Once again, we find ourselves with a Universes Beyond set where I know nothing about the source material! I was just a little too old for Avatar: The Last Airbender, and by the time my friends told me it was worth watching I had little interest in watching a cartoon which was really too young for me and didn't give me any sense of nostalgia.

That said, it doesn't mean we can't have fun with some of the cards. Any time I see a Commander who draws cards, I'm compelled - and in Mono-White? I suspect we can do something with this.

A 4/4 with First Strike for 5 mana isn't bad. We'd expect slightly better out of Green, for example, but in White this is pretty good. A 4/4 body is relevant, and First Strike makes him a solid blocker - but also a challenging attacker.

But the other ability is the one that really matters. Whenever our guy attacks, we get to dig four cards and put one in our Hand - as long as it's an Ally, Equipment, or Lesson card. Challenge accepted.

Master Piandao | Commander | Mark Wischkaemper

• Commander (1)
• 1 Master Piandao

• Creatures (21)
• 1 Appa, Steadfast Guardian
• 1 Appa, Aang's Companion
• 1 Aang, Air Nomad
• 1 Aang, the Last Airbender
• 1 Glider Kids
• 1 Jeong Jeong's Deserters
• 1 Avatar Enthusiasts
• 1 Katara, Heroic Healer
• 1 Momo, Rambunctious Rascal
• 1 Sokka, Wolf Cove's Protector
• 1 Talus Paladin
• 1 Hada Freeblade
• 1 Lantern Scout
• 1 Kabira Evangel
• 1 Hero of Goma Fada
• 1 Ondu Cleric
• 1 Mirror Entity
• 1 Hakoda, Selfless Commander
• 1 Makindi Patrol
• 1 Sram, Senior Edificer
• 1 Puresteel Paladin

• Instants (1)
• 1 Airbending Lesson

• Sorceries (8)
• 1 Aang's Journey
• 1 Academic Probation
• 1 Environmental Sciences
• 1 Expanded Anatomy
• 1 Introduction to Annihilation
• 1 Introduction to Prophecy
• 1 Mascot Exhibition
• 1 Reduce to Memory

• Enchantments (3)
• 1 Allied Teamwork
• 1 Folk Hero
• 1 Forge Anew

• Artifacts (26)
• 1 Bender's Waterskin
• 1 Blackblade Reforged
• 1 Bonder's Ornament
• 1 Commander's Plate
• 1 Commander's Sphere
• 1 Forebear's Blade
• 1 Golem-Skin Gauntlets
• 1 Hammer of Nazahn
• 1 Heirloom Blade
• 1 Hero's Blade
• 1 Magnifying Glass
• 1 Masterwork of Ingenuity
• 1 Mechanical Glider
• 1 Orazca Relic
• 1 Seraphic Greatsword
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Sword of Body and Mind
• 1 Sword of Feast and Famine
• 1 Sword of Forge and Frontier
• 1 Sword of Hearth and Home
• 1 Sword of the Animist
• 1 Sword of Truth and Justice
• 1 Sword of Vengeance
• 1 Sword of War and Peace
• 1 Thunder Totem
• 1 Wand of the Worldsoul

• Lands (40)
• 29 Plains
• 1 Ally Encampment
• 1 Bonders' Enclave
• 1 Buried Ruin
• 1 Castle Ardenvale
• 1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
• 1 Kor Haven
• 1 Minas Tirith
• 1 Monumental Henge
• 1 Myriad Landscape
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 War Room

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This deck is surprisingly mana-hungry. Because most of the cards fit Piandao's criteria, we almost always get at least one extra card a turn. Combine that with something like Sword of Forge and Frontier, and suddenly we want to be casting things quite a lot. That means Lands, 40 of them. While the bulk of our Lands are basic Plains, we do have a few utilities. War Room is a great addition to any mono-colored deck, Emeria, the Sky Ruin is always solid, and Ally Encampment is on-theme and can actually buy back an important Ally. In the event of extra mana, Monumental Henge gives us something to do and will almost always hit with the Artifacts we've got. Kor Haven is an oldie but a goodie, especially with plenty of mana. It's quite surprising how effective that can be.

We've also got a number of mana rocks. With a five-mana Commander, we can lean into three-mana rocks (a three-mana rock on turn three means a turn-four Commander), and three-mana rocks (much maligned by the cEDH community) often have a lot more utility than their two-mana counterparts. Arcane Signet comes down and is mana. Bonder's Ornament comes down, is mana, and draws us cards. Sometimes you need the speed of the Signet, but in this case, we can take the hit on time for the value. Bender's Waterskin is here in part because of its thematic connection, but it's also quite powerful to get to untap it every turn - not just ours.

Master Piandao draws us a card almost every turn, but that's not enough card draw. Sword of Forge and Frontier gives us two impulse draws when it connects, and Puresteel Paladin + Sram, Senior Artificer are great in decks with this many pieces of Equipment. Folk Hero should give us an extra pretty often. And Introduction to Prophecy is a Lesson which digs and draws.

This is definitely a red-zone deck, but it's funny because it walks the line between Kindred and Voltron. Very often, we'll be leaning into attacking with Master Piandao, so we're very likely to be Equipping him like crazy with whatever we're drawing with him. However, we're also going to wind up with a bunch of Allies, many of whom help us with abilities and effects when they Enter or hang around, so we'll often have to decide how we want to manage it. Attack with everything? Leave a bunch back for defense? Go for the one-shot Commander kill? Play the cards you've got and make the best decisions you can.

I love Introduction to Annihilation. It's such a clean design. You take the class, you learn the skill, and now you can make something disappear. We do have a bit of the Airbending ability kicking around, which we'll sometimes use on our own stuff to get benefits (we can Airbend our own Equipment with Puresteel Paladin out, for example, to draw more cards) but can be used offensively as well. Academic Probation is an interesting one which much be used carefully, but can be quite strong used well.

If you've never played an Allies deck, I encourage it. It's fun! They synergize like Slivers, but they're not as absurdly overpowered; the abilities are fun and complex but don't break the game or make everything unfun for everyone else. In White, you also get to play with Mirror Entity, which is a fantastic mana sink we can use to make our whole team quite large. Kabira Evangel can be amazing - suddenly you can send in your entire team. And Hakoda, Selfless Commander is a great addition to any Allies deck.

Forge Anew is an excellent fit here, too - it gets us something back (wonderful when one your Swords of X and Y gets destroyed), and the free Equip plus the ability to move Equipment around whenever we want is quite powerful.

This deck hits the sweet spot in Bracket 2 where it's consistent in its functionality but not in its play. Because Master Piandao keeps cards slowly and surely flowing to our Hand, we have action to mess with each game. But because the cards he gets for us are different every game, and we never know how it will all play out, each game will be different for us and our opponents.

Thanks for reading.