’t a good thing in Commander.

Zhao, the Moon Slayer

You know what? If you can reach the seven mana to make Zhao into a Blood Moon, you deserve it, buddy.

Zhao, the Seething Flame

I was kinda hoping for a version of Zhao that blew up your own Vehicles, but oh well.

Zuko, Avatar Hunter

How many red spells are you really gonna cast in a game after Zuko hits the field? Ten at most? Don’t get me wrong, that’s significant, but for Krenko, that’s a Tuesday.

Zuko, Conflicted

The presence of that fourth option didn’t really work out for the long-term popularity of Sol’Kanar the Tainted, and I suspect it won’t work out for Zuko, Conflicted, either.

Zuko, Exiled Prince

Zuko, Exiled Prince is a pretty nifty infinite mana sink, and firebending 3 is workable besides. You can use it to exile a card on attack, obviously, but you can also use it to cast pretty much any red removal spell worth playing. I like him as a pEDH lead.

Zuko, Firebending Master

The roughest part of playing Zuko, Firebending Master is bootstrapping him. You won’t have any firebending to begin with, so you’re gonna have to cast those combat tricks and removal spells for full price.

Once you’re up to three or four experience counters, though, you’ll be in great shape. Just make sure you pack enough power-boosting tricks to dissuade anyone from blocking Zuko; you really don’t want to snowball his commander tax or deal with summoning sickness in a deck this aggressive.

Zuko, Seeking Honor

Here’s a limited card if I’ve ever seen one. We’ve got ridiculously powerful firebenders like Iroh, Grand Lotus, and here we are with a man that gets a measly single +1/+1 counter on connect. Snore!