Sphere of Influence: December 12, 2025

Avatar Destiny | Illustrated by Iwamoto05

Welcome to Sphere of Influence, a pre-FNM look at some potential movers and shakers that are worth picking up before their prices increase.

Avatar: The Last Airbender is here, and the hype around Badgermole Cub and Wan Shi Tong, Librarian is real: these cards are cracked in multiple formats. It may be a while before the budget-conscious are able to snag one of these two gems, but it's a great time to pick up some of the set's cheaper cards that are sure to make an impact, especially in Commander. Here are a few to watch and, hopefully, own:

Earthbender Ascension - $0.50

Rampant Growth is a highly played green card, and few would argue its merit. For one additional mana, Earthbender Ascension also provides a single earthbend instance and the potential to start beefing up your creatures and giving them trample; plus, it adds a quest counter to itself upon entry. With even a single fetch land in play, this becomes Cultivate with upside, though it's perfectly strong as is while staying cheap, to boot.

Agna Qel'a - $0.50

With so many great enters-untapped lands available in all colors these days, it's a wonder anyone continues to run basic lands at all. This is one of the best from Avatar (though, funnily enough, it requires a critical masslet of basic lands to be most effective) because it provides both draw and discard for only a single more mana than Geier Reach Sanitarium, which is already a great card to have around. This land taps for blue, though, and anyone who's ever cast Counterspell will tell you that's a great feature to have. This cycle of lands contains many gems, and all are worth picking up.

Avatar Destiny - $0.25

Auras have a hard time finding homes in Commander because they open up the opportunity for opponents to easily 2-for-1 your stuff, but cards like Rancor have excelled because they offer recursion built in. Avatar Destiny contains the same Rancor text we've all grown to love, and in any graveyard-based deck, it provides a substantial power and toughness buff that applies to the card's death trigger and reanimates something beefy, and you can do it all over again the next turn. Buy one of these alongside any of your favorite sac outlets.

Momo, Friendly Flier- $0.25

If your commander is white and has flying, Momo isn't a bad option, especially considering your deck is likely to have plenty of other flying creatures. At the very least, Momo provides a chance to deposit a single mana into your commander's cost while swinging in for some easy damage in the meantime.

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Which Avatar cards have been overperformers so far? Tell me so I can buy them all up!