The best avatar commander of The Gathering is already clear, and it's not Aang

All the cards revealed for the Avatar set have a much more positive undertone Magic: The Gathering compared to Spider-Man, with fans praising how well the IP seems to fit in MTGworld and card mechanics. With four interesting core mechanics tied to elemental bending types from Avatar, it's new Magic: The Gathering the set has a lot of combo potential with other sets and popular cards. As an eternal format, this can be especially true for Commander, which already features incredible combos like the infamous Thassa's Oracle + Demonic Consultation. Now there is a new commander on the rise from Avatar that can be quite powerful.

MTGKatara, Waterbending Master is the operational commander for mono-Blue decks, and cards like Aang, at the Crossroads are already fighting for the top commander spot in the set. Some cards are just as great in 99, proving to be versatile in any commander deck. One such card is the newly revealed Wan Shi Tong, All-Knowing, which could easily become either the best commander from the Avatar set or the best card to fit into 99, if not both. This is due to several reasons:

Wan Shi Tong has synergies with many command staples (especially in cEDH) such as:
- Sisay, Captain Weatherlight can teach it and/or use it to empower himself.
- Valley Floodcaller taps it due to its bird subtype and also gives it +1/+1 whenever a monster spell is cast.
- Infinite mana sink in decks like Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy or Flubs, the Fool.
- Combine with Hullbreaker Horror for endless card draw.
- Strong synergy with Tymna, the Weaver who is one of the most powerful and played commanders in the game.
- An amazing reaction card that can be used against fetchlands or teachers due to its flash ability.
Wan Shi Tong can ideally be cast during the opponent's turn, even for just 2 blue mana, because it can get more +1/+1 counters in the turn cycle in commander games due to how many teacher-like abilities are being played.
MTGRysty's study can create a strong stax combo with Wan Shi Tong, as the former draws cards and the latter becomes increasingly powerful whenever the teacher is used.

It's worth noting that as a commander, Wan Shi Tong is not immune to the so-called “Commander Tax”, meaning that the extra mana required to cast from the zone cannot be diluted to X fraction of his cost. For example, if it was once removed, players have to pay 2 generic and 2 blue to cast it, then add X mana as they want.

Say Hello to Magic: The Gathering's Best Commander Card in Avatar: The Last Airbender

The reason why Wan Shi Tong can be so powerful as a commander is because he is instantly available to cast from the command zone. Since most commander decks contain at least a few teacher-like cards (ie fetchlands, ramp cards that fetch lands from the library, proper teacher cards like Demonic Tutor, and teacher-like abilities like Sisay's), Wan Shi Tong will be very unlikely to get bigger and stronger in any commander game. Since he also has flying and alertness, Wan Shi Tong can be a fantastic attacker and blocker in combat once on.

How to play MTG Wan Shi Tong, Omniscient in Commander

Much like some of the best commanders MTGWan Shi Tong can do wonders with different combos and strategies. It could be built as a bird tribal deck, it could work as a potential candidate for Voltron strategies, it could power any card draw strategy readily available in the command zone, and it could work perfectly in artifact-matter decks.

A powerful Voltron card in MTG that Wan Shi Tong should consider is Commander Plate, which would give +3/+3 and protection against white, black, red, and green for 1 generic cast and 3 generic for equip.

The possibilities with Wan Shi Tong are endless, and because it doesn't focus on a specific playstyle, it remains very flexible. Still, being a mono-blue commander, he is inherently bound to play interaction spells like Flusterstorm, Fierce Guardianship, and other counterspells in MTGwhich are necessary to keep him alive in the face of moving so that he can continue to grow stronger.