At a glance
- Format: Brawl (100-card)
- Commander: Aang, at the Crossroads
- Colors: Green / White / Blue (GWU)
- Archetype: Bant midrange/value
- Power tier: mid-high
- Competitive Brawl: ✅ Legal
Strategy
Aang, at the Crossroads anchors a Bant value pile that now actually pays off his own text. Ramp into him on turn 4-5 (Llanowar Elves, Druid of the Cowl, Ilysian Caryatid, Great Forest Druid, Badgermole Cub, Solemn, Wayfarer’s Bauble, Rampant Growth), dig five deep for a free 4-or-less drop on every ETB, then grind the long game with card-advantage engines (Tatyova, Cloudblazer, Cloudkin Seer, Inga Rune-Eyes, Wan Shi Tong, Kiora). The big refinement: Aang earthbends 2 every combat and gives land creatures vigilance, so the deck now leans into earthbend instead of ignoring it. Badgermole Cub is a 2-mana ramp engine (earthbend 1 + extra {G} whenever you tap a creature for mana); Toph and Badgermole add cheap earthbend bodies, Badgermole hands every counter-creature trample, and The Earth King turns those 4-power land-beaters into a basic-land ramp spigot when they swing. Earthbender Ascension (earthbend 2 + fetch a basic) and Earth Rumble (earthbend + fight removal) and The Boulder round out the package, all converting Aang’s vigilant land-creatures into real pressure. White removal (Swords, Luminous Rebuke, Stroke of Midnight, Valorous Stance, Repel Calamity, Fate of the Sun-Cryst, Sandbenders’ Storm) plus a tight counter shell (Spell Snare, Disdainful Stroke, Refute, Spellgyre) keeps the board honest while flyers (Empyrean Eagle, Giada, Errant and Giada, Lyra) close in the air. Sequence note: with 36 lands plus ramp you’ll occasionally flood, but earthbend turns excess lands into a board, and Meditation Pools / North Pole Gates / Kyoshi Village sack themselves for cards.
Upgrade path
LAND REVAMP 2026-07-11: manabase rebuilt to kill taplands (cut guildgates/temples/gainlands); now runs shock + verge (+painland in Brawl) untapped duals + basics. Land crafts this pass: Adarkar Wastes, Floodfarm Verge, Willowrush Verge, Yavimaya Coast. Zero rare/mythic SPELL crafts. All seven additions are owned: Badgermole Cub (mythic, own3), Toph (unc), Badgermole (common), The Earth King (rare, OWNED own4 — not a craft), Earthbender Ascension (rare, OWNED own3), Earth Rumble (unc), The Boulder (unc). The two added owned rares were already in Mik’s collection, so no wildcards are spent. Cut seven low-impact filler pieces to make room: Cat-Owl, Iguana Parrot, Holy Cow, Healer’s Hawk, Curator of Destinies (6-mana symmetric, weak), Saber-Tooth Moose-Lion (vanilla), Earth Kingdom Soldier (5-mana for two counters). Manabase unchanged at 36 (15 basics + 5 untapped nonbasics + Dreamroot Cascade + 2 fetches + 13 tapped utility/scry duals); note earthbend animates lands but does NOT ramp mana, so land count stays healthy. Future owned tweaks: if flooding persists trim to ~34-35 and add another earthbend payoff (Earthbending Lesson / Rockalanche are both owned commons/uncommons) or The Boulder-style attack triggers.
Cards
Decklist
Paste straight into MTG Arena (or Moxfield/Archidekt):
Commander
1 Aang, at the Crossroads
Deck
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Druid of the Cowl
1 Ilysian Caryatid
1 Great Forest Druid
1 Studious First-Year
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Ignis Scientia
1 Shared Roots
1 Tatyova, Benthic Druid
1 Cloudblazer
1 Cloudkin Seer
1 Kiora, the Rising Tide
1 Jadzi, Steward of Fate
1 The Lion-Turtle
1 Wan Shi Tong, Librarian
1 Giada, Font of Hope
1 Empyrean Eagle
1 Errant and Giada
1 Aerith Gainsborough
1 Aang, the Last Airbender
1 Appa, Loyal Sky Bison
1 Lyra Dawnbringer
1 Exalted Sunborn
1 Elfsworn Giant
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Flopsie, Bumi's Buddy
1 Emeritus of Truce
1 Grounded for Life
1 Luminous Rebuke
1 Repel Calamity
1 Valorous Stance
1 Stroke of Midnight
1 Fate of the Sun-Cryst
1 Make Your Move
1 Sandbenders' Storm
1 Threadbind Clique
1 Airbender's Reversal
1 Spell Snare
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Refute
1 Spellgyre
1 Aang's Journey
1 Proctor's Gaze
1 Cycle of Renewal
1 Pawpatch Formation
1 Glorious Decay
1 Coordinated Maneuver
1 Badgermole Cub
1 Toph, the Blind Bandit
1 Badgermole
1 The Earth King
1 Earthbender Ascension
1 Earth Rumble
1 The Boulder, Ready to Rumble
1 Elemental Bond
1 Rampaging Baloths
1 Vizier of the Menagerie
1 Genesis Wave
1 Suki, Courageous Rescuer
1 Command Tower
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Hushwood Verge
1 Dreamroot Cascade
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Starting Town
1 Capital City
1 Breeding Pool
1 Willowrush Verge
1 Yavimaya Coast
1 Temple Garden
1 Floodfarm Verge
1 Adarkar Wastes
10 Forest
5 Island
8 Plains
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Aurelia's Vindicator
Ideal build (upgrade target)
Ideal keeps Aang’s Bant ramp-into-value/angels midrange plan but replaces unfocused earthbend filler and weak card-draw creatures (Cloudkin Seer, Inga Rune-Eyes, Earth Rumble, The Boulder, Earthbender Ascension) with elite GWU value. Adds premier engines Uro, Hydroid Krasis, Tamiyo and Thrasios for ramp+card advantage, creature-draw payoffs Beast Whisperer and Guardian Project, protection/control from Shalai, The Wandering Emperor and Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, and true finishers Elspeth Sun’s Champion, March of the Multitudes and Craterhoof Behemoth to close on the wide angel/token board. Emiel gives a blink engine for the deck’s many ETBs. Top craft priorities: Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath; Elspeth, Sun’s Champion; The Wandering Emperor; Hydroid Krasis; Craterhoof Behemoth.
Crafts to reach the ideal: 18 (14 mythic, 4 rare)
- Mythic: Bristly Bill, Spine Sower, Craterhoof Behemoth, Elder Gargaroth, Elspeth, Sun’s Champion, Emiel the Blessed, Hydroid Krasis, Kiora Bests the Sea God, Kodama of the West Tree, March of the Multitudes, Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student // Tamiyo, Seasoned Scholar, Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, The Wandering Emperor, Thrasios, Triton Hero, Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath
- Rare: Beast Whisperer, Guardian Project, Nissa, Who Shakes the World, Shalai, Voice of Plenty
Full ideal list (paste into Arena):
Commander
1 Aang, at the Crossroads
Deck
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Druid of the Cowl
1 Ilysian Caryatid
1 Great Forest Druid
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Ignis Scientia
1 Shared Roots
1 Tatyova, Benthic Druid
1 Cloudblazer
1 Kiora, the Rising Tide
1 Jadzi, Steward of Fate
1 The Lion-Turtle
1 Wan Shi Tong, Librarian
1 Giada, Font of Hope
1 Empyrean Eagle
1 Errant and Giada
1 Aerith Gainsborough
1 Aang, the Last Airbender
1 Appa, Loyal Sky Bison
1 Lyra Dawnbringer
1 Exalted Sunborn
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Emeritus of Truce
1 Grounded for Life
1 Luminous Rebuke
1 Repel Calamity
1 Valorous Stance
1 Take Vengeance
1 Stroke of Midnight
1 Make Your Move
1 Threadbind Clique
1 Spell Snare
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Refute
1 Spellgyre
1 Pawpatch Formation
1 Badgermole Cub
1 Toph, the Blind Bandit
1 The Earth King
1 Elemental Bond
1 Rampaging Baloths
1 Vizier of the Menagerie
1 Genesis Wave
1 Suki, Courageous Rescuer
1 Command Tower
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Hushwood Verge
1 Dreamroot Cascade
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Starting Town
1 Capital City
1 Breeding Pool
1 Willowrush Verge
1 Yavimaya Coast
1 Temple Garden
1 Floodfarm Verge
1 Adarkar Wastes
9 Forest
5 Island
8 Plains
1 Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 The Wandering Emperor
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
1 Elder Gargaroth
1 Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student
1 Hydroid Krasis
1 Beast Whisperer
1 Guardian Project
1 Emiel the Blessed
1 Nissa, Who Shakes the World
1 March of the Multitudes
1 Kiora Bests the Sea God
1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
1 Thrasios, Triton Hero
1 Bristly Bill, Spine Sower
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Kodama of the West Tree
Card images & data via Scryfall.