Aang, at the CrossroadsAang, at the Crossroads | Art by Brigitte Roka & Clifton Stommel

Avatar: the Last Airbender is a beloved animated series that has inspired me to write and dive into the world of storytelling. It's a show that I never get tired of rewatching and experiencing the same emotional beats that I experienced as a kid.

I know I'm not alone in this. It's a joy to see new, breathtaking artworks being made for a wonderful show from so long ago. And while I have feelings about UB products (I'm not alone in this either), I won't deny that I'm looking forward to opening packs of this set that feature moments of this amazing story.

Aang, at the CrossroadsAang, at the Crossroads will be the subject of today's Commander deck. As fans will recognize, this card depicts the final chapter in book two, in which Aang enters the Avatar state to fight Azula and the Dai Li. Flavorfully, Aang can die to Lightning BoltLightning Bolt before he can transform.

What Does Aang, at the Crossroads Do?

Aang, at the Crossroads is a five-mana Bant () Human Avatar Ally with flying. He has an enters trigger that can put a creature with mana value four or less into play from among the top five cards of our library.

If a creature we control leaves the battlefield, he'll transform at the next upkeep into Aang, Destined Savior. Once transformed, Aang is a 4/4 that gives land creatures vigilance. He also has earthbend 2 that will animate a land with two +1/+1 counters at the beginning of our combat.

Looking into the mechanics of this card, there are three separate things to consider: creatures with low mana value, creatures leaving the battlefield, and land creature synergies. I'll admit that I don't see how the ETB ability relates to animating lands, or how a creature leaving the battlefield fits in with this commander's other abilities.

When it comes to running Aang as our commander, there's a few different paths that we could take it. We could focus on the transformed half and go with a land animation themed deck and win through swinging with our lands.

Bant is a great color identity for this theme since it includes established land animators like Tatyova, Steward of TidesTatyova, Steward of Tides and Jolrael, Voice of ZhalfirJolrael, Voice of Zhalfir. What sets Aang apart from those commanders is that he gives lands +1/+1 counters, which opens up the option to include a multitude of counter synergies in the best colors for it.

Another path for Aang leans more into blinking him and reusing that ETB ability to allow us to cheat in our small mana value creatures. While blinking him can get us far, what if we cloned Aang? Clones often cost four mana, so if we grab a clone with Aang's ability and then clone him, it'll give us another trigger that can find us another clone, creating a chain that can cycle through our entire deck.

Creating a loop that ends with having an army of Aangs sounds like a good deal to me, so let's see how we can accomplish that.

The Avatar of a Thousand Faces

One hurdle we need to tackle when cloning our commander is the legend rule. Thankfully, there are numerous ways to overcome this. Sakashima of a Thousand FacesSakashima of a Thousand Faces and Spark DoubleSpark Double can both clone Aang and not die to the legend rule.

Clones that ignore the legend rule are key because when we start having other clones come in, we can clone the clones that won't go away. This helps set up our chain where we could potentially put all of the clones in our deck onto the battlefield in one turn.

While not a creature, Irenicus's Vile DuplicationIrenicus's Vile Duplication will create a non-legendary copy of a creature with flying. This gives us another target for our clones to copy when they enter, enabling the chain to be performed.

To ensure we don't whiff when finding a clone, we have a few ways to double Aang's triggers. Katara, the FearlessKatara, the Fearless will double any triggers from an Ally creature, allowing us to look at ten cards total and cheat out two creatures. If either end up being clones, they'll come in as Ally creatures when they copy Aang, and have their triggers double as well.

Roaming ThroneRoaming Throne will do the same thing except instead of Allies, we'll want to choose Humans as our creature type. There are plenty of Humans in the deck with trigger abilities we'll want to copy, such as Heronblade EliteHeronblade Elite, Loran of the Third PathLoran of the Third Path, and Eternal WitnessEternal Witness.

In addition to doubling triggered abilities, for a deck with so many creatures with ETBs, it'd be wrong to not include ways to double ETB triggers. Starfield VocalistStarfield Vocalist is just PanharmoniconPanharmonicon on a creature, but with an alternate casting cost that allows us to warp it in for just two mana. And even though it will exile itself if we warp it in, we probably won't have to cast it again once our clone chain gets going.

Traveling Companions

Along our journey, we've encountered many allies that will be joining our deck to make this game plan work. Elemental BondElemental Bond will draw us a card every time a clone comes in and copies Aang. Garruk's PackleaderGarruk's Packleader will do the same thing, but is a creature that we could copy. So, if our hand is looking light, we can copy it to quickly refill and find more clones.

Loot, Exuberant ExplorerLoot, Exuberant Explorer allows us to put additional lands into play as well as the ability to look at the top six cards of our library for a creature to put onto the battlefield. If we happen to not find a clone with Aang's trigger, Loot gives us another way to look for one. These creatures also become our backups if we don't control Aang. We can copy any of these creatures for value until we're able to get Aang back on the battlefield.

Recruiter of the GuardRecruiter of the Guard is a powerful tutor for this deck as it can tutor out our clones that can negate the legend rule. At three mana, it can be put into play through Aang's ability, and since most of the creatures in our deck have low toughness, we can use Recruiter to grab any utility creatures needed at that moment.

Blink effects offer a variety of options for this deck. Ideally, they're a way to blink Aang so we can start cheating in creatures. If Aang transforms, we can blink him to reset him back to his front facing side. Blinking a clone can also reset it, so if we had it cloning another creature, we can then have it clone Aang instead.

And a lot of creatures that have blink effects cost four mana or less, so we get cheat them in with Aang and start the chain that way.

SoulherderSoulherder is a repeatable blink effect that grows stronger when creatures are exiled. Restoration AngelRestoration Angel and Felidar GuardianFelidar Guardian are both blink creatures that work together to create an infinite loop. While not game winning on its own, if we have one of our Panharmonicon effects, we can then blink another creature infinitely, and put nearly every creature in our deck onto the battlefield.

Eerie InterludeEerie Interlude offers board protection in the face of any wraths, but at instant speed, this gives us the opportunity to start our chain on an opponent's turn. If we have clones on the battlefield, this will give us so many Aang triggers and become an unstoppable army of Aangs on our turn.

Of course we need ways to recover once our game plan has been thwarted. Ascend from AvernusAscend from Avernus can reanimate all of our creatures and we'd only have to put four mana into X to get our clones back. This too can start the chain of clone ETBs.

Guardian ScalelordGuardian Scalelord can return any nonland permanent with mana value less than or equal to its power. While it only has three power, it can either put a counter on itself through backup or we can give this ability to Aang and let Aang reanimate a clone.

Angel of IndemnityAngel of Indemnity is another reanimator, this time with an ETB trigger that can bring back any permanent with mana valve four or less. While it is six mana, its ability to get back any of our clones and be a blink/clone target makes it incredibly valuable.

I've been talking a lot about creating a chain of clones and putting them all on the battlefield, but is that enough to win?

One of the ways we can close out games is through Mirror BoxMirror Box. On top of negating the legend rule, it also gives every Aang we control +1/+1 for each other Aang we control–so long as they have the same name. Since Aang has flying, Mirror Box turns our army of 3/3s into giant fliers.

Once transformed, Aang, Destined Savior is also a win-con. Aang can earthbend a land into a 2/2 with haste. If all our clones end up transforming, we'll have a board of 4/4 fliers that can animate all of our lands into 2/2s.

Aang, at the Crossroads Commander Deck List

End Credits

With such powerful commanders we're seeing from this set, it'll be nice to see these characters across the table. I've been working on a few brews from this set. It's been awhile since I've looked forward to a UB set.

Which Avatar commanders are you looking forward to? Also, who's your favorite character from Avatar? Let me know your thoughts down below and I'll see you next time!

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