🔗 Share this article

Usually, summary installments face criticism from viewers as a needless waste of time, or sometimes tolerated as essential for shows during the period of weekly production. This wasn't always the case, but Avatar: The Last Airbender proved it with "The Ember Island Players," a popular segment during its concluding run now being receiving an exclusive Magic: The Gathering Secret Lair collection.

Highlights regarding the Secret Lair

The entire Secret Lair superdrop for the upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender edition was announced earlier this month. It features five separate collections, and even though a set named "My Cabbages!" is certainly amusing nod to Avatar's beloved recurring figure, the additional releases seem somewhat less imaginative, with one notable exception: "The Ember Island Players."

Drawing from installment 17 of the third season of the beloved series, this collector's drop contains the following cards:

• 1x Phantasmal Image as "Absolutely Accurate Actor"
• 1x Braid of Fire
• 1x Cursed Mirror
• 1x Mask of Memory
• 1x Thespian's Stage

The reason this segment remains memorable

Audiences of Avatar clearly recall this episode, which served as a summary of the protagonist Aang and his friends' adventure before the series' finale. Different from other recap episodes, or "clip shows," "The Ember Island Players" wasn't motivated by budget restrictions or creative challenges. The producers truly wanted to provide audiences an opportunity to revisit the overall plot, but they decided to do it creatively.

In the episode, the crew watches a stage show based on their exploits at a playhouse on Ember Island, named The Boy in the Iceberg. The entire performance is inaccurate, cheesy, and completely amusing. It works because it plays with the heroes' understanding regarding their own identities, setting them against against how the world (and particularly the antagonist nation) perceives them. It contains the right amount of meta-commentary, and it results in arguably the finest interpretation of Avatar released so far.

Worth and pricing

When it comes to cost-effectiveness, this represents an excellent Secret Lair for one simple reason: Braid of Fire. This specific card sells between $20 and $40 through card retailers as of now, while for $29.99 you can obtain the full set, or $39.99 for the shiny edition.

Magic's Avatar: The Last Airbender set will be available during early access events starting November 14 and launches globally on Nov. 21.