Even though things are in full swing ahead of Edge of Eternities' August 1 release date, with plenty of newMagic: The Gatheringspoilers on a daily basis, there is also a lot of hype surrounding theAvatar: The Last AirbenderUniverses Beyond set, for which just one card has been revealed so far. It makes sense that the only officially revealedAvatar: The Last Airbendercard is dedicated to Aang, butMagic: The Gathering’s element-bending mechanic (waterbending, earthbending, firebending, and airbending) remains a mystery. Yet, the new Avatar Aang card can be transformed into Aang, Master of Elements, and it’s already making rounds online as a potentially OP Commander.
This new card has many layers, several of which are tied to the newelement-bending mechanic inMagic: The Gathering. Avatar Aang has “firebending 2,” and it states that players can transform it into Aang, Master of Elements, if they manage to waterbend, earthbend, firebend, and airbend all in one turn. Regardless of how this is achieved, Aang, Master of Elements, is undeniably powerful because it makes all spells cost WUBRG (1 mana of each color) less to cast. This effect is comparable to that of another popular Commander, Morophon, the Boundless, but this older card is arguably much less powerful from the get-go.
Why MTG’s New Avatar Card Makes One Commander Outdated
MTG’s Avatar Aang card made two old cards spike in valueon its own because of what the Aang, Master of Elements side of the card does. Reducing the cost of all spells by WUBRG is a pretty big deal, and in Commander, it’s an easy gateway to infinite combos and winning the game. There is no other addendum to this bit of text for Aang, Master of Elements, so unless it gets changed before release, it does apply to all spells at all times. For this reason, it arguably makes Morophon, the Boundless, a bit outdated.
Why Aang is a Better Commander Than Morophon in MTG
Morophon, the Boundless is aLegendary creature inMagic: The Gatheringthat costs seven generic mana to cast, but it’s a WUBRG commander thanks to its ability to reduce the cost of all spells of a chosen creature type by WUBRG. Since Morophon is a changeling, meaning it has all creature types, it makes sense thematically to make it into a tribal commander, which benefits a specific type of creature over others. Still, there are tribal non-creature spells in the game that would cost WUBRG less to cast with Morophon if they match the chosen creature type.
A Legendary creature’s color identity inMTG’s Commander decksis determined by the colors present on the entire card, not only its mana cost.
Not only does Morophon have a pretty limiting application compared toAang, Master of Elements, but the card explicitly reads “This effect reduces only the amount of colored mana you pay,” which is a downgrade compared to what Aang can do. For example, Searing Touch is surging in price because Aang, Master of Elements' cost-reduction ability doesn’t state that this mana can’t be used for generic mana costs. Searing Touch is a spell that costs 1 Red with Buyback 4, meaning that players can pay the Red mana and its four generic mana for Buyback with the WUBRG reduction from Aang.
What follows is that Morophon is arguably just a worse version of Aang, but this remains to be seen based on what the criteria for flipping Avatar Aang actually are. Unless Avatar Aang has hefty requirements to transform into Aang, Master of Elements, this card is already miles better than Morophon in most scenarios. The only difference is that Avatar Aang requires 1 Red, 1 Green, 1 White, and 1 Blue to cast, whereas Morophon’s mana cost is higher, but generic, making it easier to cast. This doesn’t mean that Morophon has no place in the game, but it’s much harder to justify playing inCommander games inMTGnow that Aang exists.
