Unlikely Thunder Junction Uncommon Creates Explosive Infinite Combos

Last updated on November 25, 2025

Avatar Aang | Illustration by Fahmi Fauzi

Standard has felt very combo-heavy lately, hasn't it? Between Vivi Ornitier and Agatha's Soul Cauldron, Badgermole Cub doing completely predictable and explosive things, and “Oops, All Allies” decks dropping an entire grip of cards in one turn, it definitely feels like multi-card combo decks are front-and-center in Standard right now.

This also includes what you'd expect to be a Commander-only combo involving some of the new airbending cards from Avatar: The Last Airbender. We covered this early during spoiler season, but it looks like the airbender combo of Appa, Steadfast Guardian and another ETB airbender is actually competitively viable in Standard. The secret? A completely forgettable uncommon from everyone's favorite cowboy hat set.

Enter Doc Aurlock

The key to unlocking these airbender combos is cost reduction. The combos work by looping airbending permanents like Aang, Swift Savior and Airbender Ascension with Appa, Steadfast Guardian, which results in infinite 1/1 ally tokens due to Appa's cast-from-exile trigger. Of course, airbending taxes you 2 mana to recast something from exile, but with enough cost reduction, you can get that down to and toggle your flicker targets indefinitely.

When we discussed these combos for Commander, we pointed to cost reduction cards like Urza's Incubator and Semblance Anvil; that's the role Doc Aurlock, Grizzled Genius plays.

Originally intended to be a plot enabler in Outlaws of Thunder Junction, the Simic bear‘s cost reduction applies broadly to anything you cast from exile (or graveyard), which incidentally makes airbending free. Hence, the Standard version of the combo was born. It's the real deal, too, taking down multiple Standard Leagues on Magic Online recently.

The strength of the deck lies in the fact that most of the combo pieces outside of Doc Aurlock itself are just competitive cards to begin with. Aang, Swift Savior is an excellent piece of disruption, and Appa, Steadfast Guardian is a great midrange threat to begin with. Airbender Ascension is a bit jank, but it can provide some reasonable tempo on the way to setting up a big combo turn.

Other Combo Pieces

Doc Aurlock, Grizzled Genius | Illustration by Jesper Ejsing

The deck isn't combo-or-bust, either. It features a number of other powerful interactions that really demonstrate just how versatile airbending can be.

Many versions of the deck tinker with Bramble Familiar right now. It's a baseline mana dork, but if you can airbend it, you can cast the adventure from exile for just , which could drop a big haymaker like Marang River Regent into play way earlier than expected.

Overlord of the Mistmoors pops up a lot too, not just as another cheat target for Bramble Familiar, but because it also pairs well with airbending. If you can impend an overlord into play as an enchantment, you can then airbend it away and recast the creature spell from exile for 2 mana. This doesn't work with Airbender Ascension since that only hits creatures, but it works just fine with Aang and Appa.

Quantum Riddler pokes its head in, too. Similar to the Overlord, you can warp a Riddler for cheap, airbend it away, and have the full version available for just .

All of this sounds great, and Doc Aurlock breaks it all open, but it also takes some set-up. Some versions of the deck are heavy on mana dorks like Gene Pollinator and Llanowar Elves, which, combined with new Standard darling Badgermole Cub, can produce ridiculous amounts of mana early in the game. Badgermole's earthbend ability also sets up combo lines where you can swing with a hasty, arbitratily large creature land if you keep looping the Badgermole with the Appa+Aang combo. Huh, Badgermole's kind of busted, isn't it? Who could've predicted that? (Everyone, everyone predicted that.)

Aven Interruptor

This Bant deck is definitely an early frontrunner for Standard, and proves that Avatar has had quite the impact on the format. It's disruptable with cards like Aven Interrupter and High Noon, but it can also fall back on a fair value-oriented gameplan, pivoting in the face of sideboard tech. It's one of many explosive decks popping up post-Standard.