Though Universes Beyond as a whole has had a mixed reception among fans, especially after Magic: The Gathering's Spider-Man set, the various cards dedicated to Avatar: The Last Airbender seem to fit right into the game's world and loop. Lesson cards take the best part of their Strixhaven counterparts without the Learn gimmick, and ally as a subtype comes back with a vengeance on powerful cards like Great Divide Guide, making all ally creatures mana dorks. Now, Magic: The Gathering is about to see its meta completely shifted by two major events: the Banned and Restricted post by Wizards of the Coast tomorrow, November 10, and the release of the Avatar set.

As it stands, most of the game's formats have a distinct meta, with some decks being significantly better than the majority and accounting for the largest share of the meta. This is particularly true for Standard, which has two dominating decks in the form of Izzet Cauldron and mono-Red aggro. The share for the 10 best MTG decks, based on tournament lists and participation as seen on mtgdecks.net, is as follows:

  • Izzet Cauldron (around 22% meta share)
  • Mono-Red aggro (around 19% meta share)
  • Dimir midrange (around 11% meta share)
  • Simic aggro (around 6% meta share)
  • Sultai Reanimator (around 5% meta share)
  • Azorius control (around 3% meta share)
  • 4-Color control (around 3% meta share)
  • Jeskai control (around 3% meta share)
  • Orzhov Pixie (around 2% meta share)
  • Boros Burn (around 2% meta share)

This accounts for around 76% of the meta, and almost 4% is accounted for by rogue decks.

Things are bound to change soon, though, as the Avatar set introduces a card called Zhao, the Moon Slayer. This is a 2-CMC (1 generic, 1 Red) 2/2 creature with Menace that makes nonbasic lands enter tapped, basically destroying the curve of any non-mono-color deck in MTG.

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Magic: The Gathering's Best Avatar Commander is Already Clear, and it's Not Aang

Magic: The Gathering's upcoming Avatar set has a very powerful card that Commander players won't want to miss.

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This Magic: The Gathering Avatar Card Makes Standard Decks Virtually Unplayable

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The problem with Zhao, the Moon Slayer, is not even that players can spend 7 mana of any color to put a conqueror counter on it, which then makes all nonbasic lands Mountains. This is a very strong effect, and it pairs perfectly with Avatar's firebending mechanic in MTG, but what makes Zhao, the Moon Slayer, broken is the fact that it makes all nonbasic lands enter tapped.

Most Standard decks in the game, including MTG's Izzet Cauldron deck that is still dominating the format, include some form of dual land, meaning lands that can be tapped for one of two colors (or both). This is because they make the mana curve easier to handle for multi-color decks, even decks that only run two colors, and they provide a lot of utility and flexibility. On top of that, utility lands like Rockface Village and Soulstone Sanctuary also see play to have more options for action.

All these lands are rendered mostly useless by Zhao, the Moon Slayer, because no matter what, they enter play tapped. This single-handedly slows down any non-mono-color deck, and then Zhao also has the option to spend 7 mana to render most non-mono-Red decks unplayable.

How MTG's Mono-Red Aggro Deck May Change After Standard Bans

Magic: The Gathering's Standard bans may prune options for mono-Red, which is not guaranteed to happen, but there are a couple of candidates:

  • Screaming Nemesis could be banned in Standard because it's a very strong, problematic creature that single-handedly kills lifegain decks and makes mono-Red's curve much more consistent and aggressive.
  • Sunspine Lynx is normally a sideboard pick, but it's incredibly strong at 4-CMC for a 5/4 that blocks lifegain and makes damage impossible to prevent, while also dealing damage to players based on nonbasic lands they control, further punishing opponents if used with Zhao.

If these cards are banned, mono-Red may be less consistent even with the upcoming Zhao, the Moon Slayer, but the Avatar set also packs incredible mono-Red cards like Fire Nation Cadets and Firebending Student that could prove to be incredible in the meta. The bans will inevitably change Standard, but Zhao is about to make a rather big splash if mono-color decks don't start surfacing.

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Magic: The Gathering Arena
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Digital Card Game
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Systems
PC-1
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Top Critic Avg: 82 /100 Critics Rec: 81%
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Released
September 27, 2018
ESRB
T for Teen // Blood and Gore, Mild Fantasy Violence
Developer(s)
Wizards of the Coast, Wizards Digital Games Studios
Publisher(s)
Wizards of the Coast
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Genre(s)
Digital Card Game