Is MTG Arena teasing an Avatar: The Last Airbender set in 2025?
Wizards of the Coast/NickelodeonEagle-eyed Magic: The Gathering fans are firmly convinced that an Avatar: The Last Airbender collab is in the works and the theory is fairly compelling.
The year is young and it’s a great time to be a Magic: The Gathering player. The TCG’s 2025 release schedule is stacked with exciting sets and expansions including a return to Innistrad and the high-octane adventures of Aetherdrift.
On top of the traditional sets, there are also a number of long-awaited collaborations lined up with properties like Final Fantasy, Spider-Man, and Spongebob. While six out of the seven 2025 releases have been revealed so far, fans of the game are convinced they’ve uncovered the outlier.
MTG players have theorized that the final unannounced release for 2025 is a tie-in to the iconic Avatar: The Last Airbender series. Below we’ve broken down why they might be on the money.
NickelodeonMTG Arena discounts point to Avatar: The Last Airbender set
Championed by YouTuber Amazonian, they and other fans are pointing to some very suspicious discounts on MTG Arena as proof of the potential Avatar: The Last Airbender collab. The digital storefront’s daily deals have been used to hint at future releases before so it isn’t too farfetched.
In 2024, daily deals for vehicle cards were used to tease Aetherdrift, discounted spider cards heralded the reveal of the Spider-Man collab, cards with ‘star’ in the name were connected to the sci-fi-oriented Edge of Eternities set, and more. So, what’s making players think that Avatar: The Last Airbender is getting the MTG treatment?
Well, on January 6, 2025, six very specific cards were discounted as part of MTG Arena’s daily deals. The cards in question were: Into the Fire, Waterknot, Earth Cult Elemental, Airdrop Aeronauts, the Distended Mindbender, and Oswald Fiddlebender.
Those familiar with Avatar: The Last Airbender will immediately notice references to the four elements that the series’ worldbuilding and narrative hinge on as well as two cards with ‘bender’ in the title. This seems like a pretty on-the-nose tease for an MTG collaboration with the franchise.
That’s not the only thing that has players convinced, however.
WotC staffing choice could confirm Avatar: The Last Airbender MTG collab
If MTG is working on an Avatar: The Last Airbender set, it’s very likely that it will fill the slot of an unannounced Universes Beyond project in the 2025 release schedule. The primary reason for this comes down to a post on X from Senior Game Designer for Wizards of the Coast; Chris Mooney.
Mooney was tapped as lead designer for the set and they described it as “a lifelong dream come true”. MTG detectives poured over Mooney’s post history on the platform and discovered some evidence that points to a potential Avatar crossover.
In a post from March 11, 2024, in which Mooney expresses their desire to work on a project related to Avatar: The Last Airbender. While that post was specifically referencing a video game, MTG players have pointed to Mooney’s description of the unannounced Universes Beyond set as a possible tease for the Avatar collab.
There’s no denying that Avatar would slot neatly into the TCG’s elementally-themed colors and we’d be excited to see a crossover. However, until we receive official word from Wizards of the Coast, it’s best to take all this theorizing with a grain of salt.