A new Magic: The Gathering card from the Avatar: The Last Airbender Universes Beyond crossover expansion has a well-hidden secret that you may have missed, and it’s thrilling. Following a series of crossover events with multiple franchises, the card game is now set to expand even more with the animated series. The release of the MTG x Avatar crossover is set for later this month.
Now, a content creator called Danny Motta noticed a minor detail in one of the new cards from the upcoming expansion. As shown by them, the new card called Sokka’s Haiku shows the titular character near Madame Macmu-Ling, who is the great master of haiku at the Headmistress of the Fragrant Blossoms Institute. This is a direct reference to the episode The Tales of Ba Sing Se, in which Sokka briefly challenges Madame Macmu-Ling.
MTG’s New Avatar Card Has A Secret You Wouldn’t Notice
Sokka’s Haiku’s Card Effect Is A Haiku
During the episode, Sokka recites several haikus in an attempt to impress Macmu-Ling’s students. For reference, haikus are short poems that follow a structure of sentences with 5-7-5 syllables. However, in the end, he recites a poem that ends with a six-syllable sentence and is expelled from the school. As pointed out by the content creator, this Magic: The Gathering card’s text is structured like a haiku.
The first sentence, “Counter target spell,” has five syllables. After that, “Draw a card, then mille three cards” features seven syllables. Lastly, “Untap target land” has five syllables. This shows that the card is not only a reference to Sokka’s haikus, but the card itself plays into the theme – at least, while Sokka was getting the syllable count correct.
Sokka’s Haiku Is A Prime Example Of How Creative MTG Can Be
References To Avatar Can Go Beyond Mechanics, Artwork, & Obvious Flavor Texts
Sokka’s Haiku is one of the many revealed MTG: Avatar cards, but it’s possibly one of the best examples of how creative the card game can be. This card does not feature a flavor text at its very bottom, but it can be argued that the card’s descriptive effects are something of a flavor text in their own right. It’s normal for cards to reference and even have mechanics to play into specific elements of their crossover series.
However, Sokka’s Haiku takes it one step further, even if its haiku structure does not directly affect gameplay in any way. Some comments in Danny Motta’s post even joke around, saying that the final line in the card should have had six syllables to recreate Sokka’s own mistake in Avatar. Regardless of how it ended up, this is a simple yet well-crafted new card from the Magic: The Gathering x Avatar set that I’d love to obtain as a haiku writer myself.
- Release Date
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August 5, 1993
- Created by
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Richard Garfield
- Video Game(s)
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Magic: The Gathering, Magic the Gathering Commander, Magic: The Gathering – Battlegrounds, Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012, Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers, Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012, Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013, Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014, Magic: The Gathering Arena
- Character(s)
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Jace Beleren, Chandra Nalaar, Liliana Vess, Garruk Wildspeaker, Nissa Revane, Ajani Goldmane, Nicol Bolas, Teferi, Gideon Jura, Sorin Markov, Ral Zarek