We've almost seen all the spoilers for Magic: The Gathering's Avatar: The Last Airbender set, but Wizards has saved some of the very best stuff till last. That includes Zhao, the Moonslayer, a red creature that references one of Magic's most famous red cards, Blood Moon.
Essentially, this MTG Avatar The Last Airbender creature card is a Blood Moon on a stick, turning all non-basic lands into mountains which can only tap for red mana. This effect is designed to punish greedy mana bases, five color decks that just don't run many basics. It also takes care of tricky utility lands or cards like Urza's Saga, stopping them in their tracks. And now this effect is in Standard.
Zhao is a brilliant card design, but a nightmare for multicolor decks to face. He doesn't start out with the full Blood Moon ability. Instead, at first he just makes non-basics enter tapped - which is annoying already, but will only slow most decks down a little.
But if you can pay seven mana, you get to put a token onto Zhao that activates his Blood Moon-itude.
It's a great card, and has neat synergy with firebending, since you can spend the temporary mana you get from your firebending attackers to fuel Zhao's ability. It's also fantastic flavor.
Spoiler warning for a 20-year-old show: this card references an episode where the depicted character, Zhao, kills the moon spirit during his invasion of the north pole, which shuts off the abilities of water-benders, who draw power from the moon. As he's taking this action, the moon turns blood red, and then goes out altogether.
Isn't that an incredibly fitting story moment for a Blood Moon-type effect? It's so perfect, it almost feels like it was designed to reference this card. Not only is there a blood moon in the episode, but it also has a dampening effect on some people's magical powers, just not the red-mana oriented firebenders. And that's what Blood Moon does! Wizards cooked here.
I'm gushing a little, but this is one of my favorite cards from the set so far. It makes this Universes Beyond set feel less like a cynical cash grab, and more like it exists in dialogue with Magic's own lore and history.
Cartoony art style aside, Avatar already felt like a more suitable property for an adaptation than Star Trek or Spiderman, and if Wizards can make more cards like this, it's going to make the prospect of a bazillion more UB sets in the future a much less bitter pill to swallow.
Cards on the table, Avatar is one of my favorite shows. I literally went to an orchestral performance of the soundtrack early this year. But Spider-Man is my favorite superhero, and I hated that set, so I went into Avatar spoiler season feeling pretty low. And yet, slowly, card by card, Wizards has managed to turn my misgivings into admiration, and now, darn it, I'm pretty excited.
I'd love to hear your take on the upcoming Avatar set though - come join the conversation on the Wargamer Discord. You should also check out the MTG release schedule, to see what's on the roster for next year.