One of Avatar: The Last Airbender's most beloved installments gets a dedicated Magic: The Gathering special card drop.
Usually, recap episodes are disliked by fans as an unnecessary waste of time, or at best viewed as a necessity in television during the period of weekly production. That wasn't always the situation, and Avatar: The Last Airbender showed it with "The Ember Island Players," a popular segment during its concluding run which is now granted a special Magic: The Gathering Secret Lair collection.
Details of the collector's edition
The entire Secret Lair superdrop for the soon-to-release Avatar: The Last Airbender edition was announced on November 4. Containing five Secret Lairs, and although one titled "My Cabbages!" is an admittedly humorous tribute to Avatar's most famous minor character, the remaining sets feel a bit uninspired, with one notable exception: "The Ember Island Players."
Based on installment 17 of the third season of Avatar: The Last Airbender, this Secret Lair contains these particular cards:
- 1x Phantasmal Image as "Absolutely Accurate Actor"
- 1x Braid of Fire
- 1x Cursed Mirror
- 1x Mask of Memory
- 1x Thespian's Stage
What makes this segment is special
Fans of Avatar warmly cherish this installment, which served as a recap of the hero Aang and the group's adventure prior to the final episode. Unlike standard summary installments, or retrospective segments, "The Ember Island Players" did not stem by budget restrictions or creative challenges. The creators genuinely intended to provide audiences a moment to recap the series' story, but they decided to approach it inventively.
In the episode, the heroes view a play based on their adventures in a theater located on Ember Island, titled The Boy in the Iceberg. The whole thing is factually incorrect, melodramatic, and overall hilarious. It excels because it plays with the heroes' understanding about themselves, contrasting them compared to how society (and particularly the antagonist nation) views them. It contains the right amount of self-awareness, and it results in perhaps the top rendition of Avatar we have had.
Appeal and availability
In terms of value, this offers a fantastic Secret Lair for one simple reason: Braid of Fire. This particular card is valued between $20 and $40 on online marketplaces at the time of writing, and for $29.99 you can snag the complete collection, or alternatively $39.99 for the foil version.
Magic: The Gathering's Avatar: The Last Airbender edition will be available for pre-release events on Nov. 14 and releases worldwide on November 21.
