Avatar: The Last Airbender (TLA) Limited Introduction — Multicolor

Note: This article was translated from Chinese by AI and may contain errors. Read the original Chinese version.

Avatar: The Last Airbender prereleases will be held on November 14, 2025. Want to understand more about individual card ratings and advice for Limited? Then check out this series of TLA Limited introductions!

• For the mechanics, see this article: Avatar Mechanics Explained

Color Pair Themes

Basically, the color pair themes in this set are built from a hybrid-mana two-color common creature, a multicolor uncommon for that color pair, and a hybrid-mana uncommon legendary creature. Let’s take a look!

This time the color pair themes add a Takeaway chain, hoping to help readers further understand the key points of each color pair and its development possibilities

Takeaway: A → B → C → D
A: Basic traits — Who we are?
B: Color pair theme — How we stand?
C: Theme payoff — What we want?
D: Extended development — Where we go?

WU — Flyers

The common Cat-Owllooks like an ordinary flyer, but besides letting creatures block, its untap ability also supports Waterbend. The uncommon Air Nomad Legacynot only makes all your flyers bigger, but the Clue it creates also lets you draw cards. And the other card, Sokka, Lateral Strategist, draws a card as long as it attacks with another creature. If that creature is one of the flyers this color pair is built around, it’s even more likely to keep attacking and pull ahead on resources.

Takeaway: Flying creatures + vigilance → Flyer buffs → Gain more resources and cards → Waterbend

The Azorius pair has a heavier curve. Individual cards are strong enough, but the strategy is fairly linear, so it needs a powerful top end to raise the deck’s ceiling. The pair’s rares, whether Aang, Swift Savior // Aang and La, Ocean's Furyor Katara, Water Tribe's Hope, are both very powerful, and the Waterbend ability can blow open a board advantage.

UB — Draw Two

The common Messenger Hawkcomes with its own Clue token, which can actively support a draw-two effect, and its own attacking ability is quite considerable. The uncommon Foggy Swamp Spirit Keeperis the payoff for the draw-two theme: each time you draw your second card each turn, it creates a 1/1 colorless Spirit token, which has conditional evasion that can help you sneak in some damage. And the other card, Hama, the Bloodbender, has an ability that hints at the rare Bloodbending from the Avatar story. Bloodbending grew out of Waterbending, manipulating the blood and water inside other people’s bodies, which is why this card’s effect is also triggered through Waterbend.

Takeaway: Create Clues → Draw-two theme → Create more small creatures → Waterbend

BR — Fire Nation Aggro

The common Vindictive Wardenwrites all the keywords of the black-red pair right onto one card: menace gives it a measure of evasion and a better chance of surviving after attacking, and the red mana added by its attack-triggered Firebending can also be used to pay for activated abilities. The uncommon Cruel Administrator‘s Raid benefits from the groundwork menace lays, and when it attacks, the token it creates further boosts how much mana Firebending can add. And the other card, Zhao, Ruthless Admiral, besides having Firebending itself, also hints that pairing with the white-black sacrifice theme will give you better payoffs.

Takeaway: Creatures with [Firebending / menace / activated abilities] → Attack (Raid, trigger Firebending) → Create more creatures with Firebending → Sacrifice permanents (especially creatures and artifacts) for payoffs (WB)

RG — Earth Rumble Ramp

Whether it’s land creatures from Earthbend or lands entering the battlefield (Landfall), both let the common Earth Rumble Wrestlersmeet its power 4 condition, while also giving it trample, the most important ability for medium and large green creatures. The uncommon Bitter Workmakes the red-green pair not only have big creatures but also generate card advantage! Exhaust can only be used once, but the 4/4 land creature made by Earthbend 4 keeps this card-advantage loop running. And the other card, Uncle Iroh, with its Firebending and its Lesson cost reduction, is especially helpful for casting instant Lessons.

Takeaway: Care about land creatures + Landfall → Care about power 4 or greater → Earthbend → More mana (Firebending) + Interaction with Lessons (GU, UR)

GW — Allies

The common Earth Kingdom Soldiersomehow isn’t even an Ally!? And its effect of putting counters (+1/+1 counters) looks better suited to the black-green pair Not elegant!!!. The uncommon White Lotus Reinforcementsis simple and brutal, the Glorious Anthem for Allies. And what if you don’t have enough Allies? Rely on the other card, Suki, Kyoshi Warrior, to keep attacking and call in friends!

Takeaway: Put counters (+1/+1 counters) → Ally theme → Ally buffs → Care about the number of creatures (Allies) + Create more Allies (RW)

Since the green-white hybrid common is really underwhelming, I have to mention another green uncommon legend, Haru, Hidden Talent. This is a solid payoff for the Ally theme: each time an Ally enters, you can Earthbend 1, and it also lets Suki, Kyoshi Warriorgive up to +2 power with each attack. Don’t forget to take them together in the draft!

WB — Sacrifice

The common Pretending Poxbearersgets two uses out of one card. The uncommon Tolls of Waris a major payoff for the sacrifice theme. Besides actively creating a Clue to satisfy the second Ally-creating clause, it also relies on more engines that actively sacrifice to snowball. And the other card, Hei Bai, Spirit of Balance, is exactly the sacrifice engine this color pair needs.

Takeaway: Sacrifice fodder → Sacrifice theme → Active sacrifice sources (such as Clues) + Create more fodder → Sacrifice engines + Rewards for sacrificing or leaving the battlefield

White’s Airbend can also actively make your own creatures leave the battlefield

UR — Combat Lessons

The common Abandon Attachmentsis itself a Lesson, and its discard-one-draw-two effect can speed up filling the graveyard with Lessons. The uncommon Dragonfly Swarmencourages you to play more Lessons or noncreature cards and to put them into the graveyard early to boost its power and gain a payoff when it dies. And the other card, Professor Zei, Anthropologist, besides being a looting engine, can also be sacrificed if needed to reuse an instant/sorcery in the graveyard. In addition, both hybrid cards can draw extra cards, which also suits the blue-black draw-two theme.

Takeaway: Lessons + discard + draw two → Care whether the graveyard has Lessons (instant/sorcery, or noncreature) → Gain payoffs from Lessons in the graveyard → Reuse Lessons (instants/sorceries) from the graveyard

The hybrid cards’ draw-two effects are also very much needed by the blue-black pair, so these two color pairs will be fighting each other in the draft XD

BG — Counters (+1/+1 Counters)

In the original Chinese, a literal translation of “+1/+1 counters” felt too boring, so the theme is named after the common Chinese Limited slang for placing counters, “sowing beans” (the theme is literally called “Beans”). I hope readers like it.

The common Earth Village Ruffianshas a face that screams fodder, and should also suit the white-black sacrifice theme. The uncommon Dai Li Agentscan sow beans into soldiers when it enters. Two consecutive Earthbend 1 triggers add 2 creatures with counters on them to the board, gaining a bigger advantage in later combat. And the other card, Long Feng, Grand Secretariat, is even more powerful: each time a creature or land goes from the battlefield to the graveyard, you can keep placing counters, and with it around the black-green counters theme spins and can’t be stopped.

Takeaway: Creatures/lands dying + Earthbend → Care about +1/+1 counters → Add creatures with +1/+1 counters on them for payoffs → Stack all three above and roll the snowball bigger!

RW — Go Wide Aggro

The common Wandering Musicianshas a great body and can pump all your creatures when it attacks. The uncommon Sun Warriorscan make good use of its Firebending ability to create more Allies. And the other card, Jet, Freedom Fighter, benefits from the number of creatures, and besides serving as removal, it can keep boosting teammates after it dies.

Takeaway: Attack-triggered buffs → Go wide → Gain payoffs from increasing creature count → Encourage attacking and trading for extra value

GU — Ramp + Lessons

Besides milling two cards, the common Platypus-Bearhas a body well suited to blocking, helping ramp decks get through the early game. The uncommon Hermitic Herbalistis not only an excellent mana accelerator but also makes it easier for you to cast Lessons. And the other card, Guru Pathik, further lets you put Lessons into your hand and rewards you for casting them, extending to the two sub-themes of Sagas and Shrines.

Takeaway: Self-mill → Ramp + Lessons → More Lessons (Sagas and Shrines) → Cast Lessons (Sagas and Shrines) and reap the rewards

Hybrid Mana Opens Up More Possibilities in Limited

The ten two-color pairs are a signal that helps players get started with Limited quickly, but that doesn’t mean they are all of Limited, and the hybrid mana design used in this Avatar set greatly increases the playability of deck pairings! We know that for a given two-color pair, using one of its colors together with another color still leaves 6 other possible pairs. When building decks or drafting, don’t forget to take these possibilities into account too!

Take the WB pair as an example. The other pairs that use white are WU, GW, and RW, 3 in all, while the other pairs that use black are UB, BR, and BG, also 3, for 7 variations in total (if you also count mono-white and mono-black, there are 9 possibilities within two colors alone). For an easy way to remember, look at the three-color group that does not contain that pair; those three colors yield 3 other two-color pairs, and 10 minus 3 tells you there are 7 possible two-color combinations. (For example, the three-color group that doesn’t contain WB is Temur (subtracting GU, UR, and RG))

Rating Scale

5.0: Unconditional must-pick, brings a near-winning advantage
4.5: Must-pick if in the right color pair, brings a huge advantage
4.0: First-pick value, extremely good synergy with the color pair theme, can be a decisive card for splashing/switching colors or entering the color pair
3.5: Top uncommons and commons of the set and other single cards of sufficient strength, with good synergy with the color pair theme, can be a key card for entering the color pair
3.0: Important card for the color pair theme, and other above-average cards you’ll want in your final deck
2.5: Average level, usually a decent curve filler
2.0-1.0: Below average, generally not played, can be used as filler when necessary but not in excess
0.5-0.0: Unplayable, basically don’t play it, it will only help you lose

Ratings

Score: 4.0
Comment: Looking at five cards on entering, it’s not easy to whiff, and it basically brings along another card, and with Airbend or a few suicide attacks it can flip easily. Besides the body becoming 4/4 after flipping, your land creatures having vigilance means they can still make mana after attacking, and at the beginning of each combat you also get an Earthbend 2, which is quite powerful. Incidentally, adding a third color should be easy in a green-based deck, so it’s worth splashing to put it in the deck.

Score: 4.0
Comment: A bit like Spell Queller, but besides bouncing spells, it’s also quite useful for bouncing creatures. Waterbend 8 is a bit hard to reach, but if you’re good at the go-wide Ally theme there should be a chance to reach it. After flipping, attacking puts counters on all your tapped creatures, which should be close to winning.

Note: Waterbend 8 is a transform, not exile-then-return like other Sagas, and as long as it didn’t just enter this turn, it can attack right away.

Score: 3.0
Comment: Red’s Thrill of Possibilityhas also joined the Izzet’s new curriculum. Because it is itself a Lesson, draw two has many synergies in blue, so it’s worth taking early.

By the way, if you really don’t want to discard (draw), you can also simply treat it as a two-mana spell that puts a Lesson into the graveyard (though there’s hardly a need to XD)

Score: 3.0
Comment: Creating a Clue on entering supports Waterbend as well as drawing cards, and pumping all your flyers at once makes your air force even fiercer.

Score: 3.0
Comment: A quite powerful card, but four different colored requirements still make it somewhat hard to cast, so I recommend considering it only in green-based decks. If it can come down on time, it’s a 4-mana 4/4 flyer that draws a card each time it attacks (the attack-triggered Firebending 2 can trigger the draw). If the other three bendings can all trigger on the same turn, the flipped Avatar Aang can quickly help you win the game. However, rather than staying in the flipped Avatar Aang state, the payoff of flipping back each time may be more appealing!

Score: 4.0
Comment: Although it’s similar to an edict effect, since it exiles a nontoken creature, with the right timing it can also eat a threat. And exiling another nonland card from a graveyard, if you’ve used your removal accurately beforehand, can earn you the opponent’s high-value card. The attack-triggered Firebending 2 also helps cast cards exiled by Azula, which is quite excellent.

Score: 4.0
Comment: At minimum the body is a card that returns a 4/4 land creature when it dies, and with it around your creatures’ attacks and defenses will be far more reckless!

Note: Earthbend can also put +1/+1 counters on a land that’s already a creature, to pump it up.

Score: 4.0
Comment: The red-green pair’s designated theme card for creatures with power 4 or greater, drawing cards when the condition is met on attack. Exhaust can also Earthbend 4 on your own turn to make a 4/4 land creature. Remember that the Exhaust ability isn’t restricted to sorcery timing, so you can use Firebending mana to activate Exhaust during combat. Also, this card’s effect checks on attack whether any of those creatures has power 4 or greater, so if you respond with a pump after that checkpoint has passed, it’s too late to draw cards!

Score: 5.0
Comment: Outrageous! Five mana makes 9 power on the board, and if the opponent has no blockers next turn, dealing 13 total damage is no joke. Note, however, that in the extra combat Bumi’s hit gives, only land creatures can attack, and vigilance creatures cannot attack again!

Although land creatures alone untapping after attacking to make mana is already outrageous XD

Score: 3.0
Comment: A true “cat” owl. It can make a pseudo-vigilance flyer, or untap a powerful creature to block, both quite reliable; moreover, the untap effect also helps you activate Waterbend after attacking.

Score: 3.5
Comment: Red is all about Raid! So it will usually enter as a 6/5, and each time it attacks it can make a small creature, getting stronger the more it attacks!

Score: 4.0
Comment: Two Earthbend 1 triggers on entering can make up to two land creatures, and it is itself a super finisher for the black-green counters theme. When you sow beans into soldiers, your opponent has to remove it or it will soon be on to the next game.

Score: 2.0
Comment: Highly tied to the blue-red pair’s noncreature and Lesson theme, needing enough of those cards to be strong. You don’t need to take it too early in the draft; just take it if you see it after you’ve collected the components.

“Dragonfly” means the insect, but the name also puns on “dragon”, and the text and art feel a bit mismatched, which is quite interesting.

Score: 2.5
Comment: At least a 5-mana 4/5 vigilance creature, and it also fits the counters theme.

Score: 3.5
Comment: The Ally theme’s Thalia's Lieutenant, relying on it to make the Allies strong together!

Score: 3.0
Comment: Basically it beats people down as a 4/4 trampler, whether you’ve played a land or have previously triggered Earthbend.

Score: 2.5
Comment: A 3-mana 3/1 body isn’t good, but it gets an Earthbend 2 when it dies, which is like giving it an extra life. But its impact on the board is small, so it only gets an average score.

Score: 3.5
Comment: Casting spells while attacking means you can make good use of the mana added by her Firebending 2, and an extra Lightning Strikeis quite punishing too. However, since it’s a three-color pair without green, though the effect is powerful its castability is lower, so I took off some points.

Score: 3.5
Comment: As long as Zuko is on the battlefield, whether it’s Airbend, other effects that cast or use cards from exile, or other Cloudshift-like effects, they can all make your whole team grow, worthy of the Fire Lord who ended the hundred-year war!

Note: If a land creature made by Earthbend is exiled, it also triggers Zuko’s second ability when it returns!

Score: 3.5
Comment: An important defender for the blue-black draw-two theme + damage source. The 1/1 colorless Spirit token can be viewed as a small creature with conditional unblockability. Protect her and keep drawing two, and your opponent will be pierced to death by 1/1s!

Score: 3.0
Comment: A very good four-mana curve play for the blue-green pair. Looking at five and taking a Lesson, Saga, or Shrine is a steady card of advantage in a well-built deck, and it can further boost your other creatures after you cast one, quite impressive!

Score: 2.5
Comment: 5-mana 3/3 and restricted to 3 colored mana, the body is on the weak side, so avoiding an empty enter-the-battlefield ability is very important. If the mill goes well the ceiling isn’t low, but the opposite is also true.

Score: 3.0
Comment: A good four-mana curve play for the white-black sacrifice theme. If you don’t sacrifice an artifact or creature on entering, you lose out on body size, but if you do, the 4-mana 5/5 body fights well. When it leaves the battlefield you can also hop the counters onto other creatures, making it even more of a headache for the opponent.

Score: 3.0
Comment: A great mana dork that also makes your Lessons more efficient to cast.

Score: 4.0
Comment: Although it’s three colors, it has green so casting it isn’t a big problem. A 6-mana 5/5 body is enough to protect itself, and letting it live more than a turn will probably crush the opponent under the resource gap of instants/sorceries cast with Flashback. Very suitable to splash into decks with the other two colors.

Score: 3.0
Comment: A subtle card, but after discussing it we think treating it as a three-mana card that makes two 2/2 Allies but gives the opponent a Food, a score of 3.0 is quite reasonable. Considering the pressure the red-white pair’s go-wide plan brings, giving the opponent a Food is still an acceptable trade. And in the late game, if you draw too many lands, you can also give lands to the opponent as needed to create more Allies and strengthen the board; since lands are hard for the opponent to deal with, the Allies created can easily grow bigger and bigger!

Grandpa’s tea has a flavor called home; his hair is all white, and no talking while he drinks tea~

Score: 3.0
Comment: In the red-white pair, dealing 3 damage when it enters should be no problem. As long as you’re not being pressed early, it can serve as steady removal. A 3/1 creature may not be able to do much after entering and will probably take part in one round of attacking and blocking before turning into two +1/+1 counters for your Allies.

Score: 3.0
Comment: A static ability tied to the Ally theme; if you’re not playing that, you don’t need to take it.

Score: 4.5
Comment: Other than the slightly heavy colored requirement, there’s nothing to criticize. Entering and making a 1/1 alongside may look ordinary at first glance, but with its own vigilance and Waterbend X, on the turn it enters you can, as appropriate, activate Waterbend 2 to make your whole team 2/2 (tapping her herself + the created 1/1 to pay for Waterbend 2). If she survives a turn, next time your whole team attacks as at least 6/6 (after untapping, attack with the whole team, pay 5 mana + tap the vigilant attacking Katara to pay for Waterbend 6, and with extra land drops or other vigilance creatures or artifacts you can get even bigger!)

Score: 3.0
Comment: Treating it as a Manaliththat gains 3 life when it enters is probably more realistic. It isn’t impossible for it to take part in combat, but the deck needs enough Lessons.

Note: The card design seems to borrow from Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle. Being a creature has pros and cons, and we wait for players to develop interesting deck builds!

Score: 3.5
Comment: When creatures and lands “die,” you can put a counter on a target creature, which is very useful whether for the sacrifice theme or for raising a few creatures with a bunch of small fry.

Note: The card not directly saying “die” is probably out of consideration that some lands go to the graveyard by being destroyed directly rather than dying as land creatures.

Score: 3.0
Comment: In the blue theme, drawing two to make it a 3/2 flyer isn’t hard and has a big early impact. The Clue supports draw two and also pairs with black’s sacrifice effects. It should be the blue-black pair’s top common, worth taking early.

Score: 4.0
Comment: Apart from a slightly heavy cost and colored requirement, it’s flawless. If other creatures with a combined Firebending of 2 attack with it, after attacking it’s a 7/7 trample haste indestructible monster! Unused mana doesn’t disappear, which basically also refunds the mana spent casting it, giving you an endless supply of red mana afterward!

Score: 2.5
Comment: A platypus-bear. Milling two cards on entering fits both blue and green, and if it hits a Lesson it can take part in attacks. Its 2-mana 2/3 defender body is also quite good, a solid two-mana curve play if you’re playing these two colors.

Score: 2.5
Comment: Fodder + a two-mana curve play for the white-black sacrifice archetype, and it also supports the Ally theme.

Score: 3.0
Comment: A Mad Prophetthat can block is very strong, and picking up an instant/sorcery is always useful.

Score: 3.0
Comment: A thematic beneficiary of white-black sacrifice. It grows as long as you sacrifice one permanent, and after it dies you can also exile it to dig out of the graveyard a creature with mana value equal to or less than its power. This is a card I really want in the white-black pair!

Score: 3.0
Comment: Discarding up to two and drawing two on entering is quite flexible to use, but growing it big may take some thought.

Score: 3.5
Comment: Attacking with another creature earns cards, the vigilance 3-mana 2/4 body is also quite good, and after attacking it can still support Waterbend.

Score: 3.0
Comment: A very good four-mana creature in the Ally theme, providing evasion and room to grow with prowess. If the deck has enough noncreature cards, it can even build an army by itself. But considering that non-green three-color decks will find it somewhat hard to cast, I took off a bit of score.

Score: 3.5
Comment: Fits perfectly into the white-based Ally go-wide plan, and when attacking it can also create Allies to pump itself, a powerhouse capable of carrying on its own.

Score: 3.5
Comment: An important amplifier for red-white go-wide aggro. The 4-mana 3/5 body has a high survival rate after combat, and the Firebending X ability can make its ability more efficient. In short, just brand a bunch of Allies and beat people up!

Score: 3.0
Comment: The Clue it creates on entering lets you trigger its Ally-making effect once, but it still needs other sacrifice-engine themes to work steadily.

Score: 4.0
Comment: A 4-mana 3/4 body is mediocre, but getting back an important sorcery or instant right when it enters is quite good. Casting a spell lets you Earthbend 1, and it’s even more efficient if it’s a Lesson, so pay attention to your Lesson count when building.

Score: 4.0
Comment: Caring about nontoken artifacts limits how it performs. After all, although this set has plenty of artifacts, you’re unlikely to play too many, and its strength still lies in the Earthbend 2 at each end step. Because it touches green, casting it is easier, so I raised the rating.

Score: 3.0
Comment: Dedicated to red-green power 4. Firebending 1 looks ordinary at first glance, but it also lets Lessons cost one less to cast, and when attacking you can use the added red mana to cast a two-mana Lesson such as Combustion Technique.

Score: 3.0
Comment: A 3-mana 2/3 menace is a decent body, and Firebending 1 along with its activated ability can help you deal a few more points of damage.

Score: 3.0
Comment: A 4-mana 2/5 body is quite good, and the team-wide +1 power on attack includes itself, making it a minor bomb in red-white and green-white go-wide!

Score: 3.5
Comment: A first-pick in the Ally theme; the gap between a 1/1 and a 2/2 body is enormous.

Score: 3.0
Comment: A very strong four-mana creature. As long as you sacrifice another permanent, all creatures get +1 power, and with multiple triggers it stacks up.

Score: 2.0
Comment: Coming down on turn 2 on time to make a 3/4 is great. Going through the first three options you do gain resources, but you also lose 6 life, and before the fourth option sends this plague god away you also lose an 8th life, and then it gives this 3/4 to the opponent… Personally I don’t recommend using it in Limited. You lose too much life, and if you don’t land it on turn 2 on time, its impact on the board is even lower.

Conclusion

This time Avatar returns to ten two-color themes, and during the preview it made my eyes light up! Whether it’s the playability in Limited, the development potential in Constructed, or the story of this IP and its deep substance; although I’m not familiar with Avatar, this design not only makes me look forward to Limited but also makes me want to learn more about the IP. I think that, by explaining in an accessible way and blending each IP’s unique elements, look, and Easter eggs into MTG’s mechanics and gameplay, this is a kind of derivative creation that takes enormous effort, and I have to say the Wizards design team really made the main TLA set excellently this time (not including TLE)! And through such a link, MTG players and the IP’s existing audience become interested in each other, which would be a win-win collaboration. I think that is what Universes Beyond (UB) was originally meant to achieve, rather than leaving both groups disappointed.

What I’ve said above cannot be fully experienced unless you actually play Limited. So, this weekend, gather friends you haven’t seen in a long time and come experience the charm of Avatar Limited together!

The thoughts above were written before the release of the video Avatar Succeeds Where Spider-Man FAILED as a Magic: The Gathering Set. I’m honored that my evaluation of this Avatar Limited format is highly similar to that of Tolarian Community College. I also hope Wizards will switch to a sustainable, win-win way of running Universes Beyond starting in 2027.