Avatar: The Last Airbender has finally arrived.  The Universes Beyond set has already proven to be a popular set after the disappointing reception from fans concerning the September release of Marvel’s Spider-Man. There are already a number of valuable cards available on TCGPlayer that highlight the immense popularity of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Borderless Battle Pose Cards

There are four textless Battle Pose cards in Avatar: The Last Airbender.  They silhouette four of the main characters in the set and each represents one of the four elements. Aang, Swift Savior represents Air.  Fire Lord Zuko represents Fire. Toph, the First Metalbender represents Earth. Katara, the Fearless represents water. There are other battle pose cards in the set that aren’t textless. They show off recurring characters that aren’t in the main cast. As of this writing, these four cards in their Battle Pose art represent the cards with the highest earning potential in the set.

• Fire Lord Zuko — Market Value: $2,500.00
• Aang, Swift Savior — Market Value: $2,112.81
• Toph, the First Metalbender  — Market Value: $1,789.00
• Katara, the Fearless — Market Value: $996.66

Wan Shi Tong

Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, the spirit who curates and protects his library of knowledge is one of the most powerful cards in the set. This is in large part because of his versatility. Depending on your resources, he could come out as a very powerful creature. He’s got flying and vigilance so he can be aggressive while still being able to block.  His triggered ability punishes players using popular fetch land mechanics in formats like Commander.  It’s no surprise that both his original art and the borderless variant by Andrea Piparo that we wrote about last week are at the top of the market. 

• Borderless Art — Market Value: $79.89
• Original Art — Market Value: $53.89

Badgermole Cub

Badgermoles are blind creatures that naturally earthbend as they dig.  Badgermole Cub earthbends upon entering the battlefield. Then they have a triggered ability that creates an additional G anytime its controller taps a creature for land.  That means, if a player enters the battlefield and earthbends onto an untapped land, that land can now produce an extra G on the same turn and anytime it’s not being used as a creature. Both versions of this card are also worth a decent amount of money.

• Borderless Art — Market Value: $70.76
• Original Art — Market Value: $52.61

Ozai, The Phoenix King

Near the end of the series, Fire Lord Ozai, believing that the war was nearing its end in his favor, declared himself the Phoenix King. In perfect flavor for a power-hungry tyrant who doesn’t believe the rules apply, Ozai, the Phoenix King has a triggered ability that completely ignores the rules of the mana pool.  “If you would lose unspent mana, that mana becomes red instead.”  Then, the card is constantly checking for that unspent mana because if your unspent mana is greater than or equal to six, Ozai has flying and indestructible.  This on its own makes Ozai a powerful creature but then, he has firebending 4 so every time he attacks, he’s also got 4 mana in the chamber.  On Ozai’s second turn, tap for [mana]2[/card] and by the combat phase, there are six unspent mana in the mana pool.  Ozai, the Phoenix King is a powerful and thus valuable card. 

• Borderless Art — Market Value: $58.88
• Battle Pose — Market Value: $25.97

These card values from TCGPlayer are likely going to change over the coming days and weeks.  The market will have to decide what’s actually worth anything. Competitive formats will discover what cards may change the landscape of the game. Collectors will have a say in this too. Only time will tell what cards will keep their value and which ones will falter.