🔗 Share this article Scoop: The Way Magic: The Gathering's Avatar Expansion Revives 2 Fan-Favorite Tribe-Focused Mechanics MTG fans often embrace tribe-based strategies — what player hasn't built a goblin deck before? — while this new Avatar: The Last Airbender Universes Beyond set revives two beloved examples which match perfectly with the setting. Returning Tribal Mechanics One first ability, known as "Allies," first introduced with the Zendikar set which grants buffs each time additional creatures with the Ally type come onto play. Meanwhile, "Shrines" is another enchantment subtype that originated with Champions of Kamigawa. While not exactly creature-based tribal theme, these enchantments also gain strength as a player has more Shrines on the battlefield. The Comeback for the Ally Ability While Shrines have shown up here and there in recent sets, Allies subtype has been far less common — until that ends in Avatar: The Last Airbender, where this feature gets central. The protagonist Aang must recruit many allies during the quest to restore peace across the world, and it's no better way to reflect this through an Magic set. Exclusive Card Preview After its first set announcement, below are previews of one Ally plus one Shrines cards in the upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender set. Teo: The Fan-Favorite Figure Teo is one cherished supporting character in ATLA, a young man from Earth Kingdom that resided at the Northern Air Temple following his home was ruined by a flood, which left him paraplegic. Thanks to his father's skill in engineering, he is able to fly through the skies with his glider, even dares the Avatar to a flying race. This card Teo, Spirited Glider represents his passion of the skies along with the Earth Tribe's reliance on gliders by letting you draw and discard whenever a player attacks with an airborne unit, and also boosting your creatures with counters at the same time. The Temple Card: A Powerful Shrine Regarding his dwelling, it is represented as the card The Northern Air Temple, that drains your opponent's life total upon entering play, depending on how many Shrine cards you control. It furthermore drains an additional point whenever a Shrine enters the field. This appears to be a strong addition, given its cheap mana cost and valuable enter the battlefield effect. A major weakness for Shrine strategies in formats besides EDH is the fact that Shrines are always legendary permanents, but Northern Air Temple can be great in combination with another Shrine, that drains every opponent at the beginning of your turn. A Timely Crossover Currently when crossover sets are receiving significant hate by the community, an iconic series such as Avatar can be exactly just what MTG needs. Preview period has begun, and the full set will be released November 21st.