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Magic: The Gathering's Avatar: The Last Airbender set is finally here, and with the release of the set comes a handful of new mechanics that are tailored specifically to the world of the Nickelodeon show. After all, if a crossover set can't feel like the franchise it's crossing over with, then what's the point? 

To explain the mechanics behind Avatar: The Last Airbender, the set's lead game designer, Chris Mooney, took to the Magic: The Gathering website to reveal what motivated the game design choices made for the set. “We knew our set would introduce four brand-new mechanics that all sounded similar but did completely different things," Mooney wrote. "We also knew that this set was likely to bring in a lot of newer players, especially younger players. In our research, Magic players consistently said that this set was the most likely to get their friends and family to try out the game. Because of this, we knew we needed some simple mechanics that were easier to grasp. The combination of flavor and simplicity made Allies a slam dunk." 

Now, while Mooney doesn't specifically call out the previous Final Fantasy Universes Beyond set, it's worth comparing and contrasting what they wrote about the Avatar set with how the Final Fantasy set was marketed to FF fans who have never played Magic: The Gathering. At PAX East 2025, Zakeel Gordon, the product architect behind the Final Fantasy set, said, "Internally, we have this thing called a Complexity Dial that kind of goes from one to five, with one being our intro level products, and five being our more complex products like a Horizons set. Magic: The Gathering - Final Fantasy is a little bit higher on that dial specifically because you all, as video game players and specifically RPG fans, already innately understand a lot of aspects of game development."

This makes the Avatar: The Last Airbender set a direct contrast to the Final Fantasy set, because of their mechanical differences. Avatar: The Last Airbender is a TV show, not a long-running RPG video game series, so there's a greater learning curve for those fans to overcome when they start playing a TCG like Magic: The Gathering. To create the most satisfying player experience and to encourage newcomers to the game, of course Wizards of the Coast isn't going to stack difficult mechanics on an Avatar: The Last Airbender crossover set. 

It is worth noting that the Final Fantasy set, before it was even released, became Wizards of the Coast's bestselling Magic: The Gathering set. While we haven't gotten exact sales numbers from Avatar: The Last Airbender, it will be worth comparing the two to see if WotC's gamble paid off, literally. Because ultimately, is the lesson learned from the success of Magic: The Gathering x Final Fantasy just that "gamers will pay top dollar for something from their favorite games appearing in a different game?" 

Whether you are a Commander player, a regular at your local game shop's FNM event, or simply love collecting Magic: The Gathering cards, you've landed in the right place. From Universes Beyond to the furthest reaches of the Magic Multiverse, we've got you covered here at Popverse. 

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