Among Avatar: The Last Airbender's most beloved installments receives a dedicated MTG Secret Lair.
Ordinarily, recap episodes are loathed among audiences as an unnecessary waste of time, or sometimes tolerated as a requirement for series in the era of weekly production. That wasn't always the situation, and Avatar: The Last Airbender proved it through "The Ember Island Players," a beloved episode from its final season that is now getting an exclusive Magic: The Gathering Secret Lair collection.
Information regarding the collector's edition
The entire Secret Lair superdrop for the forthcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender set was announced recently. Containing five Secret Lairs, and although the one called "My Cabbages!" is an admittedly humorous tribute to the show's best background character, the other collections feel a bit less imaginative, with one notable exception: "The Ember Island Players."
Drawing from the seventeenth episode from season 3 of the animated show, this collector's drop includes these particular cards:
- 1x Phantasmal Image represented as "Absolutely Accurate Actor"
- 1x Braid of Fire
- 1x Cursed Mirror
- 1x Mask of Memory
- 1x Thespian's Stage
The reason this episode is special
Audiences of the series fondly remember this installment, which served as a review of the protagonist Aang and his friends' journey prior to the final episode. Different from typical clip shows, or "clip shows," "The Ember Island Players" wasn't motivated due to production constraints or creative challenges. The show's makers specifically aimed to provide audiences a moment to reflect on the show's narrative, yet they chose to do it creatively.
In the episode, the heroes view a theatrical performance depicting their adventures in a theater set on Ember Island, named The Boy in the Iceberg. The whole thing is inaccurate, over-the-top, and utterly comical. It succeeds since it plays on the characters' views regarding their own identities, setting them against compared to how society (and particularly the antagonist nation) views them. It possesses the perfect balance of meta-commentary, and it ends up perhaps the finest interpretation of Avatar we have had.
Worth and pricing
Regarding worth, this is a great Secret Lair because of one major element: Braid of Fire. This particular card is valued between $20 and $40 on online marketplaces at the time of writing, and at $29.99 you can acquire the full set, or $39.99 for the foil version.
Magic's Avatar: The Last Airbender edition will be available during early access events beginning November 14 and debuts internationally on Nov. 21.
