Brewing an MTG Avatar: The Last Airbender Firebending Standard Deck

The new Magic: The Gathering | Avatar: The Last Airbender set (TLA) is just over a week away, releasing November 21st, and I couldn’t be more excited.

This release is hitting at the perfect time. Standard is in a wild place right now, trying to find its footing after that massive Banned & Restricted announcement on November 10th.

With the format’s top decks getting knocked down, there’s a huge power vacuum waiting to be filled.

This new TLA set is Standard-legal and brings four new Bending mechanics.

In honor of that, I’m setting myself a challenge, I’m going to try and build a new, competitive Standard deck for each of the bending abilities. And naturally, we have to start with the element of fire.

What is Firebending?

So, what is Firebending? The mechanic is simple and flavorful. Whenever a creature with Firebending attacks, you add X red mana to your mana pool.

But there’s a catch, the power is temporary. You lose this mana as soon as combat ends. The intended use is to cast instant-speed burn spells or use activated abilities during combat.

For example, the new Fire Sages is a two-mana 2/2 with Firebending 1 and an activated ability that costs mana to put a +1/+1 counter on itself.

It attacks, makes its own mana, and then uses that mana to grow. It’s a neat engine.

Bending the Rules with Electro

But neat doesn’t win tournaments. We want to do something unfair. That combat-only restriction is a real downside. What if we wanted to cast, say, a huge sorcery?

Well, I dug through the Standard-legal sets, and I found the loophole. The secret isn’t in Avatar at all. No, it’s in the Marvel’s Spider-Man set.

The card is Electro, Assaulting Battery. This 3-mana 2/3 flier has a game-changing line of text, “You don’t lose unspent red mana as steps and phases end.”

And just like that, the Firebending catch is gone.

With Electro in play, you can attack with all your Firebenders, generate a massive amount of mana, and carry it all right into your second main phase to cast your biggest spells. This is the Electro-Bending combo, and it’s going to be the engine of the deck.

Assembling the Deck

With this combo as our goal, the deck builds itself. We need creatures that generate mana and payoffs that spend it. From the new TLA set, I want to use Firebending Student. It’s a two-mana 1/2 with Prowess and “Firebending X, where X is this creature’s power.”

The synergy is beautiful, you attack, Firebending triggers, and then before it resolves, you cast an instant.

Prowess triggers, buffing the Student, so the Firebending ability sees the new, higher power and gives you even more mana.

Another key engine from the TLA set is Firebender Ascension. This two-mana enchantment is a fantastic deal. When it enters, it immediately makes a 2/2 Soldier token that has Firebending 1, so it’s already helping the game plan.

Then, it starts getting quest counters every time one of your creatures’ attack abilities triggers, which, yes, includes Firebending.

Once it has four counters, it copies those abilities, effectively doubling your mana and turning your attack step into an explosion of resources.

Of course, the deck can’t be all TLA cards. We need to fill out our curve with the best aggressive creatures already in Standard. Cards like Charming Scoundrel from Wilds of Eldraine are perfect, giving us haste and the choice of a Treasure, a new card, or a buff.

We also include Slickshot Show-Off from Outlaws of Thunder Junction, another hasty threat with prowess that works beautifully with all the instants this deck wants to cast. 

For our big combo-ramp payoff, we’re using the mythic Sozin’s Comet. It’s a sorcery that gives all your creatures Firebending 5 until end of turn.

Cast this before combat, attack with three creatures, and suddenly you have 15 red mana that, thanks to Electro, you can use to cast your entire hand post-combat.

If you don’t have Electro, the deck still functions. You can use your combat mana on instants like Fire Nation Attacks, which makes more Firebending tokens, or the mythic enchantment Fated Firepower, a finisher that you can flash in to make all your damage sources hit much harder.  

Stay tuned, next time, I’m going to try my hand at Airbending.

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