Firebender AscensionFirebender Ascension | Art by Tetsuko

Hello and welcome to the EDHREC Avatar: The Last Airbender Review of the best card type in Magic: Enchantments!

That sentence cannot be disputed, much like the notion that A:TLA is bringing a healthy helping of high-quality enchantments to our ever-growing card pool. All told, there are 29 enchantments in the set, varying from your standard style to Sagas, Auras, and even Shrines.

Then there are also 16 more unique enchantments from the Avatar: The Last Airbender Eternal supplement release.

So let's stop delaying and get to the goods.

Fated FirepowerFated Firepower

Normally we'd want to shy away from cards that don't do anything by themselves, and Fated FirepowerFated Firepower is a pretty classic example of that kind of card. But so is Doubling SeasonDoubling Season.

For Slay the Spire fans, Fated Firepower's essentially adding X strength to everything you do, which Ironclad fans out there know is worth every cent of mana you're paying.

Want to supercharge your PyrohemiaPyrohemia? Make Agate InstigatorAgate Instigator a fearsome threat instead of a mild annoyance? Have to go get the pizza for game night and want Descent into AvernusDescent into Avernus to end the game in a few turns?

Obviously, the more we pour into the X, the better value we're going to get, and it's somewhat surprising that this particular card doesn't have multiple Xs to pay into. And with flash, Fated Firepower is going to get very cozy with Braid of FireBraid of Fire.

And of course, anything that proliferates will just make the fire counters on Fated Firepower that much more menacing for opponents.

The Rise of SozinThe Rise of Sozin

In Commander, we usually don't want to pay more than four mana for a card that says "Destroy all creatures." We've got plenty of cheaper options for that effect. And we generally don't play too many "extractextract" effects either, what with the whole singleton restriction and everything.

But with The Rise of SozinThe Rise of Sozin, we can look beyond that when we staple those two things to an evasive 5/5 that gives us mana to spend on a built-in ability to reanimate the creatures we just killed.

When you add it all together, you get a card that doesn't need any outside help - a function of design that may or may not be healthy overall. But we're not here to discuss health, we're here to discuss power, and The Rise of Sozin is very powerful.

Pair it with ways to see your targeted opponent's hand before the second chapter goes off, to get maximum value. It'll feel pretty good to rip away that sandbagged kill spell you know would have been aimed right at Fire Lord Sozin's head when it flips to the creature side.

The Rise of Sozin is part of a five-card cycle with The Legend of RokuThe Legend of Roku, The Legend of KyoshiThe Legend of Kyoshi, The Legend of YangchenThe Legend of Yangchen, and The Legend of KurukThe Legend of Kuruk. Sozin's the best one, with Kyoshi coming in second. But all five are pretty dang good regardless, and you won't go wrong if you pop any of them into a deck.

Firebender AscensionFirebender Ascension

Speaking of cycles, Firebender Ascension is the red delegate among Earthbender AscensionEarthbender Ascension, Airbender AscensionAirbender Ascension, and Waterbender AscensionWaterbender Ascension. There's no black one, which is probably not a surprise for fans of the source material.

We're singling out Firebender Ascension here because, for your dollar, it's the best one. The green one's pretty good too, but the word "landfall" appearing on a card will immediately set some players' teeth on edge as much as it designates a card to be an auto-include for others.

For we're getting a 2/2 that gives us a free whenever it attacks. Already that's a pretty good deal, accelerating our mana for each turn in a non-green color. But it's the rest of the card that sets Firebender Ascension head-and-shoulders above the other three enchantments.

As we know from more Magic-centric sets of yore, the word "Ascension" is coded language to tell us it's an enchantment that accrues quest counters to pay off big down the line. See Archmage AscensionArchmage Ascension or Luminarch AscensionLuminarch Ascension for more. Ignore Crown of AscensionCrown of Ascension for this exercise.

For Firebender Ascension, we're trying to hit four quest counters for the payoff - a pretty easy feat since the card itself gives us a creature that'll fulfill the requirement to do so. And if you want to speed things up, there's no shortage of other creatures that'll trigger abilities upon attack.

In mono-red alone, there are about a dozen that cost one or fewer mana. Tossing down a Goblin GuideGoblin Guide or Taunting KoboldTaunting Kobold on the first turn then playing Firebender Ascension on the second all but ensures you'll get to four quest counters in a hurry.

Hell, you can even use the firebending Brazen CollectorBrazen Collector to gather quest counters.

And what do we get when we hit four counters? Only the current de jour favorite design lever of doubling triggers. We can think of a few creatures that fit the bill off the top of the dome we'd want to double: Goldspan DragonGoldspan Dragon, BalorBalor, or Hanweir GarrisonHanweir Garrison.

Maybe a little Two-Headed GiantTwo-Headed Giant action to supercharge your coin flipping deck? The sky's the limit.

Southern Air TempleSouthern Air Temple

We've got another cycle, this time again including black to make it a full five-color batch. And what's the theme here? Shrines!

In addition to Southern Air TempleSouthern Air Temple, we have Crescent Island TempleCrescent Island Temple, Northern Air TempleNorthern Air Temple, The Spirit OasisThe Spirit Oasis, and Kyoshi Island PlazaKyoshi Island Plaza.

As far as Shrine support, TLA and TLE also provide Aang's JourneyAang's Journey, White Lotus HideoutWhite Lotus Hideout, Guru PathikGuru Pathik, and big panda Hei Bai, Forest GuardianHei Bai, Forest Guardian.

It seems like just yesterday that Shrines were a niche strategy with no support, but times have certainly changed. Before this particular release, there were 17 enchantments with the subtype "Shrine," including one Shrine creature in Go-Shintai of Life's OriginGo-Shintai of Life's Origin that may or may not have been designed for a singular Shrine-shaped purpose in Commander.

With TLA, our five Shrines do pretty much what we'd expect Shrines to do, but better. Unlike previous Shrines, these also have an enters-the-battlefield effect to guarantee value immediately. The white one's probably the best, but if we're being realistic we know that if we're playing one, we're playing all of them.

Shrines as a strategy are much like many other themes that require full commitment, but with five new ones to include in Shrine decks, have they overtaken Gates in the tier list of gimmicky deck options?

Tectonic SplitTectonic Split

The more seasoned Magic players among us read Tectonic SplitTectonic Split during spoiler season and shed a single tear for the death of Overlaid TerrainOverlaid Terrain.

Sure, Tectonic Split costs two more mana to cast. But we're only sacrificing half our lands, not all of them, for the privilege of having them tap for three mana instead of two. And the dang thing has hexproof to boot. That power sure is creepin'.

That's the historical context, but what about the context that doesn't require the knowledge of a 25-year-old card from Nemesis? Tectonic Split is a very good card, full stop. No context needed of any kind on that one.

Assuming you're casting it on-curve, on turn six, you're sacrificing three lands. Your remaining lands now tap for a total of nine mana. You play your seventh/fourth land on turn seven. You've got 12 mana to play with.

This is Commander, however, and it's likely that you're not casting this on turn six but rather much earlier than that. Let's say you've popped out a Sakura-Tribe ElderSakura-Tribe Elder and a CultivateCultivate on turns two and three. Turn four Tectonic Split means you've got that 12 mana on turn five.

And that's not saying anything about the fact that the land-death that Tectonic Split requires can be a blessing instead of a cost in certain The Gitrog MonsterThe Gitrog Monster-shaped decks.

At the end of the day, green's got a new go-to toy for explosive acceleration, and we expect to see this card quite frequently in the coming months.

Seismic TutelageSeismic Tutelage

It's a tale as old as time that Auras are hard to design. They're inherently bad for tempo and are a card advantage black hole in many cases throughout Magic's history, so newer Auras really have to go above and beyond to impress anyone.

Does Seismic TutelageSeismic Tutelage achieve this? Arguably, no. Not really. It's still very cool, though.

We've been doubling +1/+1 counters since way back in SolarionSolarion days, and we've come pretty far since then in terms of efficiency in doing so. In fact, every release in the past 18 months (excluding Edge of Eternities) has had at least one card that says "double the number of +1/+1 counters" on something.

So where does Seismic Tutelage fit into the mix in terms of cost-to-doubling? Right between Sazh KatzroySazh Katzroy and Mossborn HydraMossborn Hydra. What sets it apart is that it's an Aura, and that makes it the first and only Aura since Hydra's GrowthHydra's Growth to do it.

Any deck that cares about both attacking and +1/+1 counters will take a flyer on Seismic Tutelage, but be prepared to be on the receiving end of a two-for-one.

Fire Nation OccupationFire Nation Occupation

Cards that encourage us to play the game of Magic in certain ways are always interesting. One of those interesting playstyles is the classic "Do everything on other people's time because we have Main Character Syndrome and have to insert ourselves where we don't belong" instant-speed everything deck.

Fire Nation OccupationFire Nation Occupation rewards that narcissism with the potential to create three 2/2 firebending Soldiers every turn cycle, which is incredible value from a three-mana enchantment that already gave us one such Soldier just for hitting the field in the first place.

If we want to do this sort of deck in black, what would it look like?

Fire Nation Occupation slots in perfectly alongside black decks that already want to sling some spells. The Soldier tokens we're making are perfect for a boost of mana for big X-spells, or to just be fed to things like Ashnod's AltarAshnod's Altar or AttritionAttrition.

This one may not be the best enchantment in the set, but it's damn near one of the coolest.

You Must Be Decisive

What do you think about all these enchantments? Did we miss any you think should have been highlighted? Are there any you've already made room in decks for?

Be sure to check out the rest of our Avatar set reviews. The ones already available are linked below, and there are still a few more yet to come.

More Avatar Reviews: