Scoop: How Magic: The Gathering's Avatar Set Revives Two Fan-Favorite Tribal Mechanics

Magic: The Gathering players often adopt tribal tactics — who hasn't constructed a goblin strategy before? — while this upcoming ATLA Universes Beyond release is reintroducing two well-known mechanics that fit seamlessly with its setting.

Reappearing Tribal Abilities

The initial mechanic, called "Ally," was debuted with the Zendikar set which provides bonuses whenever additional permanents bearing the Ally subtype enter the field.

Meanwhile, "Shrine" represents an enchantment type which first appeared in Champions of Kamigawa. While not creature-based tribe, Shrines also become abilities as you has additional Shrines in play.

The Return for the Ally Mechanic

While Shrines have appeared occasionally across newer sets, Allies subtype has been much rarer — but that changes in ATLA, where this mechanic is prominently used.

Aang has to gather numerous allies on the quest to restore peace to the four nations, so there's no better way to reflect this in a Magic: The Gathering set.

Exclusive Cards Showcase

After the first set reveal, here are a look of an Ally plus a Shrines cards from the upcoming ATLA set.

Teo: The Fan-Favorite Character

This character is a beloved supporting character in Avatar: The Last Airbender, a young man from Earth Kingdom that lived at the Northern Air Temple following his village was ruined in a flood, an event that rendered him paraplegic.

Due to his father's expertise with engineering, he can glide in the air using his glider, and dares the Avatar in an aerial contest.

This card Teo represents Teo's passion for the skies along with his tribe's use of flying machines through letting the player draw and discard whenever a player attacks using an airborne unit, while additionally pumping your team via +1/+1 counters at the same time.

The Temple Card: The Strong Shrine

Regarding Teo's home, this appears as the card Northern Air Temple, which reduces your opponent's life upon coming into the battlefield, based on how many Shrine cards you have.

The card also removes one more point whenever another Shrine comes onto the battlefield.

This appears to be a strong addition, considering the card's low cost plus valuable enter the battlefield ability.

One major weakness for Shrine-based decks outside of Commander are that Shrines are always Legendary, however Northern Air Temple can be effective in combination with Sanctum of Stone Fangs, which drains all opponents during the start of your main phase.

The Welcome Collaboration

Currently while Universes Beyond sets have been receiving a lot of criticism by fans, a beloved series such as Avatar can be precisely what MTG requires.

Spoiler season is already here, with all cards set to be released November 21st.

Stacy Nelson
Stacy Nelson

Maya Chen is a tech journalist and business analyst with over a decade of experience covering global innovation trends and startup ecosystems.