Whenever Wizards drops a new mechanic, I like to run through a set of simple heuristics:

• What is the realistic best-case scenario I can imagine for this?
• What is the realistic worst-case scenario?
• Is this mechanic mana-neutral or -positive?
• Does this let me cheat on resources?
• Is this mechanic flexible at various stages of the game?

It's base-level thinking, but it's still helpful for basic analysis. You can't predict the environment into which a mechanic will be printed, or what it could potentially do to adjust the metagame, but we can compare past successes to current hypotheses. Bushido was comparable to Flanking, Escalate was essentially Kicker, Mayhem was a streamlined Madness, etc.

When Wizards revealed Firebending back in August, the reaction was muted, but that minimal reaction was because no clear analogue to Firebending had yet been printed. Airbending looks like Foretell if you squint, Waterbending like Convoke, and Earthbending like Awaken, but Firebending is something new altogether, while still drawing on enough of Magic's identity to feel Magical. Firebending ties into Red's fast and temporary mana production and Black and Blue's ability to interact at Instant speed, and it comes together very well to feel suitably impetuous. It's an ideal Red/Black mechanic.

The basic mechanic of "Whenever this creature attacks, add X Red mana to your mana pool. This mana lasts until end of combat" essentially reads as a rebate on the next combat trick you play. Firebending provides fast mana, but it's a flare of mana - it dissipates at the end of combat, and so it must be used between declaring attackers and resolving combat. There's a large amount to nuance to Firebending beyond that, as we've seen since. Yes, it's a quick shot of temporary mana, but the way it's been employed in Avatar: The Last Airbender gives you much more to do with it beyond just cast an Instant.

Level one Firebending is using it to cast Instants and activate abilities, which is sufficient by itself, but we're also in a Standard with Clues, Food, and Lander tokens, and Firebending mana is perfect for activating those. A simple Firebending 2 lets you crack a Clue or Lander without spending "real" mana, and lets you maximize your actual lands for post-combat. It's a neat design that helps teach newer players optimal play patterns. The most amusing part of Firebending is that it was supposed to be introduced into a Standard that had Heartfire Hero, Monstrous Rage, Vivi Ornitier, Turn Inside Out, and other Instant-speed Red staples and burn enablers, many of which have been banned in 2025. I'm not interested in beating a dead goat-horse or whatever they have in the world of Avatar, but it's wild to imagine what a Red Deck Wins deck would have looked like here at the end of 2025.

There are 36 cards that feature Firebending or grant Firebending across both Avatar and the Avatar Jumpstart set, scaling up from Zuko, Seeking Honor's Firebending 1 up to Zuko, Firebending Master's Firebending X (or Sozin's Comet's Firebending 5, if we're staying in the realm of the feasible). Of these, 28 are Standard legal, the best of which are Fire Lord Azula, Fire Lord Zuko, Boiling Rock Rioter, and Firebending Student, although I've also really enjoyed Firebender Ascension in Limited and have high hopes for it making a splash in Standard at some point. While she's more of a Limited card, Azula, On the Hunt is an especially impressive design - you can use the she produces to cast Instants during combat or, if you're light on Instants, you can use that 2 mana to crack the Clue token she creates, making her essentially read "Whenever Azula attacks, you lose 1 life and draw a card." The aforementioned Boiling Rock Rioter is the now-standard 3/3 for three with upside - those upsides appear minimal and seem to lock you into an Allies deck, but with Lorwyn coming in a month, we'll have more Changelings to bolster the Rioter. I've written about my affinity for Firebending Student before, so I won't belabor that, but it's a perfect self-perpetuation engine for Red decks - playing spells makes your cheap creature more deadly, which in turn lets you play more spells. It's a superb way to depict the martial prowess of Firebenders and put some tension into the spellslinger Red decks that pop up periodically in Standard.

Outside of Standard, Firebending is even better - anyone who's played Brawl on Arena in the last month or stopped by their local games store for a round or two of Commander is probably intimately familiar with Fire Lord Azula, who plays similarly to Narset, Enlightened Master. She's already in the top 100 on EDHREC and is still climbing; she's basically anything a Grixis spellslinger could want, and has spiked the price of Ashling, Flame Dancer, Borne Upon a Wind, and High Fae Trickster.

Firebending mana lasts until end of combat, so you do have a little more time to use it than you would if you tapped for mana during the declare attackers/declare blockers step, but you won't be able to use it during your second main phase, barring any tricks with Leyline Tyrant or Electro, Assaulting Battery.

Anyone interested in Firebending is probably interested in those tricks, though, so here's a complete list of this effect for those building Azula or Zuko:

• Ashling, Flame Dancer
• Leyline Tyrant
• Electro, Assaulting Battery
• Horizon Stone
• Ozai, the Phoenix King
• The Last Agni Kai
• Omnath, Locus of All
• Kruphix, God of Horizons
• Upwelling

There are 19 possible Commanders with Firebending across the entire spectrum, from the mono-Red Jeong Jeong, The Deserter to the Temur Iroh, Grand Lotus to the Avatar Aang. While Fire Lord Azula is the early hit - unsurprising, as anything that doubles triggers or copies spells tends to be immediately adopted - there are some other creative options. Fire Lord Zuko lets a Prosper deck add White, Iroh, Grand Lotus created an entirely new Lessons archetype (and spiked forgotten Odyssey rare Catalyst Stone in the process), and Ozai, the Phoenix King can fuel truly absurd Rakdos X-spells like Torment of Hailfire or Exsanguinate - or just kill a player in three hits.

Avatar, like all Universes Beyond sets, was designed to draw in the Magic-curious who are familiar with the game but are neophyte or lapsed players. This doesn't mean that it's simplified, but that the mechanics teach newer players what Magic can do. Earthbending demonstrates that lands can be multipurpose resources, Airbending encourages players to explore using tempo and exile effects both offensively and defensively, and Firebending teaches players how to use mana efficiently. It's a subtle way to train newer players that ties perfectly into the themes of the source material, and builds a more coherent world while bridging the ethos of Magic: The Gathering and Avatar: The Last Airbender - Avatar feels like one of the better Universes Beyond sets, and Firebending contributes greatly to that feeling.