r/TheLastAirbender • u/Earthmelon25253 He who knows 10,000 facts about Avatar • Jul 26 '25

Image "Yue The Moon Spirit" MTG Card Reveal

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u/nixahmose Jul 27 '25

I'm curious to see what Waterbend means given that its separate from the waterbending X keyword. Maybe it'll be something like:

"Activate this ability only if you have triggered waterbending this turn"
or
"Activate this ability only if you have ________ this turn" where _____ is an effect that's part of waterbending X. So if waterbending 2 means "tap 2 creatures an opponent controls when this creature attacks," then Waterbend would mean "Activate this ability if you have tapped a creature an opponent controls this turn."

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u/F4RM3RR Jul 27 '25

HIGHLY unlikely that its separate. That would be 8 new mechanics/keywords in the set, all of which having a nightmarishly similar keyword name thjat is allso new and too similar... thats a massive playability issue which is even worse for new players... which are kinda the point of these sets.

more likely that this is more of a grammatical difference

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u/nixahmose Jul 27 '25

It’s not unlikely, it is straight up a separate mechanic that serves as an activation cost rather than a keyword ability. Having a singular ability that can somehow simultaneously operate as a keyword and an activation cost with two different names would be a rules nightmare to understand.

While 8 new mechanics/keywords may sound like a lot, keep in mind that these are basically a cycle of 4 and both sets are going to be really similar to each other. Firebending 2 and waterbending 2 are likely going to trigger the exact same way but the former will be deal 2 noncombat damage to any target while latter will likely tap 2 creatures an opponent controls. Likewise, _____bend are likely going to be activation costs that can be activated when their respective bending keyword has been activated that turn.

So it might sound a lot on paper, but there’s a lot of overlap between them and they aren’t going to be complex mechanics to understand.