🔗 Share this article Exclusive: How Magic's Avatar: The Last Airbender Expansion Reintroduces Two Fan-Favorite Tribe-Focused Gameplay Features Magic: The Gathering enthusiasts consistently adopt tribal decks — who has not assembled an elf strategy once or twice? — while this forthcoming ATLA crossover release revives 2 beloved mechanics that match perfectly with the theme. Reappearing Tribe-Supporting Abilities One first ability, known as "Allies," first debuted in a Zendikar which grants boosts each time additional creatures bearing this type enter play. Alternatively, "Shrines" represents another enchantment-based subtype that originated with Kamigawa. While not exactly a creature tribe, Shrines likewise become abilities as you controls more Shrines in play. The Comeback for Allies Ability While Shrine cards have been shown up sporadically in recent releases, Allies mechanic has been far less common — until that ends with ATLA, in which the mechanic gets prominently used. Aang must gather a lot of friends during his journey to bring back balance to the four nations, so there's no more fitting way to represent this through a Magic set. Exclusive Card Showcase Following its initial card reveal, below are a look of one Ally plus a Shrines card in the upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender set. Teo, Spirited Glider: The Beloved Figure Teo stands as one popular minor figure in ATLA, a young man from the Earth Tribe that resided in the Northern Air Temple after his village was ruined in a flood, an event that left him paraplegic. Because of his dad's expertise in engineering, he is able to soar through the skies using a flying device, even challenges Aang to an aerial contest. The card Teo showcases Teo's love for flying along with the Earth Tribe's use of flying machines by letting you draw and discard each time a player attacks using a flying creature, and also pumping your creatures via +1/+1 counters at the same time. Northern Air Temple: A Strong Shrine Regarding Teo's home, it appears in the card Northern Air Temple, that drains your opponent's life when coming into the battlefield, depending on how many Shrine cards you control. The card furthermore removes an additional point anytime another Shrine enters the battlefield. It looks like a powerful card, given the card's cheap cost plus good enter the battlefield ability. A big weakness of Shrine strategies outside of Commander are the fact that Shrines are typically Legendary, but this card is great when paired alongside another Shrine, which deals damage to every opponent during the start of your main phase. A Welcome Crossover At a time when crossover sets are receiving a lot of hate from the community, a beloved franchise like Avatar can be precisely just what MTG requires. Spoiler season has begun, and all cards will be launched November 21st.