In a year packed with a number of sweet sets, 2025 brought one of the biggest surprises at its end.

Avatar: the Last Airbender came out to a shocking amount of fanfare as players were thrilled to check out its fantastical setting. The rich environments paved the way for some outstanding card designs, an amazing Limited environment, and just a plain fun time. Coming hot off the animosity toward Marvel's Spider-Man, this was a huge deal. The set succeeded even if it came with the continued Universes Beyond baggage.

The Mythic Rares of Avatar: The Last Airbender Ranked

With a mighty 20 Mythic Rares in the set, there is a ton to cover as we rank them all. This set is packed top to bottom with stellar cards and the Mythics are no exception.

Hop onto your flying bison and say "Yip Yip!" as we dive right in.

20. Secret of Bloodbending

Secret of Bloodbending is an awesome Limited trick and sadly very little else. At least, that's all it has been thus far. It's too expensive to do anything meaningful in Constructed or Commander, even for the base effect. When you stack it up against similar effects to take control of a player, like Worst Fears, it ends up being way too expensive and underwhelming.

If Secrets of Strixhaven features the Learn mechanic, as many suspect it will, this may see a minor bump in play. I wouldn't count on it making a major dent, though.

19. Phoenix Fleet Airship

Avatar is absolutely packed with quality Mythics and Phoenix Fleet Airship being so low on the list just goes to show how good they actually are.

Sacrifice-heavy strategies can turn this on with easy, making it a great build around for a specific type of deck. Sadly, it has not found a home in any Constructed formats outside of oddball brews. It doesn't appear to be making waves in Commander, either. As a result, it currently finds itself relegated to the bottom of this list.

18. The Rise of Sozin // Fire Lord Sozin

A board wipe that also exiles a critical card from your opponent's deck and ultimately leaves behind a creature? The Rise of Sozin is one heck of a deal.

Sadly, costing six mana is a huge downside, even for a card featuring these powerful effects. You typically want your board wipes to come as early as possible. Given the intense speed of Standard, this card simply isn't cutting it.

In Commander, the exile effect is a lot less worthwhile, making an otherwise awesome card feel somewhat aimless overall.

17. Koh, the Face Stealer

Koh, the Face Stealer is a card that absolutely screams Combo potential in Commander. Copying abilities of Creatures has historically been a hotbed for combos, notably with cards like Necrotic Ooze, and Koh seems like it'll fit right in.

Strangely, Koh hasn't been really popular either as a Commander or in the 99. Moreover, it hasn't seen any Constructed play either. It still feels like a card with lots of potential for the future. At the moment, it's not doing much.

16. United Front

I've been around long enough to remember how powerful cards like Secure the Wastes and March of the Multitudes were in their respective Standard formats.

Despite not being Instant speed, United Front seems poised to make a splash in today's Standard environment. Not only does it make a ton of tokens, but it also pumps all of your Creatures as well - including the ones that didn't come into play from this card.

This has led to it seeing some minor play in a variety of spaces, though far less than many of the other powerful cards from this set.

15. The Legend of Yangchen // Avatar Yangchen

There're some fun politics to be done in a game of Commander with The Legend of Yangchen. The mass removal isn't permanent, making the usual board wipe feel-bads more tolerable. Additionally, you can make a friend with someone in your pod by letting them draw three cards (thus letting yourself draw three cards).

Among most of the transforming Sagas in this set, though, the backside, Avatar Yangchen, is somewhat underwhelming. Airbending something once a turn is fine at best. The combination of ho-hum abilities have led to this card being just okay, even if it is often a Limited bomb.

14. White Lotus Tile

Many Commander players love building decks around a Kindred theme and just as many of those players love Artifacts that generate lots of mana.

You don't need to look far to understand the wow factor behind cards like Nyx Lotus, Radiant Lotus, Gilded Lotus, and Timeless Lotus. If you didn't catch on, there's a pattern in there. They all contain the magical word Lotus, calling back to the classic Black Lotus from Alpha.

White Lotus Tile - a key element of the world of Avatar - finds a fun way to take this tile and turn it into a fun mana generating Artifact all its own. The Lotus name brought a lot of hype out of the gate, but now it feels mostly just fine. That's especially true when you compare it to the cards higher on this list.

13. Planetarium of Wan Shi Tong

I had the pleasure of previewing Planetarium of Wan Shi Tong right here on CoolStuffInc and had a feeling it would be a pretty well-loved card.

In Commander, the Planetarium lets you spin the wheel for some free and easy value. If you can get a Scry on each of your opponents' turns, it ends up being that much more powerful. The card even appeared to have a shot in Constructed thanks to the prevalence of Karn, the Great Creator.

Now, it's proven to be a player in both Commander and Constructed. It's pretty fringe in Constructed, but it does show up occasionally. It's far more playable in Commander, but is much less universal than other cards on this list. If often feels like a more Casual card compared to what comes later.

12. Ozai, the Phoenix King

Casual players love Upwelling effects, and Ozai, the Phoenix King does a tremendous impression of Upwelling. That is, provided you enjoy Red mana.

He generates tons of mana on his own; and, if you can float six mana, (trivial given his Firebreathing 4) he also Flies and is Indestructible. If the game goes long enough, it's not hard to dump all that extra mana into a big Comet Storm.

That makes for one heck of a Commander, or in the 99 of your Commander deck. Stick a Braid of Fire in your deck and you're off to the races.

11. Bumi, Unleashed

Bumi, Unleashed became an instant Commander favorite right from the moment he was previewed.

This fan favorite character is great simply by merit of his stats. For five mana, you get a whopping 9 power - five of which Tramples. That Trample damage can then allow you to untap all your Lands and take extra combat phases as well.

Even if you can't attack with many Land Creatures during this extra combat phase, just getting to untap your lands turn after turn is powerful enough. If Sword of Feast and Famine can be such a popular card, it makes perfect sense that a sweet Legend like this would be as well.

10. The Legend of Kyoshi // Avatar Kyoshi

The Legend of Kyoshi is as much of a Commander card as you'll ever find, and it's absolutely fantastic.

Do you like drawing tons of cards? You get to do that. How about having a big creature or two? You get that as well. Oh, and you get some powerful keywords and a metric ton of mana once the card flips into Avatar Kyoshi.

This new Commander staple is everything Casual players want to be doing at the top end of their mana curves.

9. Sozin's Comet

It doesn't take much to explain just how good Sozin's Comet is. Take one look at the card and you'll instantly find yourself thinking "what can I do with this?"

Play this with a ton of aggressive creatures or a ton of tokens and generate absurd amounts of mana. From there, find the best Instant-speed effect you can dump all the mana into and decimate your opponents.

8. Fated Firepower

If you need something to dump all your mana from Sozin's Comet into, Fated Firepower a fantastic option!

Damage doubling effects are always popular in Commander, and this lets you go as big as you want with it. There are few cases where this doesn't produce at least double damage for most of your small creatures. With a little investment, you can go well beyond that.

For example, let's say you cast a Sozin's Comet and then attack with ten tokens. You can then use all the generated mana from those tokens to get a Fated Firepower with 47 counters on it. Each of those tokens - and everything else you control - will now be dealing close to 50 damage apiece without trying.

No Casual Red deck should be without this mighty card.

7. The Walls of Ba Sing Se

The Walls of Ba Sing Se is the very definition of a Casual Commander all-star. It's the sort of reason why a card such as Avacyn, Angel of Hope can remain such an iconic card despite ultimately being a win-more in many situations. It's the reason Sliver Queen is worth hundreds of dollars despite having no tournament pedigree whatsoever.

The Walls of Ba Sing Se simply does something big, flashy, and unique, which is how you instantly appeal to the Casual crowd.

Is eight mana a lot? Yes.

Do The Walls die to just about any removal spell? Sure do.

Does any of that matter? Absolutely not.

The simple appeal here makes it an easy choice for one of the top Mythics from the set. And it helps that it clearly works great in a deck like Arcades, the Strategist.

6. The Legend of Kuruk // Avatar Kuruk

The Legend of Kuruk was a sleeper hit ahead of the Magic World Championship 31 event in 2025. It provided some modest Card Selection and Card Draw before flipping over into a creature that spams tons of small creatures. And if you have the mana and creatures to spare, you can utilize a one-time Time Walk.

Naturally, this has made it an effective Sideboard option for Standard, and other formats as well. Commander decks love this kind of nonsense, as do Cubes, making it an excellent card all around.

5. Avatar Aang // Aang, Master of Elements

Avatar Aang was the first card that we were shown when the Avatar: The Last Airbender set was announced.

Does he see a lot of Constructed play? Absolutely not, but who cares? Aang is the definition of a Commander build-around that's perfect for just about any fan of the series. Clearly there are many fans, too, as he currently sits just outside of the Top 100 Commanders of all time.

In addition to being the clear headliner of the set, Avatar Aang is far and away the best Mythic solely aimed at Commander.

4. Appa, Steadfast Guardian

Appa, Steadfast Guardian has proven itself to be a constant force in the current Standard environment, as it is the prime enabler for the Bant Airbending deck.

As long as you have another means of Airbending Appa while you also have a Doc Aurlock, Grizzled Genius, you can establish an infinite loop. Once you have this loop online, you can generate an infinite number of tokens to overwhelm the board and win the game.

While Appa might be best known for his Constructed playability, his abilities are also incredibly versatile in both Commander and Cube. That makes it easily a top contender for this set.

3. The Legend of Roku // Avatar Roku

The Legend of Roku has proven to be a huge source of card advantage for Red Aggro decks in a variety of formats.

Thanks to how these decks normally play, they frequently run out of cards early. In matchups that go long, they need a way to replenish their resources. That's where The Legend of Roku comes in.

Not only does it effectively draw you three cards to play on the following turn, it then gives you an extra mana to ensure you can cast them. Best of all, if it sticks around, it turns into Avatar Roku - a powerful threat that can take over a game single-handedly.

All of this has made The Legend of Roku a mainstay of various decks in Standard, Pioneer, and Modern and one of the best cards in a stacked set.

2. Wan Shi Tong, Librarian

Many players - myself included - quickly noticed that Wan Shi Tong, Librarian looked awfully familiar.

Both Sphinx's Revelation and Hydroid Krasis were major players in their respective formats. Each drew you tons of cards, gained you a ton of life, and in the Krasis's case would even give you a large body.

Wan Shi Tong acts similarly, letting you Flash in a huge threat on your opponent's end step and draw lots of cards. It also has tremendous potential in older formats that regularly utilize Fetch Lands. It draws you extra cards from your opponents cracking their Fetches.

As of now, the card has seen a bit less play than anticipated. Despite that, Wan Shi Tong, Librarian is still an easy multi-format role player for just about every Constructed format, Commander, and Cube. This makes it one of the best Mythics of the set.

1. Badgermole Cub

Badgermole Cub seems somewhat innocuous on first read, seeming to be a Commander card that can give you a little extra mana if your deck is packed with mana dorks. Make no mistake, that has certainly been a major factor in its appeal. It's quite a powerful card for Casual players. However, it didn't take long for Constructed players to discover how good it was for their formats.

Badgermole Cub is powerful enough with just one copy. If you can get two on the battlefield at once, especially while you control other mana dorks, it becomes abundantly clear just how fast it ramps up your mana production.

Anecdotally, I won a Regional Championship Qualifier on the back of two Badgermole Cubs giving me a whopping 15 mana on turn three. It's starting plays like that have made it such a Competitive powerhouse in several formats - not just Standard - and why it's easily the best card in the set.

Conclusion

And there you have it. The Mythic offerings from Avatar: The Last Airbender are almost universally exciting and powerful, which is a rare treat. Do you agree with my choices for the best Mythic Rares in the set? Which card would you put in the number one slot?

Until next time!

Paige Smith

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