Avatar: The Last Airbender has me more excited for Standard than I've been in in months. It's no secret that Standard has been struggling for about a ear, with cards like Cori-Steel Cutter, Monstrous Rage, and Vivi Ornitier taking turns at making the format miserable. But, after the most recent series of bannings, and the printing of Avatar, Standard seems like it might finally be making its way out of the wilderness.

And this is great, because the Avatar set seems like the most interesting, and diverse, set we've had since Final Fantasy. I've had deck ideas popping into my brain since the set was spoiled and I thought that this would be a great time to get some of those ideas out into the world via a good old fashioned Standard Deck Dump!

The Friendly Skies | TLA Standard | Travis Hall

• Creatures (28)
• 1 Appa, Steadfast Guardian
• 1 Plumecreed Escort
• 2 Mockingbird
• 2 Spider-Woman, Stunning Savior
• 2 Wan Shi Tong, Librarian
• 4 Aang, Swift Savior
• 4 Empyrean Eagle
• 4 Momo, Friendly Flier
• 4 Steamcore Scholar
• 4 Spyglass Siren

• Instants (8)
• 2 Phantom Interference
• 3 Get Lost
• 3 Into the Flood Maw

• Lands (24)
• 4 Island
• 3 Plains
• 2 Abandoned Air Temple
• 3 Restless Anchorage
• 4 Floodfarm Verge
• 4 Multiversal Passage
• 4 Starting Town

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First up, we have a tempo-ish creature deck featuring new cards Momo, Friendly Flier and Aang, Swift Savior. Landing Momo on turn one unlocks some fast starts. Like a couple other decks I'm working on below, this one suffers from the lack of a Shockland, but with Multiversal Passage and Starting Town, we can make it work (albeit at the expense of our life total). I like that this deck can approach a game in multiple pays, combining cards like Aang and the instant spells to make decisions difficult for the opponent. Abandoned Air Temple can also come down late to make the long game a nightmare. Fun stuff here!

Selesnya Big and Wide | TLA Standard | Travis Hall

• Creatures (25)
• 3 Enduring Innocence
• 3 Pawpatch Recruit
• 3 Suki, Courageous Rescuer
• 4 Badgermole Cub
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Ouroboroid
• 4 Voice of Victory

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Elspeth, Storm Slayer

• Instants (3)
• 3 Get Lost

• Sorceries (4)
• 2 Avatar's Wrath
• 2 United Front

• Enchantments (2)
• 2 Seam Rip

• Lands (24)
• 3 Forest
• 3 Plains
• 1 Demolition Field
• 2 Abandoned Air Temple
• 2 Ba Sing Se
• 2 Multiversal Passage
• 3 Restless Prairie
• 4 Fabled Passage
• 4 Hushwood Verge

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This deck is packed with Avatar cards and interactions to explore. Suki, Courageous Rescuer is sneakily the standout here, as it pairs with Voice of Victory to hit hard and fast, turning a mobilize token into a permanent ally while also comboing with things like Fabled Passage to pump out some tokens. Hell, it even makes Ouroboroid bigger for the initial trigger. Badgermole Cub is here to just be awesome, providing some extra mana and an extra body in the go wide strategy. Once you get a few creatures on the board, you can finish them off with Ouroboroid, United Front, or Elspeth, Storm Slayer making your team huge. You even get the two best Avatar lands in Ba Sing Se and Abandoned Air Temple to make sure you have some resilience in the long game! There's a lot going on here, and I'm excited to try it out, but it might have to wait until we get Temple Garden to smooth out the mana base.

Grixis Azula | TLA Standard | Travis Hall

• Creatures (16)
• 1 The Unagi of Kyoshi Island
• 3 Wan Shi Tong, Librarian
• 4 Firebending Student
• 4 Fire Lord Azula
• 4 Floodpits Drowner

• Instants (17)
• 1 Into the Flood Maw
• 4 Burst Lightning
• 4 Consult the Star Charts
• 4 Lightning Strike
• 4 Opt

• Enchantments (3)
• 1 Fated Firepower
• 2 Nowhere to Run

• Lands (24)
• 1 Island
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Fire Nation Palace
• 2 Blazemire Verge
• 3 Gloomlake Verge
• 4 Multiversal Passage
• 4 Riverpyre Verge
• 4 Starting Town
• 4 Watery Grave

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In this deck, if you untap with Azula, and get to attack, you should win. The value she presents by doubling all spells cast during your attack phase is ridiculous, and this deck looks to take advantage of that ability with flash creatures and Instant spells. Firebending Student rounds out the crew as a cheap way to generate additional combat step mana. There's probably a 4-color version of this deck that tops out with Jeskai Revelation, but I'll need some more time working with the mana base before I'm ready to go down that path.

Simic Critter Ramp | TLA Standard | Travis Hall

• Creatures (25)
• 2 Craterhoof Behemoth
• 3 Pawpatch Recruit
• 4 Badgermole Cub
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Quantum Riddler
• 4 Tender Wildguide
• 4 Wan Shi Tong, Librarian

• Instants (7)
• 1 Auroral Procession
• 3 Into the Flood Maw
• 3 Three Steps Ahead

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Earthbender Ascension

• Lands (24)
• 4 Forest
• 3 Island
• 1 Demolition Field
• 2 Ba Sing Se
• 2 Fabled Passage
• 4 Breeding Pool
• 4 Restless Vinestalk
• 4 Willowrush Verge

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For this one, I wanted to try out a Simic Ramp deck that maximizes Badgermole Cub and ana dorks. Cards like Quantum Riddler and Wan Shi Tong, Librarian (though, with ramp this can be a finisher by itself) are here to help stabilize the deck, and Craterhoof Behemoth is the finisher of choice.

Lessons Unlearned | TLA Standard | Travis Hall

• Creatures (13)
• 2 Iroh, Grand Lotus
• 2 Songcrafter Mage
• 3 Gran-Gran
• 3 Icetill Explorer
• 3 Toph, Hardheaded Teacher

• Instants (11)
• 1 Redirect Lightning
• 2 Firebending Lesson
• 4 Accumulate Wisdom
• 4 Combustion Technique

• Sorceries (12)
• 2 Boomerang Basics
• 2 Ill-Timed Explosion
• 2 Iroh's Demonstration
• 2 Stock Up
• 4 Shared Roots

• Lands (24)
• 4 Forest
• 3 Mountain
• 1 Island
• 2 Multiversal Passage
• 2 Riverpyre Verge
• 4 Breeding Pool
• 4 Fabled Passage
• 4 Stomping Ground

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Lastly, we have a deck that looks to go hard on Lessons. Once I started diving into the set, I was a little surprised at how powerful the Lessons were this time. So much so, that I'm kinda afraid of what might happen to Standard if Learn returns in Secrets of Strixhaven. Accumulate Wisdom and Combustion Technique are the standouts here, as Technique scales very well and Wisdom becomes the best draw spell in Standard if you get 3 Lessons in your graveyard. Toph, Hardheaded Teacher allows the deck to change directions and build up a quick board presence, while Iroh, Grand Lotus is the game-ending threat.

Avatar: The Last Airbender feels like a deep and powerful set, and I think this is just scratching the surface on what it can do for the format!

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