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Magic: The Gathering enthusiasts often embrace tribal strategies — who has not built a goblin strategy before? — and the forthcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender Universes Beyond release brings back 2 well-known examples that align perfectly to the setting.

Returning Tribal Abilities

The first mechanic, known as "Allies," first introduced in the Zendikar and grants boosts whenever more permanents bearing this subtype come onto play.

Meanwhile, "Shrine" represents another enchantment type that first appeared with Champions of Kamigawa. While not exactly a creature tribe, Shrines also become strength when a player controls more of them in play.

A Return of the Ally Ability

Although Shrines have been shown up here and there across newer sets, Allies mechanic has been seldom seen — but that ends in Avatar: The Last Airbender, where the mechanic gets heavily featured.

Aang has to assemble a lot of companions on the journey to restore balance across the four nations, so there's no better method to show that in an Magic set.

Exclusive Card Preview

Following the initial set announcement, below is a look at one Ally and a Shrines card from the upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender release.

Teo: A Fan-Favorite Character

This character is a popular supporting character in Avatar: The Last Airbender, a boy from Earth Kingdom that resided in the Northern Air Temple following his village was ruined in a disaster, an event that rendered him unable to walk.

Due to his father's prowess with engineering, he can soar in the air with a flying device, even challenges the Avatar to an aerial race.

This card Teo reproduces his passion for the skies along with the Earth Tribe's use on gliders through allowing the player draw and discard each time a player attacks with an airborne creature, and additionally pumping your creatures with +1/+1 counters in the process.

Northern Air Temple: The Powerful Shrine

Speaking of his home, it is represented as the card Northern Air Temple, which reduces your opponent's life total upon entering the battlefield, based on how many Shrine cards you have.

It furthermore drains one more point whenever another Shrine enters the battlefield.

This looks like an impactful card, given the card's cheap mana cost plus valuable enter the battlefield ability.

One big weakness for Shrine decks outside of Commander are the fact that these cards are typically Legendary, but this card is great when paired alongside another Shrine, which deals damage to all opponents at the beginning of your turn.

The Welcome Crossover

Currently while crossover sets have been garnering a lot of criticism by fans, an iconic franchise such as Avatar can be precisely just what MTG needs.

Preview period is already here, with all cards set to be launched on Nov. 21.