Avatar: The Last Airender is here and finds itself released into a strange and new Standard. After months of Vivi Ornitier dominance, the recent (and much needed) Ban List announcement has given Standard players new hope, and, after a lackluster performance by Spider-Man, it gives Avatar a much better chance at having an effect on the format.

Avatar looks like an incredible deep set, with lots of options for brewing IT feels as crammed full as Final Fantasy, much more so than Spider-Man. It's not just that you could build a deck around each of the Bending types, you could also look at a Lesson deck or just plug some of the strong cards into existing architects. I think we could see a bunch of new decks develop featuring Avatar cards. Let's look at some of the best cards in the set.

Honorable Mention: United Front

I'm putting this card as my honorable mention, but I wouldn't be surprised of this card ends up being one of the best cards in the set. The power level is there, the card has a ton of potential. The biggest question mark is finding a proper home for the card.

10. Shared Roots

As a longtime Rampant Growth enjoyer, I was super excited to see this pop up in the previews. Glimpse the Core has been legal for a year, but that card required you to warp your manabase to make sure you had enough Forests. That meant it was limited to mostly mono-Green decks. Shared Roots should open up 3 (or even 4) colored decks in a way the format has been lacking.

9. Ozai, the Phoenix King

This card is unquestionably powerful, hard-hitting, and, with a little set-up, is one of the hardest cards to answer in the format. The only question is, does he have a home? Right now, I really want to explore Ozai in a Jund ramp deck, but I could see him in a straight Rakdos deck as the finisher of choice. Most of the Rakdos decks that focus on going big have been using dragons, but maybe it's time they try a Phoenix?

8. Avatar's Wrath

If you build a deck to take advantage of this, it could end up being one of the most devastating Wrath effects ever printed. Clearing blockers and leaving you with the only creature is an obvious play patter, but resetting creatures with ETB abilities can also be devastating. And then you get to that text where this locks down your opponent's ability to re-cast their creatures for a turn... Remember, Reflector Mage was banned in Standard for a time, and I can see this presenting similarly frustrating game situations.

7. Wan Shi Tong, Librarian

In any format that has fetch lands this is probably the best card in the set. But, as we do not currently have those in Standard, it'll have to settle for being merely good. I anticipate this will play out somewhat like Hydroid Krasis, as this will drop down at 4 mana as a blocker and then each successive copy will increase in power. Cards like Demolition Field become much better with this, and you may even want to build with that in mind. Having flash makes this a bit nutty (especially in a Firebending Izzet deck) and let's control decks play the traditional Draw Go formula to maximum effect. I anticipate hearing, "End of turn, Wan Shi Tong" a bunch in the near future.

6. Mai, Scornful Striker

Fantastic card for punishing the spell-based decks that have popped up (and should continue with Firebending paired with decks full of Instants). People have been tinkering with an aggressive mono Black deck since Dark Confidant was reprinted, and Mai should definitely be considered there.

5. Zhao, the Moon Slayer

I really worry that this card has potential to warp the format. I'm ranking it this low because it's not a particularly strong aggressive creature, and that may be enough to keep it in the, "Good but not great" classification. "Just play more basics," shout the naysayers, but this is disruptive enough to make even two-color decks a risky endeavor. And, all of that is without looking at the ability to go full Blood Moon, a feat that may not be that difficult in a deck that focuses on Firebending.

4. Fire Lord Azula

If you have a deck that focuses on Instants and creatures with Flash, I don't see how you can untap with this and attack without ending the game. Maybe you're copying a kicked Consult the Star Charts? Maybe you drop Floodpits Drowner to get in with this and lock down the board? Double Enduring Curiosity sounds brutal. Ouroboroid has shown that Standard can still see 4-drops hit the board and survive a turn, so I expect a deck built around this to pop up and be relevant.

3. Accumulate Wisdom

You have to go at least 12 cards deep on Lessons to make this playable, but if you do this is a hell of a card. It's default status of scry 3 and draw a card isn't even the worst, but draw 3 for two mana, at instant speed, is better than any other draw spell currently played in most formats. Fortunately, between Iroh's Demonstration, Firebending Lesson, Combustion Technique, Shared Roots, and Origin or Metalbending there are a variety of ways to do this in multiple decks. Or, just plug them into Temur with Iroh, Grand Lotus and go to town. They went hard on Lesson cards in this set, and it makes me a little fearful for Learn possibly returning in Secrets of Strixhaven.

2. Badgermole Cub

This card can do some ridiculous things, allowing for explosive starts and a huge jump in mana production. Hitting this on turn 2 after a turn 1 Llanowar Elves gives the potential for a very explosive turn 3, and even just playing this after one of the creature lands on turn 1 can set you up to take over the early game. If they kill it, it leaves behind a 1/1, not a horrible investment for 2 mana. This should be a staple of Green decks in multiple formats.

1. Aang, Swift Savior

The best Aang card is the one with the most versatility. As a pseudo Spell Queller/Aven Interrupter, Aang should provide disruption and an early body for control or control-ish decks. But, what really makes him shine is the way he can remove a problematic creature from the battlefield, or flash in to save one of your creatures from a removal spell or a fatal block. It can even be used to simply reset one of your creatures with a good Enters ability. The Avatar himself is good in just about every situation. Kind of fitting that Aang ends up being my pick for the best card in the Avatar set!

You can find more of my Magic musings on Twitter/X @travishall456 and on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/anakinsdad.bsky.social