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Magic: The Gathering players frequently adopt tribal decks — what player hasn't built a zombie strategy once or twice? — while the upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender Universes Beyond release revives two well-known examples that align perfectly with the theme.

Reappearing Tribal Abilities

The first ability, named "Allies," first introduced in the Zendikar set which gives boosts each time more creatures with the Ally subtype enter play.

On the other hand, "Shrines" is another enchantment subtype that originated in Kamigawa. While not creature-based tribal theme, Shrines also gain abilities as you controls additional Shrines in play.

A Return of Allies Mechanic

Although Shrines have appeared occasionally across newer releases, Allies mechanic has been seldom seen — but that changes with Avatar: The Last Airbender, in which the feature gets heavily featured.

The protagonist Aang must recruit a lot of allies on the journey to bring back peace across the world, so there's no better way to represent that through an Magic: The Gathering set.

Exclusive Card Preview

Following the first card reveal, here are previews at one Allies plus a Shrines cards from the upcoming ATLA release.

Teo: A Fan-Favorite Character

Teo is one cherished minor figure from ATLA, a boy from Earth Kingdom that resided at the Northern Air Temple after his village was destroyed in a flood, an event that left him paraplegic.

Because of his dad's prowess in mechanics, Teo can fly in the air using a flying device, and dares Aang to a flying contest.

This card Teo reproduces Teo's love for flying along with the Earth Tribe's reliance on flying machines by allowing the player draw and discard each time you attack using an airborne unit, while additionally boosting your team with +1/+1 counters at the same time.

Northern Air Temple: The Strong Shrine

Speaking of Teo's dwelling, it is represented in the card Northern Air Temple, which reduces your opponent's life total upon coming into the battlefield, based on the number of Shrines you have.

It also removes an additional point whenever a Shrine enters the field.

It looks like a strong card, considering its cheap mana cost plus valuable enter the battlefield ability.

One big weakness for Shrine decks in formats besides Commander are the fact that these cards are always Legendary, but this card is effective in combination with another Shrine, that deals damage to every opponent during the start of your main phase.

The Timely Collaboration

Currently when Universes Beyond products have been receiving a lot of backlash by fans, an iconic series like Avatar could be precisely what MTG needs.

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