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Magic: The Gathering enthusiasts frequently embrace tribal tactics — who has not constructed an elf deck once or twice? — and the forthcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender Universes Beyond release brings back 2 popular mechanics which align perfectly with its setting.

Reappearing Tribe-Supporting Mechanics

The initial ability, named "Ally," was introduced with the Zendikar and gives buffs each time additional permanents bearing the Ally type enter play.

Alternatively, "Shrines" represents an enchantment type which first appeared in Champions of Kamigawa. While not a creature tribal theme, these enchantments likewise gain strength as a player owns more Shrines in play.

The Return for Allies Mechanic

While Shrines have appeared sporadically across recent releases, the Ally mechanic was far less common — but this ends with Avatar: The Last Airbender, in which this feature gets heavily featured.

Aang must recruit many companions during his quest to bring back peace across the world, so there's no more fitting method to represent this through an Magic expansion.

Revealed Card Preview

After its first set announcement, here is a look at one Ally plus a Shrines cards in the new Avatar: The Last Airbender set.

Teo, Spirited Glider: A Fan-Favorite Figure

This character stands as one cherished supporting character from Avatar: The Last Airbender, a boy from Earth Kingdom that resided in an Air Temple following his village was destroyed in a flood, an event that left him paraplegic.

Due to his father's prowess with mechanics, he can fly in the air with a flying device, even challenges the Avatar to a flying race.

The card Teo, Spirited Glider reproduces his love of flying along with his tribe's reliance of flying machines through letting you draw and discard each time a player attacks using a flying unit, and additionally strengthening your creatures with +1/+1 counters at the same time.

The Temple Card: A Strong Shrine Enchantment

Regarding his home, it appears in the card The Northern Air Temple, which drains your opponent's life total upon coming into play, depending on the number of Shrines you control.

It also drains one more point anytime a Shrine enters the battlefield.

It looks like a powerful card, given its low mana cost plus good ETB effect.

One major drawback of Shrine-based decks in formats besides EDH is that these cards are typically legendary permanents, however this card is great in combination alongside another Shrine, that deals damage to all opponents at the beginning of your turn.

A Welcome Collaboration

Currently while crossover sets are garnering a lot of criticism by the community, an iconic franchise like Avatar could be precisely just what MTG requires.

Spoiler season is already here, with the full set set to be launched November 21st.