It feels like just yesterday that I was reviewing Marvel's Spider-Man in Pauper and here we are once again. Avatar: the Last Airbender is right around the corner and as such it's once again time for a set review! This one is quite a doozy too since it's actually two sets in one!

Not only do we have the typical main release, but we also have the Eternal Legal Cards as well. For this article, I'm going to be looking at both releases. Originally, I planned on doing two separate articles, however the latter set only has a handful of cards worth mentioning so I'll be including them in this article instead. As a result, this is looking to be quite a whopper of an article, so let's get right to it!

As usual, I'll start off by doing quick looks at each of the set's core mechanics and then move on to individual card analysis. There is a ton to cover, so let's not waste any time and get right into it!

Lessons

First and foremost, I want to take a brief moment to highlight the impact of lessons in a broad scope. It's important to note that in many cases, some lessons - particularly from this set - are good enough that you don't need to tutor them with a learn spell to make them worthwhile. As such, I'm going to cover each of these cards individually rather than in this section.

That having been said, it is worth noting that a handful of cards with learn from Strixhaven: School of Mages have seen play in Pauper. The biggest of these has been First Day of Class, as it's a core card to making the Goblin Combo deck work. There's an expectation that we'll see more learn cards in Secrets of Strixhaven next year, so keep that in mind as you check out these cards.

Airbending

For the first bending mechanic, there is only a single card with or caring about airbending in the whole set. That's quite flavorful given that Aang is the last airbender and all, but it means there's likely not going to be much impact from the mechanic in this set.

The one and only card is Airbending Lesson. This card allows you to airbend one permanent, which is great for both offense and defense. The problem is that it's not permanent and it costs 3 mana, making it a mediocre effect. It might have some neat and interesting use cases in small numbers if you can tutor it off of learn, but for the most part it's an underwhelming rate in a format like Pauper.

Waterbending

Waterbending is a pretty cool mechanic, allowing you to use your creatures and artifacts to cover the cost. You'd think this could have some real potential in the format thanks to the number of playable artifacts in the mix. However, there's a problem with that logic: most of the cards with the mechanic suck.

Look at Flexible Waterbender, Geyser Leaper, and Giant Koi for examples. Each is an overcosted creature that isn't remotely close to the rate needed to crack into Pauper. Watery Grasp might look neat, but compare it to Bubble Snare. It's a card that already sees no play in the format and it can tap the creature down if you're really willing to pay. You don't get that here, instead getting the chance to remove it if you pay more mana once it's on the board. Hardly a solid rate.

Waterbending Lesson looks cool, but most of the time it's just gonna be comparable to an expensive Thirst for Knowledge-style effect. None of the Thirsts see play in Pauper, so this probably doesn't either - even if you can tutor for it.

Funny enough, the one card that looks like it could have enough going on is Foggy Swamp Vinebender. That card isn't even Blue. It's a big Green creature that's difficult to block and can be made bigger. If you're in a go-wide Green deck, that can make for a cool way to beef up the creature. Realistically, though, it's not enough to justify the high four-mana upfront cost to cast the card in the first place.

So unfortunately, waterbending seems like a miss. It's a sweet mechanic, but unfortunately it doesn't do nearly enough to make it worth utilizing.

Earthbending

Earthbending has this rather peculiar interaction with a small handful of cards. You know what animating lands has proven potent with in the past? That's right: the Modern Horizons 2 bridges.

Turns out, animating indestructible lands is a pretty big deal. Moreover, if your opponents do somehow manage to exile them with, say, a Dust to Dust or Masked Vandal, the land simply returns to the battlefield. That's a pretty big deal and has precedent in the format with Kenku Artificer proving to be quite strong in Affinity decks.

In most cases here, though, we once again run into the issue where these cards are too expensive to utilize their earthbending effectively. Even cards that look good, like Sandbenders' Storm, cost just 1 mana too much to be even remotely impactful on the format. This mechanic's lesson - Earthbending Lesson - also is a bit much at 4 mana, even if it can give you a 4/4 indestructible creature for your efforts.

There are two cards that seem a little interesting, though. Earth Village Ruffians is so-so for the up-front rate, but lets you earthbend when it dies, meaning you can turn it into an advantage if you build with it. Perhaps best, though, is Dai Li Indoctrination, which gives you the option of taking a permanent out of your opponent's hand or earthbending. In the right kind of deck, this can prove to be extremely flexible. I'd bet on that one being playable to some degree - especially as a lesson you can tutor.

Firebending

Last but not least is firebending. Given the potentially abusable nature of the mechanic, only a few cards have it in this set. One of them - Rough Rhino Cavalry - is stone unplayable at 5 mana. Vindictive Warden is also pretty unplayable at its rate, even if it can provide an engine to kill your opponents with. There's arguably better ways to do that, though it can be a win condition for Walls Combo if you really want, I suppose.

The one card that seems like it could be really good is Fire Nation Cadets. It does rely on you having a lesson in your graveyard to get the full effect, but if you do, this is essentially a 1 mana 2/2. When you see that, you have to perk up a little. If someone can figure out a way to make it work easily, then there's potential here, but as is I'm not sure it'll have a home anywhere.

Finally, Firebending Lesson provides an odd card. Unlike the other bending lesson spells, it doesn't actually have a firebending ability. Instead, it's meant to play off the firebending mechanic by giving you something to do with your mana. Generally, this isn't a rate good for Pauper - especially since it only hits creatures - however it can make for a reasonable one-of learn target in a pinch. This is the kind of card you'd want with Fire Nation Cadets, though how much you realistically want to pair the two in Pauper is questionable.

Before we dive into the greater set, I also wanted to touch on one major cycle for this set. While I've only listed three of them above, there is a full cycle of ten common dual lands in this set. Each of these is more or less the Streets of New Capenna duals as a full cycle, only the cost to sacrifice them is fully generic mana. That means they're a little more versatile, but not by that much. The New Capenna lands are mostly fringe players, but they do have uses here and there, so I'd expect these to also show up from time to time.

With all of these initial areas covered, let's get into the individual card breakdowns!

This is technically a better Environmental Sciences, but the way it's better isn't relevant to Pauper. Shrines are only at uncommon and higher rarities, meaning there's no point to kicking it. Environmental Sciences has shown up in a handful of lists over the years, so if you feel like running that, you can opt to play this instead, but there's no real strategic value to doing so.

Similarly, Zuko's Exile is basically a better Introduction to Annihilation, only this time it actually is better in the Pauper context. This one is an instant to that card's sorcery, giving you a wider range of options to hit. While this can only hit artifacts, creatures, and enchantments, each of those makes up the only relevant nonland permanents in Pauper anyways, so that's fine. Best of all, it doesn't outright give your opponent the card. They still need to sacrifice the clue, making this better in basically all ways.

Much like Environmental Sciences, Introduction to Annihilation is a fringe player most of the time. However, if you want that card for your deck, I'd definitely consider playing this one instead.

We've seen lots of cards like this in the past. Caustic Caterpillar has seen play from time to time and Cathar Commando has also seen moderate play in White Weenies decks. That leads me to feel like this has a home somewhere, if only in sideboards. It'll feel really good, though, when you block an aggro creature with this, sacrifice it to blow up a powerful artifact/enchantment, and gain some life out of the deal as well.

Generally, I don't care to highlight these single token generators. There's not much play with them usually aside from flickering them, and at that point you're usually better off finding a creature that makes flying tokens. This is a possible exception, mainly because the tokens these creatures make are allies. Given that there are some powerful effects among allies in the original Zendikar Block, this deserves a look, but realistically they're probably not impactful enough to create a whole deck around.

Most of the landcyclers in this set simply suck. They don't offer anything worthwhile on entry to make them worth having. This one at least gives you some life for playing lands, which isn't nothing, but let's just say I wouldn't want to be casting this in any game I can imagine myself playing in this format.

We see lots of these effects at common and they never amount to being particularly playable in Pauper. This one gives you some life back if you hit for extra so it might have some play against aggro decks for White strategies, but I wouldn't bank on it.

If there's one thing we've learned from Thraben Inspector and Novice Inspector, it's that cheap clue generators are great. This one being 2 mana is a world of difference from those cards' 1 mana, but it's still probably pretty solid in its own right. Best of all, it fits the colors for most builds of Affinity strategies, so the fact that it makes an artifact token might make it that much more worth considering in decks.

This is the best version of this type of creature we've seen. I remember a period when Aven Wind Mage looked neat and it was clear that when Wing Commando came out this type of card just couldn't make the cut in Pauper. Maybe vigilance tacked on makes it worth trying, but I'm not gonna hold my breath on this being a major player.

Quench is awful in Pauper. Consider the fact that Mana Leak isn't even playable and it begs the question: why would I want this? Well, it has some potential to be a good tutor target, so it's got that going for it at least! Still probably not good enough, though.

This falls into the same category as It'll Quench Ya! Some decks occasionally have run spells similar to this, and this is just more of the same. The only difference is that you can tutor it if you really need it. These are fringe players at best, making this simply more of a fringe player from there.

Do I think this card is good? No. I think it's too expensive and ultimately too fragile. That said, it is a solid sacrifice engine that draws you cards and makes itself bigger, so it's got that going for it. Still probably far too costly to make work in Pauper.

Hey, remember when I talked about Thraben Inspector above? Looks like we have a Black version of it now! Well, sort of. Getting the clue as a death trigger isn't anywhere near as good as simply getting it on entry, and the menace isn't all that spectacular on such a weak body.

I certainly think it will see play, but the question is where? Does Mono-Black Sacrifice want this over token generators? I'm not sure it does, especially when it already has spells like Village Rites at its disposal. Still, I expect this one to get tried out quite a bit by many players. Just don't be surprised if it's a bit more underwhelming than you may think.

I'm mostly bringing this up because it caught some players' eyes as a card that Affinity decks could use to sacrifice Ichor Wellspring, right? Well, this isn't actually the first time we've been down this road before. Annihilating Glare was in Phyrexia: All Will Be One and is technically better. Many players expected it to make a big splash and it didn't. Given that, don't expect to see this one show up anywhere.

Great art on this one, though.

I love a good recursive body (see Sanitarium Skeleton). This style of creature is very niche, but has its uses. While the front-end rate is a little higher than you often might see it, the recursion cost is quite modest. I'd expect this in some of the usual suspects like the bold players who enjoy Tortured Existence decks, but it won't be a major player beyond that.

Gixian Infiltrator has seen some solid play in the past and this is basically a slightly more expensive version that doesn't die to Electrickery. The deathtouch ability is probably pretty redundant, but if you need a fifth or maybe sixth copy of Infiltrator for whatever reason, look to this card I suppose.

There was a time when players got excited for Spellgorger Weird and cards like it. That time has long passed and we can pretty safely say that these cards just aren't good enough for Pauper. Just play Hot Dogs if you really want to do this sort of silliness.

The cost for this one sucks, but the versatility is great. You can either pick off a creature or blow up a land. It's super niche and way too costly to realistically make a dent anywhere, but I think it's at least a cool tool to have in Pauper's toolbox.

It's the latest Burn Bright with set mechanic! These almost never see play, but I like to mention them still every now and then. This one gets the nod because it's tutorable as a lesson, and thus you can keep it in your sideboard until you're ready to go for a kill shot. The fact that it also gives one of your creatures menace is just icing on the cake. The uses here are few and far between, but when you really need it, it can be brutal.

If you really need a bad Harrow that you can pull from your sideboard, here you go, I guess? This is much more exciting for a format like Standard than Pauper.

Naturalize sucks and Snakeskin Veil is pretty mediocre in most Pauper decks as well. You know what's great though? When you get the option for either or on a single card (even if this isn't quite 1-to-1 Snakeskin Veil). Origin of Metalbending rocks and has some really sweet play potential and I'd hardly be surprised if it saw play. If it does, it'll be used infrequently in sideboards and probably in small numbers, but when this one is good, it's gonna be really good.

Self-mill cards are all the rage, but 3 mana isn't it. Leave the self-milling to Satyr Wayfinder and Town Greeter.

Thrill of Possibility hasn't been playable in some time. There are simply better rummage spells that enable the various Rakdos Madness decks at the moment. However, this has the advantage of being playable in a Blue deck and - say it with me folks - can be tutored for. I think I'd rather stick to the better existing options, but this is great for a deck with a critical learn spell like First Day of Class.

More self-mill, but this one requires you to have a lesson in your graveyard to do anything with it. Moreover, the amount it mills is miniscule compared to other options available. Pass on this one.

There's not a lot here, but sacrifice decks are becoming more popular. Those really want 1 mana creatures, so this isn't good enough to play, and the ally synergies probably aren't there to make it worthwhile either.

I can't think of too many creatures that buff your whole board on attack and this one does that well. Not only that, but it has some pretty powerful toughness that allows it to withstand Lightning Bolts and Galvanic Blasts. It's probably too expensive for a do-nothing on entry creature, but it's probably closer than it might look.

It's nice that this gives you the option to fix your mana or blow up a creature. It's less exciting when you only get to filter your mana once per turn. Without the card draw that Prophetic Prism brings, I doubt this one will be a player, but you've gotta admit that is a pretty nice low number for something like Tron.

No one is playing a Manalith or Darksteel Ingot in Pauper these days unless it's Bonder's Ornament, which happens to be fully banned. Is this somewhere in the middle? Probably not, but there's something to be said for getting to double the mana output if you use it on both players' turns. This version probably doesn't see play, but I'm a fan of where this sort of design is heading for future possibilities.

I like a good Ancestral Blade and this is pretty comparable. However, the fact that it only gives you a 2/1 and the equip cost is 2 mana is a real set of drawbacks. As such, this probably doesn't make the cut anywhere, but it's still a cool card.

Spirited Companion and Helpful Hunter have been fun additions to Pauper, but only the former sees any real play because it's an enchantment. Helpful Hunter has mainly only shown up in some casual builds of White Weenies that made it onto MTGTop8.com. I wouldn't expect this one to make it in the format, but it's cool that we're getting more essentially functional reprints of the effect in White now.

This is the first 2 mana 2/3 with no drawbacks in White. That's pretty huge, though probably not quite good enough for White Weenies I imagine. It's not the only one that's a looker for those White Weenie decks, though.

Wolf Cove Villager is basically Diregraf Ghoul but in White. It's a bit wild that we're seeing this at common before that one given how Diregraf Ghoul is such a classic, but hey, I'll take it! Even if this comes into play tapped, all that effectively means is that it can't block on turn one. That's fine when you're getting a rock solid aggressive threat on the cheap. This one I definitely would expect to see players trying out in the format.

This looks like a sweet counterspell. Unfortunately, Exclude already exists in the format and is just better in most situations barring something like Reanimator, which isn't really a thing in Pauper. Given that Exclude doesn't show up anywhere these days, I'm inclined to feel the same here.

Here's a card that makes me glad that we on the Pauper Format Panel banned the likes of Kuldotha Rebirth. Could you imagine how big this thing could be hitting for in the early turns of the game? Even with Kuldotha Rebirth gone, it's not difficult to now go this into Rally at the Hornburg to go in for some massive damage. This card is fragile and very one-note, but in the right deck it can really put some serious pressure on your opponents - especially when coupled with Fling.

I'm not the most high on this card, but it's hard to deny the appeal of a one-mana creature with 2 power. These have been a hallmark of classic Red Deck Wins lists, but realistically those days are pretty long gone where just slamming a bunch of cheap 2 power threats gets you there. It'll be interesting to see if it makes the cut anywhere, but I'm not super hopeful myself. That having been said, it's cool to see just how far we've come from Jackal Pup being a tournament all-star.

That wraps things up for another Pauper set review, and the last one of 2025! We've got a couple months before the next set is revealed with Lorwyn Eclipsed, making for plenty of time to see what this sweet set does for the format. While I am personally excited for the next set (give me all the elves!) I'm eager to see what cards from Avatar break out - particularly given the fresh banning of High Tide. Let's see what happens and I'll catch you in January for the next Pauper review!

Paige Smith

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