Appa, Steadfast Guardian Commander Deck Tech

Appa, Steadfast Guardian | Art by Ilse Gort

I have to admit to being shocked at the sheer volume of previews we've gotten for the upcoming Magic set Avatar: The Last Airbender, a set that's not due to release until the end of November! But if you like planning your decks ahead of time, you've got a ton to think about for the next few months. And I'm here to get you started, with this Commander deck tech featuring Appa, Steadfast Guardian.

I'm very excited for this Universes Beyond set since I fell in love with the Avatar: The Last Airbender TV show while watching it with my children when they were young. We watched it several times, along with the sequel show The Legend of Korra, and I really appreciated that a kids' show was chock full of excellent plot, engaging characters and character arcs, and satisfying payoffs that taught my children the power of storytelling.

As a Magic fan, I feel like the world of The Last Airbender fits in perfectly within Magic's aesthetics with heroes, villains, magic, quests, spirits, and fantastical beasts and creatures that fans of Bloomburrow will adore. It's been a ton of fun sharing these preview cards with my kids, and I wouldn't be surprised if my son asks me to build him a deck around one of the new legends - such as Appa, Steadfast Guardian!

What Does Appa, Steadfast Guardian Do?

Appa is Aang's flying Bison. Not only does Appa carry Team Avatar all around the world, but he's also a warm and fuzzy companion with a big personality. There's even an episode of the show called "Appa's Lost Days" which follows Appa's misadventures when he's been separated from the rest of the team.

Appa, Steadfast Guardian has a cool ability that triggers when it enters, and you get to airbend any number of other target nonland permanents you control.

The airbending reminder text explains that you exile those permanents, and while each one is exiled, its owner may cast it for generic mana rather than its mana cost. Since Appa has flash, you can do this at instant speed to save one or more of your nonland permanents from removal. You might also just want to replay cards that have powerful enters abilities again.

Plus, Appa has a triggered ability that creates a 1/1 Ally token whenever you cast a spell from exile. While Appa isn't particularly big as a 3/4, it does have flying, so it picks up Equipment and pokes life totals quite well.

Appa expands on the vibe that previous commanders like Samwise the Stouthearted and Ambrosia Whiteheart have as a flash creature that can save one of your creatures from dying or get it back from the graveyard.

Though it's closer to like Archangel Avacyn because you can "save" multiple creatures from death, though Appa tucks them away in exile rather than makes them indestructible. But Appa lets you protect other key permanents than just creatures, which makes it quite different.

A Commander deck built around Appa is going to be a value grind, stuffed full of nonland permanents that give you benefits when they enter, which is exactly the sort of deck I love!

Key Cards for Appa, Steadfast Guardian

Airbending

I went looking for other airbending cards that could go in a monowhite Commander deck, and we've been previewed a few of them already. Both Aang, Airbending Master and Aang, the Last Airbender expand on that strategy, and since they're both Ally creatures any Ally synergies will appreciate that.

Airbending Lesson is a little expensive at three mana, but being instant speed and replacing itself makes it worth it. In particular I'm looking at airbending Appa itself, tucking it away in exile where you can play it from exile at instant speed for just two mana to do its thing all over again.

Playing from Exile

The warp ability from Edge of Eternities gives some additional ways to play cards from exile. Since Appa makes tokens, Exalted Sunborn plays right into that strategy, while Haliya, Guided by Light gives some potential card draw attached to incremental life gain.

Anticausal Vestige has an excellent leaves the battlefield ability that you'll be happy to airbend, while Starfield Shepherd will keep you hitting land drops each turn.

Foretell cards like Stoic Farmer and Ultimate Magic: Holy provide additional ways to play cards from exile to spit out more Ally tokens with Appa.

Cosmic Intervention is an excellent way to respond to something killing Appa, or mass removal in general. Casting Doomskar from exile and getting an Ally from Appa isn't the best synergy, but occasionally you may be able to cast this and give your creatures indestructible temporarily.

Cards with rebound made my list with Ephemerate and Emerge Unscathed providing some instant-speed interaction. The Adventure side of Virtue of Loyalty tucks it away in exile to play with Appa on the battlefield, and the +1/+1 counters will start to grow your army of Allies.

Enter the Battlefield Triggers

I pretty much went hog wild filling the deck with creatures that had sweet enters abilities, like Solemn Simulacrum, Spirited Companion, and Loran of the Third Path.

Of course Sun Titan was one of the first creatures I added to this deck, along with Karmic Guide to provide some graveyard recursion.

Discounts

I also added cards that discount spells, which helps make casting airbent creatures from exile even cheaper! Momo, Friendly Flier is an Ally for Ally synergies, while Oketra's Monument makes tokens to support the go-wide strategy.

The Wind Crystal and The Immortal Sun are a bit more expensive but give a lot of bang for your mana buck with extra useful text. Both also feel like they'd fit in perfectly with the vibe of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Tokens and Card Draw

Expecting Appa to make a bunch of 1/1 token creatures, Skullclamp and Enduring Innocence makes excellent card draw engines.

Welcoming Vampire gives more much-needed card draw, while Caged Sun boosts the go-wide strategy while giving you tons of mana to replay creatures you've exiled with airbend.

Allies

There are some more in-universe Ally creatures previewed we can use, such as Momo, Rambunctious Rascal, Aang, Air Nomad, and especially Hakoda, Selfless Commander with that incredible ability to sacrifice and give your creatures indestructible - maybe in response to casting Doomskar!

There are also awesome Ally creatures that care about other Allies, and many of them are enters triggers that are going to be awesome to replay with airbending!

How Does This Appa, Steadfast Guardian Commander Deck Win?

While it's always fun to grind value, I did include some ways to hasten a game to its conclusion.

Moonshaker Cavalry and Akroma's Will are excellent cards to support a go-wide strategy, and can end a game or get real close to it.

Cathars' Crusade is a little slower, but when you've got a way to discount your spells and have tucked away a handful of creatures in exile with airbending, the turn you play them again can leave you with a bunch of really large creatures.

You can set up a devastating Promise of Loyalty turn by flashing in Appa on your opponent's end step, airbend all of your creatures, and then cast Promise of Loyalty to dwindle all of your opponents creatures to just the chosen ones. You can then redeploy all of your creatures from exile over the next turn or two.

Appa, Steadfast Guardian Commander Deck List

The mana curve looks a little clunky until you move around all the cards you can cast for cheaper with like warp, foretell or Adventure.

Conclusion

This deck, like most of what I build, is solidly Bracket 2 (Core). If you like games that go a while and have plenty of interaction, this could be for you! But if you prefer to play in Bracket 3 (Upgraded) games, there are plenty of Game Changers you can add to your deck to juice it up.

Since airbending uses mana, all the Treasures from Smothering Tithe are welcome. Teferi's Protection is an awesome way to protect your go-wide strategy from any number of mass removal spells. And Enlightened Tutor can go find your Sol Ring, Skullclamp, or Smothering Tithe!

The fast mana of Mana Vault sets up explosive turns, but if the upkeep trigger proves too painful you can airbend it into exile until you want to cast it again later. The One Ring is a powerful card-drawing engine, but the protection granted from its enters ability is certainly something you might want to airbend and play again several times during the game.

The extra mana from Ancient Tomb can help you cast Appa ahead of curve if you need to, and there's a decent amount of lifegain to offset the pain if you draw it early.

What sort of cards would you put in deck built around Appa, Steadfast Guardian? Which new legendary cards from Avatar: The Last Airbender are you most excited about?

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