Last Airbender Reintroduces Beloved Thematic Prerelase Experiences

Last updated on August 19, 2025

Avatar Enthusiasts – art by Leanna Crossan

With Avatar: The Last Airbender‘s appearing on the horizon, we're beginning to learn more and more about the cards, the set structure, and the unique approach that WotC is taking with Prerelease events.

Those who participate in TLA prerelease events, which kick off on November 14th, will be allowed to select from kits with pre-assigned characters. We saw the return of seeded Prerelease packs in Tarkir: Dragonstorm back in April, but this is something much different. Instead of six play boosters, you'll receive five play boosters and a seeded booster themed around a specific character and color.

What Are Seeded Character Boosters?

Aang's Journey | Illustration by Kotakan

Seeded packs saw their return in April of this year with Tarkir: Dragonstorm, and they were a huge hit. It gave Sealed decks a bit more direction, it gave players more choice, and it was overall well-received by the community. And now they're back for TLA, and it's even more specific.

According to Wizards of the Coast's official “Collecting Avatar” article, seeded prerelease packs contain:

• 5 Play Boosters (everything normal here)
• Two foil tokens
• A traditional foil year-stamped rare
• And a Seeded Character Booster Pack
  • Each Character Booster is themed around a different Avatar: The Last Airbender character and a color of Magic

As we can see from the product image, there will be at least five different character seeded packs:

• Zuko: Red
• Aang: White
• Toph: Green
• Katara: Blue
• Azula: Black

It's not 100% clear whether the theming includes an character card, such as Aang, Airbending Master or simply rares in that color (which would generally be tied to the character's theme) like Aang's Iceberg.

Regardless, they will certainly have a huge impact on your Prerelease experience. During the TDM prerelease, players almost always played the clan colors of their seeded pack. The seeded pack not only contained on-color rares, but also a dual land and plenty of uncommons within that color combination, which is a huge incentive in sealed.

And TLA's seeded packs may be even more important. Opening a pack full of cards of a single color will dramatically shift you towards that color, even if they're not that strong. Sheer number of cards in a given color combination is often a factor in whether or not you can build specific decks in sealed.

Are Character Boosters a Good Idea?

Fated Firepower | Illustration by Brigitte Roka

The history of seeded boosters is pretty up and down. Some sets have been really well received and it built up the theme of the story, like Tarkir: Dragonstorm. Others were much less story-intensive and just felt like a choice you had to make optimally, like with Streets of New Capenna or the limiting of Gods in Theros way back in 2014.

Whether or not Avatar's seeded boosters will build up or tear down the play experience is yet to be seen, but it is unique in another way: this is the first seeded prerelease for a Universes Beyond set. Final Fantasy notably just gave you six play boosters and a promo. UB sets are inherently story and IP-driven with a heavier focus on the characters that players resonate with and love.

This is sort of what happened with TDM. Tarkir is a beloved plane and storyline. Players love the clans, the dragons, and the mechanics, so getting a prerelease kit seeded to your specific favorite clan was very rewarding and fun.

Additionally, character boosters could be a great way to get the cards you want out of the set. If it's incredibly easy to open an Aang or Katara out of prerelease kits, their singles price will drop dramatically and they'll be much easier to get your hands on. Unlike Final Fantasy, which was one of the most inaccessible sets and was nearly impossible to get at MSRP, which drove up single prices.