The year is 2005. I'm sitting in the basement of my home in the suburbs of Buffalo. This space has become our de facto living room where we watch TV, play video games like Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories and Final Fantasy VII, or else just hang out. The TV is turned to Nickelodeon - a common sight in my home where we'd watch shows like SpongeBob Squarepants, The Fairly Oddparents, Rocket Power, and more.

On this cold February day, I'm tuning into a premiere of an all-new show on the channel. I'd seen the hype building for weeks. Epic commercials leading up to the premiere that reminded me of the era's Toonami classics on the competing channel Cartoon Network. Shows like Dragon Ball Z, Yu Yu Hakusho, Zoids, and Outlaw Star - Japanese anime that would inspire an American classic.

The premiere started, and those legendary words began.

Water. Earth. Fire. Air.

Avatar: the Last Airbender was here, and it was awesome.

The Boy in the Iceberg and The Avatar Returns premiered together to kickstart this legendary series and what a premiere it was. I remember being enamored by this set up and right away, I found myself enthralled by the show week after week, story after story.

Time moves on, though, and I found myself in the midst of a cross-country move. A new state, a new school, new friends, and new stresses. I went deeper on film, anime, music, and more, and after the first season of Avatar wrapped, I never really came back during the show's original runtime. It wouldn't be until years later during my college years around 2009 when I'd rediscover the show and become enthralled all over again.

Day after day, I'd find myself on the couch playing Magic Online on my laptop as I watched a variety of TV shows and movies. Then one day, while browsing Netflix, I stumbled onto this old show I remembered so fondly. When I rewatched the first season and saw the two after it that I'd missed, I was blown away. So many great moments and so many new memories.

By the time Sozin's Comet wrapped, I was awestruck. I grew up used to Nickelodeon producing silly shows all my life and here they were producing this epic masterpiece. It was, for lack of a better term, simply incredible.

Now we're here in 2025. Avatar: the Last Airbender has come to Magic: The Gathering. There have been no shortage of fun moments captured on cards that we've seen already. Sokka's Haiku became an instant fan favorite while It'll Quench Ya! drew laughs at its funny nod to the card Quench and a particularly goofy moment of the series.

Today, I want to talk about a section of the show that leads directly to the It'll Quench Ya! moment. The group - affectionately known as Team Avatar or "the Gaang" - arrive at the Misty Palms Oasis where they meet Professor Zei. The professor tells them of his journeys into the desert, where he seeks the ancient library of Wan Shi Tong. Enticed by the tales of this legendary trove of knowledge, the Gaang decides to help him find it to obtain information that might help them defeat the Fire Nation.

The Gaang, with Professor Zei in tow, finally come across the library, using Appa - their flying bison - to scout the area from the skies. There they meet the ancient owl spirit Wan Shi Tong himself, who grants them access to his library in exchange for knowledge provided by the Gaang members.

Now, let's say I had a preview card from Avatar: The Last Airbender to show you. What knowledge might you offer in exchange?

Perhaps a Jayemdae Tome? ("Limited Edition Alpha. Very nice.")

A Merchant Scroll? ("Ohh, these illustrations are quite stylish.")

Maybe you only have a wanted poster card from Outlaws of Thunder Junction. Let's say... Kellan, the Kid. ("I suppose that counts.")

And... uh... a Woodweaver's Puzzleknot? ("You're not very bright, are you?")

These and many more can be found in the library of not only Wan Shi Tong, but of any Magic player willing to utilize them in their decks. In fact, your deck itself is a library. Isn't it fitting, then, to feature a crown jewel of a renowned library - fictional or otherwise - into your own?

Introducing the Planetarium of Wan Shi Tong.

In this episode of the show, the Gaang discovers the planetarium and - taking a piece of a burnt Fire Nation paper - look to see if it can help them in their war. When they take the date on the paper and put it into the planetarium, they discover the "darkest day in Fire Nation history" is a solar eclipse. They determine that the Fire Nation loses their firebending at this time and are vulnerable, leading to the eventual Day of the Black Sun invasion.

Wan Shi Tong discovers their abuse of his knowledge to get the edge against fellow humans and attacks the Gaang. He brings down the library and buries it away from the prying eyes of anyone who might use it the wrong way.

We, however, are Magic players and we love abusing powerful cards to gain an advantage. It just so happens that the Planetarium of Wan Shi Tong looks to be such a card.

Over the past year or so, I've been playing with a lot of Eldrazi in Modern. Eldrazi Tron won me a RCQ October of last year and I ended up playing Eldrazi Ramp in Portland in February as well. The first thing I thought of when seeing this card was how easily it could slot into a wishboard for Karn, the Great Creator in these kinds of decks.

A great comparison here is Chimil, the Inner Sun. Both cost mana and allow you to cast spells turn after turn. The difference in this case is that oftentimes Chimil won't hit you anything meaningful in a deck full of big Eldrazi. This, however, can hit your biggest and meanest spells. Think cards like Devourer of Destiny, an Ugin, or Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger. Your opponents better pray you never flip over an Emrakul - of any kind - in this manner.

This is even more noteworthy in the non-Tron Eldrazi Ramp decks as well. These decks often play multiple copies of the Murders at Karlov Manor surveil lands and use fetch lands to search them up. That means if you can stick the landing with the Planetarium of Wan Shi Tong, you can then surveil and try to flip something good off the top of your deck.

Both this deck and Eldrazi Tron also use Kozilek's Command, with one of the popular modes being scry X then draw one card. If you can go rather deep with your scry, you can set up for a strong hit and potentially another for the following turn. Imagine putting a Devourer of Destiny second from the top then scrying it out on your opponent's turn to get rid of something they cast. Or perhaps you can cheat in a Thought-Knot Seer during your opponent's draw step like it were a Vendilion Clique.

This isn't merely limited to Modern either. Legacy has its share of similar big mana decks that could potentially find ways to make use of this, even in spite of its high mana cost. The classic build would be something like 11 or 12-Post, but those decks have changed drastically thanks to the printing of Planar Nexus. That powerful land turns on a whole myriad of big mana lands, meaning you can go truly nuts as you cast your spells.

Once again, though, I'd imagine it's a bit expensive to play in any kind of main deck, even if the value potential is real. Instead, I'd expect it to possibly be a singleton copy in some Karn boards. Even then, though, it faces stiff competition from the myriad of powerful artifacts available to an eternal format like Legacy.

Even if it doesn't ultimately make a splash there, though, there's always the usual suspects of Commander and Cube. This is a great way to do some tremendous over-the-top plays in quite literally any deck. That alone all but guarantees that this is going to be a pretty pricey and chase card from the set - fitting of the knowledge people seek out Wan Shi Tong's library for in the first place.

Last but not least is one other format this could have some potential in that I haven't even touched on yet: Standard! Right now, there's no chance this card does anything in the wake of powerhouses like Izzet Cauldron, Mono-Red Aggro, and Dimir Midrange. However, there are bans right around the corner with at least one deck having a target placed firmly on its back.

Once things settle out following November 10th, it'll be interesting to see if this ends up doing anything in the format. In Kona, Rescue Beastie decks, for example, you can use Kona to cheat a copy of this into play. From there, you can use it to set up the deck's other signature top-end plays and take over the game. But that's just one example of what this can do, and it'll even have a long period in Standard following a whole rotation, so I'm very intrigued to see what it might get up to in the future!

Such is how it goes when you seek access to vast war-winning knowledge to defeat your foes. You can do crazy things and decimate your opponents' plans. Just make sure that you pay your dues and run as fast as your little legs will take you to escape the wrath of Wan Shi Tong. He doesn't like it when people abuse his knowledge, and he will try to ensure you stay in his library... for eternity.

Thanks as always to Wizards of the Coast for the awesome preview card! Be sure to check with your local game store for information on their prerelease events and Avatar: The Last Airbender product. If you can't find what you want or your store doesn't have anything, no worries! Check out the Avatar: The Last Airbender page right here on CoolStuffInc.com. We've got you covered!

Paige Smith

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