In a few months the MTG community will get to explore Avatar: The Last Airbender. The story of Avatar brings us to a world where people can control the 4 cardinal elements, earth, water, fire and air. We follow the character Aang, the last known airbender and the destined Avatar. The Avatar has the ability to control all 4 elements and has the potential to bring harmony to the world.

In the game of Magic the Ally creature type has been almost exclusive to the plane of Zendikar. With the release of ATLA we'll see a reprisal of the type with some new twists! No doubt Commander players will want to bring their favorite characters to life so let's take a look at some old school Allies we can use to power our team of benders! One of my fellow CoolStuffInc writers, Nigel Kurtz, wrote his own list not too long ago, so lets see how mine compares!

Honorable Mentions: Changelings

There are countless changelings in the game of Magic. They have numerous abilities and they slot in any deck with the ability to have every creature type. A creature like Mirror Entity lets us buff all of our creatures while making all of our non-Allies into Allies and Realmwalker will let us play our Allies from the top of our deck.

10. Seascape Aerialist

The last three creatures on the list fit the same theme. Seascape Aerialist does what the blademaster and champion do but better. Whenever an Ally enters the battlefield under our control they all gain flying. Outside of Horsemanship, flying is easily one of the best key words in the game. Ride the winds and soar to victory!

9. Resolute Blademaster

Just like the Ondu Champion, Resolute Blademaster gives our creature additional much needed keywords. The blademaster buffs all of our creatures with double strike whenever an Ally enters. Combined with the Champion we have an awesome combo to bash an opponent and by itself we have the ability to swing out and thin the board without risking our own creatures.

8. Ondu Champion

Ondu Champion gives our Allies some much needed keywords. Whenever an Ally enters the battlefield under our control all of our creatures get Trample. Granting pseudo evasion to our creatures is helpful when we want to go all out and eliminate a player from the table.

7. Halimar Excavator

Halimar Excavator gives us another avenue to victory. When an Ally enters the battlefield under our control, we mill the target opponent for each Ally we control. Just like Ondu Cleric, the more Allies the better. Just a few mills can eliminate a player in a flash!

6. Turntimber Ranger

Who doesn't love tokens? Well Turntimber Ranger absolutely adores them. Whenever an Ally enters the battlefield under our control we get to make a 2/2 wolf. The dream is to have something like Maskwood Nexus in play so that the wolf token triggers the ranger over and over again giving us a giant board. This combo will happen indefinitely, so make sure you have a way to kill your opponents, like Hagra Diabolist, or the game will end in a draw.

5. Talus Paladin

Talus Paladin is basically a double down for Ondu Cleric. Whenever an Ally enters we get to buff the paladin and give all of our creatures lifelink. Swinging big, dealing damage and buffing our life total is incredible. Even if we just gain 5 life, that's still a 10 point life swing in our favor. Talus Paladin will let aggro centric Ally decks secure victory in the long game.

4. Hagra Diabolist

Hagra Diabolist has the potential to eliminate a player from the table. For every Ally we play, we get to make the target opponent lose life equal to the number of Allies we control. As the incremental life loss grows, the faster we can eliminate the table.

3. Ondu Cleric

There is a common trend you'll see with the Ally creature type. They typically care about the amount of Allies on the field. Just like Harabaz Druid and Sea Gate Loremaster, Ondu Cleric wants us to hit a critical mass of Allies. Whenever an Ally enters, we gain life for each Ally we control. Giving us a healthy life total ensures that we'll last as the game continues.

2. Sea Gate Loremaster

"Draw a card" are likely the best 3 words in any card game. Sea Gate Loremaster is easily the master of drawing cards in an Ally build. With a quick tap, we get to draw a card for each Ally we control. Just like Harabaz Druid this card gets exponentially better with each Ally on the board. Is your hand empty? Fill it. Need to dig for a win? Do it! Just draw cards, a lot of cards.

1. Harabaz Druid

In any Green deck that cares about Allies, Harabaz Druid is always an auto-include. The druid gives us 1 mana of any color for each Ally we control. No one needs to be convinced that making a million mana is incredible. Harabaz Druid gets exponentially better as the game goes on.

The critically acclaimed Avatar: The Last Airbender is an obvious choice for a Universes Beyond set. The setting and characters align with Magic: The Gathering in more ways than one. Fan favorite characters will get to helm our commander decks and we'll get to use a fan favorite creature type to do it! Thanks for reading!