Avatar: The Last Airbender is just around the corner now and like all Universes Beyond sets, it's jam-packed with legendary creatures that you could enlist as your next MTG commander. Not all Magic: The Gathering legends are made equal though, so we've taken a look at all 112 (that's 111 creatures, plus one legendary vehicle) to figure out the best ones you can build a deck around.
I've considered a combination of factors while putting this list together. Power is important, obviously, but so is having a unique effect that is genuinely fun to build around and can be taken in a lot of different directions.
This isn't purely a popularity contest either. Anyone can go to EDHREC and look at the top-ranking Avatar The Last Airbender commanders, but I've tried to dig a little deeper here and include a few options you might not have noticed yet.
10. Monk Gyatso
Starting off with one that I feel is flying way under the radar right now, Monk Gyatso may look like he's just an innocent cake-flinging old man, but in the show it's implied that he took out dozens of comet-powered firebenders at once, possibly by suffocating an entire room.
In EDH, his power level is similarly disguised. He looks like he's just there to protect your other cards from harm, surely a rank-and-file member of the 99 rather than a card for the command zone. The thing is, you can trigger his ability yourself, which makes Gyatso an absurd combo machine.
All you need is a free ability you can target something with and a basic cost reducer like Semblance Anvil, and you can go infinite, casting and recasting the same creature over and over again.
There's lots of options here - chain-casting Eldrazi is obviously great, but so is something basic like spamming Inspiring Overseer. You could win with Bontu's Monument or even make a tribal deck using Urza's Incubator. The choice is yours.
9. Toph, Hardheaded Teacher
This less popular version of Toph is nonetheless the strongest earthbending commander in the game. You can build her with a lessons theme if you like, but my Toph doesn't give a toot about school, she's just here to earthbend a land each and every time I cast a spell.
If you run a bunch of cheap cantrips, you can quite quickly turn your whole mana-base into animated creatures. Then it's time for mass land destruction!
Okay, maybe that's not wise, but you can have lots of fun sacrificing your own lands over and over for major value and bringing them back to make your scutes swarmier. Fetchlands are fantastic in this deck, and when you tire of ramping, you can load all the earthbending triggers onto the same land to create a massive beater.
It's actually quite annoying to me that there's a Toph, Greatest Earthbender card that is significantly worse at bending than this one.
8. Toph the First Metalbender
We had to throw the most popular Toph card in here, too, even though I'm already a little bit sick of writing about it. Toph the First Metalbender is a brewer's dream, and while many of the more interesting tricks you can do with her were figured out months ago, it can't be denied that the playspace of turning artifacts into lands and earthbending them creates a lot of interesting options.
From stupid combos where you keep bringing back a busted artifact that's meant to exile itself, to landfall triggers galore, there are no wrong answers here. Oh, except Caged Sun; that's definitely incorrect.
7. Fire Lord Azula
Okay, time for some villains, and first up we have Azula at her most manic and dangerous. This commander copies spells you cast during combat, and makes her own temporary mana to help you pull that off. Spellslinging is the obvious road to go down here, but you can also clone creatures with flash; perhaps she's a secret faeries commander!
I'm very keen to try out the beautiful combo available with Etali and Azula. It's just a shame this creature doesn't have flying. Come on Wizards, she's using her rocket feet right there in the card art!
6. Ozai, the Phoenix King
Is it just me, or was it a little bold of Ozai to crown himself king of the world before he'd, y'know, conquered it? I guess he knew he was indestructible with six mana in the pool, though.
The red side of the card is going to be way more prominent here, with big rituals that produce a burst of mana and extra combat spells like Aggravated Assault which will help you achieve a commander-damage kill.
That said, there are some really strong X-spells in black you can use once you're crackling with power (I'm looking at you in particular, Torment of Hailfire).
5. Wan Shi Tong, All-Knowing
Not really a villain, at most I guess you'd call this spirit a minor antagonist slash disgruntled librarian, but Wan Shi Tong is a great commander to play if you want to be the villain of your pod. The game plan is simple, but infuriating: whenever your opponent comes at you with a deadly threat, you gently pop it back into their library. In the process, you get a constantly growing spirit army that can't easily be interacted with.
Since you're mono-blue, I'm thinking a blink strategy is a no-brainer, ensuring you can wipe out multiple permanents every turn. Then once everyone is good and angry, your spirits finish the job, beefed up with Coat of Arms.
4. Aang at the Crossroads / Aang, Destined Savior
The two sides of this Aang card seem really disparate, which means there are a lot of different things you can do with it. On one side we're cheating in creatures, with an ETB effect that'd be ideal for some blinking or clone effects, and on the other we're earthbending and making vigilant creature lands? Weird!
You'll probably want to pick a lane and stick to it, but even if your plan is to Cascade through your deck as quickly as possible with clones, this Aang goes into the Avatar state at the drop of a hat, so you'll probably have plenty of creature lands too!
3. Avatar Aang / Aang, Master of Elements
I'm not usually the biggest fan of five-color commanders, but Avatar Aang is a tier above the generic good-stuff leaders we usually get. I think that's because, rather than a single mechanic, you're encouraged to build around four here: the four different types of bending.
Even if you never ever intend to flip Aang, you've still got a relatively decent commander here. The card draw effect means you could just jam your favorite Avatar characters into one deck and you'd have something playable.
You probably should be trying to pull off the minigame and transform your commander though, as things get really wild once Aang goes Avatar state. If you manage to do every kind of bending in a turn (or cheat with Moonmist) you'll be able to play your whole hand with the massive cost reduction, then flip back next turn and trigger four powerful effects.
2. Iroh, Tea Master
I love the concept of a donate deck, and Iroh, Teamaster feels like an attempt to make a genuine good-hearted group hug version. Rather than handing out poisoned chalices the way a Jon Irenicus deck does, with Iroh's boros color identity, you'll usually be passing players genuinely useful stuff like Humble Defector and Yes Man.
Giving permanents to other players can often bite you in the bum, but with Iroh's ability you'll benefit regardless of whether your opponents hand your stuff back to you or keep trading it back and forth between themselves like jerks. And maybe you can win the political game, promising to hand out a Steel Golem to anyone who causes trouble.
1. Firelord Zuko
Every time I read this card I swear it gets stronger. What do you mean the whole board gets the counters?!
This card is playing around with some of the broadest themes in the format, with +1/+1 counters and casting cards from exile, both of which can be used in umpteen different ways. Strap a big bounty of free mana on top of that and there are too many options for me to even begin to run through them.
So… I'm just gonna rave about the flavor for the remainder of this entry. It's hilarious that Zuko works with exiled cards because he's now returned from his banishment to lead the Fire Nation. And it's so cute that this card works well with airbending too. Because he and Aang are friends now, you guys! Aww.
What's your favorite of the Avatar The Last Airbender commanders? Let us know over at the Wargamer Discord, or check out our list of the biggest chase cards in this set.