Avatar: The Last Airbender (TLA)

In figures

• 562,924 games analysed
• On the play: 59.1% wins, against 52.9% on the draw
• A game lasts 9.2 turns on average

What players think

The format is seen as greedy and full of powerful rares: games often stall, removal is mostly slow or conditional, and plentiful fixing makes splashing easy. The white Ally decks fit Allies and counters () naturally, Attacking Allies () is strong, and Draw and Clues () is thought to be the most powerful deck in its aggressive build. Skies and Allies () is seen as a slow board-stall grind, Lessons and ramp () as undercooked, and Raid and sacrifice () as the firebending deck, best when aggressive. Our measured games confirm the strength of both white Ally decks, at the top, and the weakness of Lessons and ramp, among the last. They contradict the enthusiasm for Raid and sacrifice, which finishes last, and Draw and Clues does not stand out, ranking fifth.

Colour pairs

Win rate of the decks of each pair, from real games of online draft players.

Pair	Share of games	Win rate	Strong players	Over time
Skies and Allies	13.7 %	57.1 %	56.0 %	58.0 → 56.2 → 56.1
Draw and Clues	11.0 %	56.6 %	56.5 %	56.6 → 56.5 → 56.6
Spells and Lessons	9.1 %	56.8 %	57.1 %	56.9 → 56.9 → 56.3
Allies and counters	8.7 %	57.3 %	56.5 %	57.8 → 56.9 → 56.7
Attacking Allies	8.5 %	57.3 %	55.8 %	57.9 → 56.8 → 56.4
Sacrifice and Allies	6.4 %	55.9 %	54.7 %	56.1 → 55.2 → 56.7
Lessons and ramp	5.1 %	55.1 %	54.3 %	54.8 → 55.5 → 55.4
Living lands	5.1 %	56.1 %	55.0 %	55.8 → 56.5 → 56.4
Raid and sacrifice	4.8 %	54.0 %	52.9 %	54.0 → 54.0 → 54.2
Big creatures	4.6 %	55.5 %	54.3 %	55.3 → 55.5 → 56.2

Archetypes: the gold uncommons

• Skies and Allies

  57.1 % win rate13.7 % of games

  Airbend

  • 

    58. Sokka, Lateral Strategist

    6.8
  • 

    103. Air Nomad Legacy

    6.0

• Draw and Clues

  56.6 % win rate11.0 % of games
  • 

    36. Foggy Swamp Spirit Keeper

    7.3
  • 

    197. Hama, the Bloodbender

    4.8

• Spells and Lessons

  56.8 % win rate9.1 % of games

  Lessons

  • 

    46. Dragonfly Swarm

    7.0
  • 

    101. Professor Zei, Anthropologist

    6.1

• Allies and counters

  57.3 % win rate8.7 % of games

  Allies

  • 

    73. White Lotus Reinforcements

    6.6
  • 

    142. Suki, Kyoshi Warrior

    5.6

• Attacking Allies

  57.3 % win rate8.5 % of games

  Firebending

  • 

    172. Sun Warriors

    5.2
  • 

    87. Jet, Freedom Fighter

    6.3

• Sacrifice and Allies

  55.9 % win rate6.4 % of games
  • 

    59. Tolls of War

    6.8
  • 

    233. Hei Bai, Spirit of Balance

    4.2

• Lessons and ramp

  55.1 % win rate5.1 % of games

  Lessons

  • 

    69. Hermitic Herbalist

    6.6
  • 

    76. Guru Pathik

    6.4

• Living lands

  56.1 % win rate5.1 % of games

  Earthbend

  • 

    89. Dai Li Agents

    6.2
  • 

    270. Long Feng, Grand Secretariat

    2.0

• Raid and sacrifice

  54.0 % win rate4.8 % of games

  Firebending

  • 

    257. Cruel Administrator

    2.6
  • 

    275. Zhao, Ruthless Admiral

    2.0

• Big creatures

  55.5 % win rate4.6 % of games

  Earthbend

  • 

    250. Bitter Work

    3.8
  • 

    72. Toph, Hardheaded Teacher

    6.6

Mechanics of the set

• Firebending

  Whenever this creature attacks, you add red mana (the number N shown); this mana lasts until end of combat.

• Earthbend

  Target land you control becomes a 0/0 creature with haste that is still a land, with N +1/+1 counters; when it dies or is exiled, it returns to the battlefield tapped.

• Waterbend

  While paying a waterbend cost, you can tap your artifacts and creatures: each one pays for one mana.

• Airbend

  You exile a permanent or spell; while it is exiled, its owner may cast it for two mana rather than its mana cost.

• Exhaust

  An exhaust ability can only be activated once.

• Lessons

  Lesson is a spell subtype; many cards count the Lessons in your graveyard to get a bonus.

• Allies

  Ally is a creature type; many cards create 1/1 white Ally creature tokens or trigger when an Ally enters.

The best cards

By colour

Rank by our rating, then rank by win rate when the card is in hand.

To remember

• Four cards have a bonus that needs three or more Lessons in your graveyard (Gran-Gran, The Lion-Turtle, Accumulate Wisdom, Serpent of the Pass): only count on it in a deck with many Lessons.
• Waterbend is paid with artifacts and creatures: Benevolent River Spirit has a waterbend 5 additional cost, so you need many permanents.
• Take the common two-colour lands late in the pick order: there are ten, one per pair, and they can be sacrificed (four mana) to draw a card.
• Allies are everywhere (77 cards): a deck with Ally tokens powers up the cards that trigger when an Ally enters.