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Magic: The Gathering enthusiasts often enjoy tribal strategies — who hasn't assembled a zombie deck before? — while this upcoming ATLA crossover set revives 2 well-known examples which fit perfectly with its theme.

Reappearing Tribe-Supporting Mechanics

One first ability, named "Ally," first introduced with a Zendikar and gives boosts each time additional creatures with the Ally subtype come onto the battlefield.

Alternatively, "Shrine" is another enchantment-based subtype that originated in Champions of Kamigawa. While not a creature tribal theme, these enchantments also gain strength as you owns additional of them on the battlefield.

A Return of Allies Mechanic

While Shrine cards have appeared here and there across recent releases, Allies mechanic was far less common — but that changes with ATLA, in which this mechanic is prominently used.

The protagonist Aang must gather a lot of friends on his journey to restore peace to the world, so there's no more fitting method to reflect this in an Magic set.

Exclusive Card Preview

Following its initial set reveal, below is a look of an Allies plus a Shrines card from the new ATLA set.

Teo, Spirited Glider: A Beloved Character

This character is one beloved minor character in Avatar: The Last Airbender, a boy of Earth Kingdom who resided at the Northern Air Temple following his home was ruined by a flood, which rendered him paraplegic.

Thanks to his dad's prowess with engineering, Teo can glide through the skies with his glider, even dares the Avatar to a flying race.

The card Teo, Spirited Glider reproduces Teo's love for the skies along with his tribe's reliance on flying machines through letting you loot each time a player attacks using a flying unit, and additionally pumping your creatures via +1/+1 counters in the process.

Northern Air Temple: A Powerful Shrine

Speaking of his dwelling, it is represented in a card named Northern Air Temple, which drains an opponent's life upon coming into play, depending on the number of Shrines you have.

The card also drains one more point anytime another Shrine enters the battlefield.

This appears to be an impactful addition, considering the card's cheap mana cost plus valuable enter the battlefield ability.

A major weakness of Shrine-based strategies outside of Commander is the fact that Shrines are typically Legendary, however this card can be great when paired alongside Sanctum of Stone Fangs, which drains all opponents at the beginning of your main phase.

A Welcome Collaboration

At a time when crossover sets have been receiving a lot of hate from fans, an iconic franchise like Avatar can be exactly just what MTG requires.

Spoiler season is already here, with the full set set to be released on Nov. 21.