Marvel's Spiderman is coming to Magic very soon, but we already are getting spoilers for Avatar: the Last Airbender. So far from Avatar, we have seen all of the bending mechanics that are being introduced into the game. These new mechanics look very exciting to play around with in a variety of formats. Today, I will be focusing on Earthbend mechanic. Earthbending is a keyword that will put +1 Counters on lands and animate them into creatures. We have seen this design before in cards like Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper and Obuun, Mul Daya Ancestor. Animating lands can be a scary play as they are now weak to all sorts of removal. Earthbend solves this problem. It allows the land to come back into play tapped if it dies or becomes exiled. Now, there is no fear of losing the land and it becomes fit for going to combat or using the land to block incoming threats! In this article I am going to go over some cards that we already have in Magic's vast card pool that synergize well with this new keyword!

10. Reprocess

The lands you choose to animate with Earthbend will come back under your control if they would ever die. This becomes really neat with cards like Reprocess that gain you advantage for sacrificing permanents. We recently received a brand new Commander in a precon that cares about sacrificing lands from Edge of Eternities. Lands that have been under the influence of Earthbend will return to play after you sacrifice them to effects. This also will retrigger Landfall or any other land entering effects you may have on board. Sacrificing lands never seems like a great move, but if you can return them safely back into play after gaining advantage, it becomes much more viable of a strategy.

9. Duskshell Crawler

Lands that have been turned into creatures with Earthbend have +1 Counters placed on them. Believe it or not, we have access to so many cards in Magic's history that provide advantage for simply having creatures with counters on them. One of the many examples of this is Duskshell Crawler. This is one of the weaker options we can choose from, but for the low cost of two mana it isn't bad. Many decks focused on +1 Counters have ways to add or multiply the number of counters on your permanents. If you are planning on building up your lands as huge beaters with these counters, giving them all trample with Duskshell Crawler is a way to win. You could also include another version of this card in your deck with Pridemalkin, which does the same thing for one more mana.

8. Oona's Blackguard

Oona's Blackguard is another two-mana creature that helps boost your creatures with +1 Counters on them. Each time a creature with counters on it deals damage to an opponent, that opponent has to discard a card from their hand. I love this card. I feel like not enough players know about it or feel it is strong enough to play. I am here to say that this card can win games if not kept under control. I personally play this in my Gev, Scaled Scorch deck, a Rakdos Commander deck focused on placing +1 Counters on my creatures. Earthbend is all about animating lands with counters and swinging them sideways. Force your opponent to make the decision of either losing a blocker or taking damage and losing a card in hand with Oona's Blackguard.

7. Jolrael, Voice of Zhalfir

Jolrael, Voice of Zhalfir is an amazing card draw engine with your land creatures. Jolrael is not limited to dealing combat damage like Professional Face-Breaker is. Jolrael will draw a card for each creature that connects to your opponents. Earthbend will now help fuel your card draw engine and if the lands die they simply return to your battlefield. Jolrael also animates a land on her own, and gives it evasion. Worst case scenario this Simic legend draws you one card a turn, best case with Earthbend, your hand will never be empty.

6. Jyoti, Moag Ancient

Jyoti, Moag Ancient provides a massive anthem effect for your land creatures. At the beginning of each combat, Jyoti will boost your land creatures by +X/+X where X is equal to his power. Having your lands become massive threats each combat combined with Earthbend is very powerful. Your lands become perfect blockers since they will return to play when they die in combat. Jyoti also creates a Forest Dryad token when it enters which will help progress your board even further beyond. This Simic legend may have been swept under the rug from the Modern Horizons III Commander decks, but dust it off and try it with these brand new Avatar cards!

5. Bristly Bill, Spine Sower

Bristly Bill, Spine Sower is a well known powerhouse when it comes to multiple formats in Magic. Whenever you play a land you can put a +1 Counter on target creature is a pretty great piece of text for any land centric deck to see. Boosting up your creatures for essentially playing your deck makes for better efficiency. Bristly Bill has another line of text however, double the number of Counters on each of your creatures. This ability is insanely under cost at 5 mana. Since all of your land creatures from Earthbend have +1 Counters on them, they essentially double their power for 5 mana. Bristly Bill works absolutely perfectly with Earthbend and works even better with some of these next cards on the list.

4. Abzan Falconer

Abzan Falconer provides flying to each of your creatures that have +1 Counters on them. Earthbend puts +1 Counters on your lands in order to make them a creature. This card makes all of your land creatures flying for only three mana. This card is a well known boogeyman for +1 Counter decks and doesn't come with a large price tag like Bristly, Bill Spine Sower. Abzan Falconer will be a perfect budget option for Earthbend decks!

3. Herald of Secret Streams

Herald of Secret Streams looks down on Abzan Falconer by making your creatures with +1 Counters simply unblockable. Now, creatures with flying and reach can't stop your Earthbend land creatures. Herald of Secret Streams is only four mana for a creature that will gain you serious advantage in combat and release your mind of the mental strain of thinking about blockers.

2. Uncivil Unrest

Uncivil Unrest doubles all damage your creatures with +1 Counters deal. Nothing ends a game of Magic faster than starting to double all damage done to your opponents. Uncivil Unrest also gives all your nontoken creatures Riot, meaning they enter with a +1 Counter or haste, either one of these are great options for a deck that is built around attacking your opponents and having +1 Counters on your creatures. Uncivil Unrest is probably the best five cost spell for Earthbend decks.

1. Sovereign Okinec Ahau

Sovereign Okinc Ahau is only a $2 Mythic from Lost Caverns of Ixalan. This cat noble works amazingly with every deck focused on +1 Counters. All Sovereign has to do is attack and all of your creatures with power greater than their base power get +1 Counters equal to the difference. Earthbend animates a 0/0 land and puts +1 Counters on it. This means that lands have base power 0 and will double their power each turn that Sovereign attacks. I am amazed to see Sovereign has this low of a price right now and I can only see it going up as Lost Caverns of Ixalan slowly fades from shelves.

I hope this list of cards helps you dig through some piles of cards or pick up some of these now before people catch on. Avatar the Last Airbender will be here before we know it and the more spoilers that get leaked the more some of these might start to tick up in price. If you are wondering what cards would help cement an Earthbending strategy look no further than these cards I have brought forth.

See you on the battlefield!

-Nigel