Brewing an MTG Avatar: The Last Airbender Airbending Standard Deck
Magic: The Gathering | Avatar: The Last Airbender
We’re back! In my last article, we covered the combo-killing power of Firebending. Today, we’re switching elements and focusing on Airbending.
My challenge continues, to build a competitive Standard deck for each of the four bending abilities. This time, we’re building an Azorius (White/Blue) deck designed to use Airbending as an evasive engine.
The official design philosophy for Airbending is to “Stay light on your feet, disrupt your foes, and keep the battlefield clear and breezy.”
Let’s do exactly that.
What is Airbending?
So, what is the new Airbending mechanic? It’s a new keyword action with a simple design, “to airbend a permanent or a spell, you exile it.”
But just like with Firebending, there’s a catch. The card isn’t gone forever. The rules text continues, “while it’s exiled, its owner may cast it for (2) rather than its mana cost.”
The fair way to use this is as a tempo-positive removal spell. Your opponent taps out on turn five to play a huge, scary creature. You respond by casting a cheap Airbending spell, exiling their threat. You’ve removed it from the board, and though they can get it back, they are forced to pay (2) mana to do so, effectively acting as a bounce spell with a two-mana tax. It’s a great way to stall your opponent
Building the Deck Around Appa
The trick for the Firebending deck was all about bypassing a restriction (losing mana). This Airbending deck is going to do something different. It’s going to turn a cost into a game-winning benefit.
What happens if we target our own creatures with Airbending? Specifically, what if we target our own creatures that have powerful enters-the-battlefield abilities?
We’d have to pay (2) mana to recast them, which seems like a downside, unless we find a card that pays us for casting spells from exile. The card we want to use is Appa, Steadfast Guardian.
Appa is a 3/4 Mythic creature with Flash and Flying. Its text is a one-card combo engine.
- ETB Ability: “When Appa enters, airbend any number of other target nonland permanents you control.”
- Static Ability: “Whenever you cast a spell from exile, create a 1/1 white Ally creature token.”
Do you see it? This is the loop.
- You control a Novice Inspector, a simple one-mana 1/2 creature whose ETB ability is investigate (it creates a Clue token, which you can sacrifice for (2) to draw a card).
- On your opponent’s end step, you cast Appa, Steadfast Guardian.
- Appa’s ETB ability triggers, and you target your Novice Inspector, which is exiled.
- Now it’s your turn. You pay {2} mana to cast your Novice Inspector from exile.
- This one action causes two things to trigger: first, the Novice Inspector’s ETB triggers, and you create a Clue token. Second, Appa, Steadfast Guardian’s static ability triggers, and you create a 1/1 Ally token.
For two mana, you just drew a card and created a 1/1 creature. You’ve turned the mana cost into repeatable value.
The Rest of The Deck
Now that we have our engine, we just need to build a deck to support it. We’re in White and Blue, so we’ll fill the deck with the best Flash and ETB creatures in Standard.
- The Enablers: Aang, Swift Savior is the perfect partner. He’s a 2/3 Flash Flier whose ETB lets him airbend any target creature or spell. This is unbelievably flexible. You can use it to counter an opponent’s key spell, or you can use it on your own Novice Inspector to fuel the Appa engine. Airbender Ascension is another key enchantment. It airbends a creature when it enters (more fuel for Appa!) and, after you play a few more creatures, it transforms into a free Blink effect at your end step, re-triggering your ETB abilities every single turn for free.
- The Tempo: To stay light on your feet, we need instant-speed interaction. Aven Interrupter is a Standard favorite of mine. It’s a 2/2 Flash Flier that exiles a spell from the stack, forcing the opponent to replay it later. Floodpits Drowner is another Flash creature that taps and stuns an opponent’s creature, buying us critical time against aggressive decks. For hard removal, Aang’s Iceberg is a 3-mana Flash enchantment that exiles any nonland permanent until it leaves the battlefield.
- The Value: Besides Novice Inspector, we’ll run Quantum Riddler, a 3/4 Flier that simply draws a card when it enters the battlefield. Blinking this guy with Airbender Ascension or recasting him with Appa will bury your opponent in card advantage.
We’ve tackled Fire and Air. Stay tuned, because next time, we’re going to look at the element of Earth.
