It seems Santa brought me not one but TWO scene boxes for Avatar UB. These products each contain a full set of scene cards (specifically the 6-card TLE scenes; the TLA set also has its own 4-, 6-, and 9-card scenes). The scene cards from these boxes all come in foil, which is the only way to obtain this treatment. Non-foil versions also exist but these can only be found individually in Collector Boosters, ironically making them the rarer variant.
The two scene box themes are The Black Sun Invasion and Tea Time at the Jasmine Dragon. In addition to the playable cards, each box also comes with the equivalent art cards as well as a cardboard easel. The idea is to slot the six art cards in a grid so that the full artwork can be enjoyed. I've put them on display for now, but I suspect the grid ordering will be broken once I put them into a 4×3 binder. I hadn't really intended on collecting all the art cards to be honest, but here we are.
The art cards on display
Great to get these ticked off the list for Christmas!!
Since November, I have been placing eBay orders for miscellaneous MTG promo cards that form part of the Avatar UB crossover. These have been slowly making their way to me over the past month, and the last one has now landed.
Look at this haul:
Gran-Gran (non-foil) This card is one of two promos created for the Wizards Play Network (WPN), a global network of retail stores who receive support from WotC to run MTG game nights and tournaments. This particular promo was distributed at Commander format events. The non-foil is the standard treatment; unusually, a traditional foil version also exists, but was only given away at WPN Premium stores.
This promo was actually the first one I ordered, but the last to arrive.
Unlucky Cabbage Merchant This is another WPN promo, given away at Standard format events. I picked up the non-foil, but again this card has a foil treatment only available from WPN Premium stores.
Iroh, Grand Lotus I spotted this card on Bluesky before the set even came out. This promo is a collaboration between MTG and BoxLunch and could only be obtained in-store in the US starting November 21. To qualify, you had to purchase $50 worth of MTG or Avatar merch. Suffice to say, this was the most expensive one for me to acquire. The artwork is gorgeous though.
BoxLunch announced their MTG collab on Instagram with this picture of the Iroh promo card
Firebending Student This card actually forms part of the main TLA set, despite being a foil-only Buy-a-Box promo. I didn't preorder any booster boxes so had to pick this one up online.
Momo, Friendly Flier This card also forms part of the TLA set, but it can only be obtained by purchasing the Magic: The Gathering Avatar: The Last Airbender Bundle product. I wasn't very interested in the contents of this bundle (it's mostly just Play Boosters, lands, and ephemera) so I grabbed this one as a single.
Katara, the Fearless This promo was distributed at San Diego Comic-Con back in July as a teaser for the full Avatar UB set. The alt art shows Katara in her Fire Nation outfit.
Sokka, Bold Boomeranger Another convention promo, this time showing Sokka in his Fire Nation outfit. This one was given out at MagicCon: Atlanta in September. You had to be there.
An all-American Sokka
I'm still on the hunt for more promos (some haven't even been released yet), but that just about wraps up my purchases for 2025. Now to figure out how to fit these ancillary promos into a logical binder order…
These packs are the scratch cards of the MTG ecosystem. You're not really buying them to build decks—you're buying them for the adrenaline rush of possibly hitting something shiny and rare. Each pack contains 15 random cards, mostly foils and alternate arts from both TLA and TLE. The main chase cards from these packs are the four textless Neon Ink Battle Pose Cards, as well as the headliner Raised Foil Avatar Aang. Obviously the chance of pulling any of these from an individual Collector Booster is vanishingly slim.
Such was the case with my first one. Plenty of foils I was missing, but nothing else of note. I ordered two Play Boosters as well to qualify for free shipping.
The main problem with CB packs is the price. Just one will probably set you back anywhere from €30-40 online. On the high street, I've seen prices ranging from €42 to €60(!).
My curiosity has been satisfied for now, but I suspect this won't be the last CB I crack.
One week on from the official prerelease and I now had enough prerelease kits to run my own event from the kitchen table—and then some. Each prerelease kit contained five Play Booster packs along with a special prerelease pack with cards seeded based on the colour of the kit. The seller was kind enough to throw in a Jumpstart Booster as well.
What ensued was a pack-opening frenzy. Instead of building sealed decks immediately, we pooled all the packs and ran a draft: each pack was opened, a card chosen, and the rest passed around the table until everything had been picked.
At the end, each player had a drafted pile of cards from which to build their deck. With only four players, most of the evening was spent cracking packs and shuffling through the resulting card piles. I went with a mono-green deck to try out the new Earthbend keyword action. I ended up winning 1-0 during the single match we got to play. Unfortunately, nobody thought to bring spare lands, so the guys playing with multicoloured decks had to use a confusing token system instead. We'll figure it out during the next session.
The main highlight of the evening was getting to see which five prerelease promos were pulled. Each kit contained a single guaranteed rare or mythic foil with a 2025 date stamp. We pulled
#162 (Zhao, the Moon Slayer),
#165 (Avatar Destiny),
#181 (Great Divide Guide),
#207 (Avatar Aang // Aang, Master of Elements), and
#247 (Toph, the First Metalbender).
Going by price listings online, the stamped Avatar Aang is the biggest pull by far—although its price is dwarfed by the Raised Foil version, currently listed for €7.5k.
Avatar Aang prerelease stamp foil
Overall I think the event was a lot more memorable at home with friends than it would have been in the LGS last weekend. I've set the drafted decks aside for a future play session. Now on to the herculean task of sorting the remaining bulk.
As someone who only occasionally plays Magic: The Gathering with friends, prerelease events are not my usual scene. Hearing that an Avatar: The Last Airbender expansion was launching this weekend tempted me to the extent that I messaged my LGS to see if there were any slots left for the Saturday event. To reserve a prerelease kit, I needed to have paid in-store earlier in the week; nevertheless, I was informed that there were still a few kits left. I rang a couple friends to see if anyone would go in with me (roped one guy in) and then drove into town through stormy weather only to be informed that all prerelease kits had been sold or reserved.
We left the LGS dejected, with nothing to show for our time.
However, this failure to acquire a single Avatar product awakened something in me: if my LGS wasn't going to facilitate the experience, I would simply have to recreate it on my own terms. After a quick eBay search and much deliberation, all five colours of prerelease kits are now on their way to me. Thirty packs, one kitchen table, and a strict reduction in wet gamer smells—the home prerelease begins soon.
