Avatar: the Last Airbender is coming to Magic: the Gathering later this year. We have only seen a handful of cards spoiled so far and we can already point out some themes of the set. Bending elements is going to be a huge theme of this set, however, we don't have any examples of how those keywords work. Thanks to the newly spoiled Katara, the Fearless, we are now able to see that the ally creature type is going to be important in the set. As of right now, we have 96 total ally creatures across multiple sets. Now that we are aware that this creature type is going to be getting some new cards to mess with, we should take a look back and see what allies we already have. Here are the top 10 allies we currently have when it comes to Commander.

NOTE: Most ally creatures get stronger as long as you have a steady trickle of them entering the battlefield. Rally is a common keyword shared amongst ally creatures and it makes them feel like you are playing a sliver deck, just slower. Some of these allies might be auto included in your deck, however, some are pitfalls. Hero of Goma Fada is a perfect example of that.

10. Hero of Goma Fada

Hero of Goma Fada gives all your creatures indestructible whenever he or another ally enters the battlefield. Indestructible is a powerful keyword, but it goes away at the end of your turn. This allows you to go to combat without thinking about blocks, which is nice, but the high mana cost of this card is not great. Flawless Maneuver is a card that also grants this keyword, but at instant speed. Instant speed is where you want to be with this type of effect since you can respond to someone casting Doom Blade on one of your creatures. Hero of Goma Fada is a perfectly reasonable inclusion in an ally deck, however, it is at the bottom of this list for good reason. Let's move onto a more powerful card.

9. Agadeem Occultist

Agadeem Occultist is a creature that can reanimate your opponent's creatures from the graveyard. This is something you can definitely consider when looking at building an ally focused deck. Removing your opponent's biggest threat and then reanimating it onto your side of the board grants you a huge advantage. Agadeem Occultist's ability also only requires him to become tapped, meaning this is a repeatable effect. Now you have gained the ability to steal more creatures from your opponents graveyard the larger your board of allies grows. The tap ability does hold this card back slightly as it needs to stay in play for a rotation, but for the low investment of only three mana it is worth the risk. As long as your opponent doesn't have a Homeward Path in play, this card is always welcome to the battlefield, on your side of course.

8. Akoum Battlesinger

Remember how I said Agadeem Occultist has a tap ability, well forget that. Thanks to Akoum Battlesinger our occultist friend will now enter the battlefield with haste, actually all of your allies will. Haste is a slept-on keyword when it comes to Commander in my opinion. Gaining the ability to swing in for damage the moment your creature enters can be back breaking, especially in the late game when life totals are low. This creature also buffs your allies by +1/+0 until end of turn, which can get especially good if you are playing multiple a turn. I think this card is an auto-include for most ally decks.

7. Firemantle Mage

Firemantle Mage is a three-mana ally that gives your team menace when rally is triggered. Menace is a very powerful keyword when playing a combat focused deck. Allies are going to be swinging sideways, they don't have much of a gameplan other than that. Making your opponents use up two of their blockers each combat will eventually dwindle your opponents forces and their life totals.

6. Kalastria Healer

Kalastria Healer is a great early game piece to help slowly drain out your opponents. Kalastria Healer's rally ability gains you one life and makes your opponents lose one life. This slow trickle of drain throughout the game will start to add up over time. Two mana is such a cheap investment for this card, since it will snowball in value turn after turn. The goal of an ally deck is to cast ally creatures, so triggering this once or twice a turn is within reason. Lifegain also is best when life totals are low, especially in the late game where every combat becomes a complex math equation.

5. Lantern Scout

Lantern Scout gives your team lifelink when rally is triggered. Lifelink causes huge dynamic upsets in a game. When you deal 8 damage to an opponent with lifelink you cause a 16 life difference between you. This causes huge shifts in a game when you have the ability to create such a gap between your life and your opponents. So many of these allies are super low investments that create meaningful and impactful plays throughout the game. These next two cards are no exception to this theme.

4. Resolute Blademaster

Resolute Blademaster is yet another ally creature with a rally ability. This rally ability is quite powerful as it provides all of your creatures with double strike. Double strike is a keyword that is much more desirable for combat than let's say indestructible like our good friend Hero of Goma Fada provides. This card will most likely knock out an opponent the turn it enters play depending on your board state. This card will continue to provide your creatures with this powerful ability as long as we keep the ally support running.

3. Hagra Diabolist

Hagra Diabolist works like Kalastria Healer, however, instead of trickling our opponent's life totals, it obliterates it. This five mana creature drains one of your opponents equal to the total number of allies you control. Believe it or not, if you are focused around building an army of allies, this will deal massive amounts of damage. This is considered a win condition in a few ally builds. I personally use it as a win condition in my changeling typal deck. I have a growing suspicion that this card may rise in price with the spike of ally support we are receiving in the Avatar set coming later this year.

2. Harabaz Druid

Paradise Druid is yesterday's news. Harabaz Druid is a go to mana dork when playing allies. This two-mana creature will act as a slightly overcosted Birds of Paradise until you have more allies in play. Once you have more allies in play, this will create more mana than a Bloom Tender could ever dream of. Harabaz Druid is such a powerful mana dork for an ally focused deck since it doesn't cost much more than any other piece of ramp you would reach for. If you are planning on building the brand new Katara, the Fearless Commander, this should be in your deck list.

1. Sea Gate Loremaster

Sea Gate Loremaster is the strongest ally to date. Sea Gate Loremaster has a tap ability that draws cards equal to the number of allies you control. This creature is five mana and needs to tap, which looks a little slow. Having the ability to consistently draw upwards of 3+ cards per turn will put you on the track to win the game. Sea Gate Loremaster might not be the flashiest piece for an ally deck, but it will allow you to draw those more interesting pieces of your deck more consistently.

That wraps up the strongest ally creatures we have to date for Commander. It looks as though we will be getting a whole new lineup from the new Avatar: the Last Airbender set coming later this year. If you are planning on building a deck around Aang and his friends, you may want to pick up some of these allies for yourself!

See you on the battlefield!

-Nigel