Fire Lord ZukoFire Lord Zuko | Art by Jo Cordisco

Last week, I teased that I was going to cover one of the three Fire Lords: Azula, Zuko, and Ozai. Seeing the image and the title, you would already figure out who I'm covering: Zuko. I knew I wanted to cover him one day, but I needed to see the rest of the Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA going forward) set before I could tackle him.

We now know every card in the set, and its supplements. Armed with that knowledge, let's jump right into this deck tech.

Zuko Turns Over a New Leaf

If I had told you that Toph was my favorite character in the show, that holds true still. In fact, it's a tie between Toph and Zuko (Iroh is second, if you were curious). A large part of why is his backstory. In the beginning, Zuko was bound and determined to capture the Avatar to regain his honor.

Tragically, this began with him speaking out of turn (which he did apologize for, in fairness). His father, Ozai, went full overkill by burning his eye and banishing him, only allowing him to return if he captured Aang. But, after the first season, he began to turn, and Iroh had been guiding him through it. His redemption arc culminated with him joining Team Avatar, fighting a psychotic Azula in The Last Agni KaiThe Last Agni Kai, and becoming Fire Lord, ending the war.

Curiously enough, Zuko's firebending ability doesn't matter too much. It's his more flavorful exile-related ability that's the focus (but we are also running a ton of instants and activated abilities for good measure). Zuko also puts a +1/+1 counter on himself, making his firebending ability that much stronger.

That's a Whole Lotta Firebending

With Zuko generating red mana with firebending, we'll need to find ways to use it before end of combat, when it fizzles out. The most obvious use is to cast stuff at instant speed, like combat tricks. Anything with lots of generic mana in its casting cost can be reduced because of the firebending trigger, like Big ScoreBig Score. Instant speed X-spells are also really good with it, so we'll be sure to pack as many of those as we can.

One of the main reasons I decided to wait until now to do Zuko is because we needed payoffs for firebending. That's where cards like Fire Nation ArchersFire Nation Archers come in. With that, we have a mana sink that we could pour into, so that red mana doesn't go to waste. What makes things worse is that the number of payoffs we got is small, but that number goes further down once we eliminate the not-so-useful payoffs.

That said, there is another side to Zuko that needs to be said.

Disbanding the Army

That other side? Tokens! Zuko buffs each creature (including himself) each time something is cast or played from exile. In addition, with how exile decks work, they tend to snowball, and get out of hand quickly. Meaning, the creatures we buff will become lethal threats rapidly. Cards that act like "armies in a can" like Adeline, Resplendent CatharAdeline, Resplendent Cathar become very important, especially once we get things going. Canoptek Scarab SwarmCanoptek Scarab Swarm is that, and graveyard hate as well, letting us keep those reanimation decks honest.

Also, cards that make tokens and work with Zuko's firebending ability became all-stars. Secure the WastesSecure the Wastes and Sun WarriorsSun Warriors can unload a bunch of tokens very quickly. The latter is also noteworthy for fueling its own ability, since the amount of red mana we get from firebending is equal to the number of creatures we control.

It goes without saying that we'll need to protect our board. Opponents will see what's going on from miles away, and will act to try and stop us. This is where cards like Restoration MagicRestoration Magic and Boros CharmBoros Charm come in.

Path From Exile

I covered an exile deck not too long ago, and a lot of what I said there still stands. The only real difference this time is that we're going wide. Appa, Steadfast GuardianAppa, Steadfast Guardian will save our nonland permanents (and unfortunately resetting the counters we've been accumulating), but he allows us to recast cards from exile.

Sequence things right, and we're going to have a big army all over again, much to our opponents' collective dismay.

Conversely, we can use cards like Keeper of SecretsKeeper of Secrets and Passionate ArchaeologistPassionate Archaeologist to chip away at our opponents' life totals to soften them up for a death blow. Spider-VerseSpider-Verse will copy any card we cast from exile, giving us more value.

Finally, Wild WastelandWild Wasteland will skip our draw step, but it will give us to cards to cast from exile each turn.

Fire Lord Zuko Commander Deck List

Ending the War

I wish I had more mass token producers, but we'll take what we can get. This, you might say, is why we'll want to cast Ruinous UltimatumRuinous Ultimatum at the right time. It gives us a window with which to deal devastating damage with our beefy tokens, potentially closing out the game. In any case, there's plenty of cards in the deck that are best cast at the right time, like the protection spells.

However, given that Ruinous Ultimatum has a hefty casting cost, Descent into AvernusDescent into Avernus can give us a lot of ramp, but it also damages each player. So, while it whittles down our opponents' life totals, it also brings us down as well, so proceed with caution.

Lastly, there's Fire Nation TurretFire Nation Turret. This card will take a while to build up, but anyone who's experienced the power of Aetherflux ReservoirAetherflux Reservoir will tell us that it's justified. Fifty red mana is a lofty goal to reach, but getting there likely means that it reads "destroy target player." Unless, of course, we're up against those pesky lifegain decks. Then we get even more work cut out for us.

The firebending abilities will help us charge up the turret, but our opponents will try and stop us from reaching 50.

Multiversal Prosperity

Going into the in-universe card pool doesn't open up too much, but it certainly gives us some better toys. Cards like Ashling, Flame DancerAshling, Flame Dancer ensures we get to keep what red mana we get from Zuko's firebending ability, allowing us to bypass the combat limitation. Meanwhile, Tannuk, Steadfast SecondTannuk, Steadfast Second gives our other creatures haste, and lets us cast them from exile, assuming we warped them in first.

Checking out the expanded card pool also opens us up to a lot more exile options, making us potentially lean harder into it. Firstly, Cunning RhetoricCunning Rhetoric is a really good pillowfort card, letting us use our opponents' spells to make our board stronger if they attack us. On the other hand, Kami of CelebrationKami of Celebration exiles from the top of our library, and buffs our creatures, working in tandem with Zuko.

Lastly, while we don't get to do much to take advantage of the +1/+1 counters we'll be accruing, Dusk Legion ZealotDusk Legion Zealot will provide us with a steady stream of card draw, so that we don't run out of gas.

Peace at Last...

...or is it? Last year, I did an advent calendar, using packs to count down the days. I intend on doing it again. This time, I'll be covering them here (there's a Commander-related scheme in all of this. Also, it's possible that I'll do this with a 100% in-universe lens), and I'll be covering details on this later on, so I don't stray from the Commander focus.