There are unhappy moments in Avatar: The Final Airbender, after which there’s Iroh’s touching vignette in season 2’s “The Tales of Ba Sing Se.” Although the animated sequence goals for teenagers as its target market, it by no means talks right down to them. For nearly two full seasons, Prince Zuko’s Uncle Iroh was depicted as a form and sensible goofy previous man, and the present solely sometimes hints at his profound previous and energy.
Now, one of the costly playing cards within the Magic: The Gathering Avatar crossover evokes a heartbreaking second from Iroh’s story. Much more heartbreaking: There’s no approach to get this card anymore until you purchase it from somebody. Womp womp.
In Iroh’s vignette throughout “The Tales of Ba Sing Se,” he wanders the streets of the Earth Kingdom capital readying himself for a picnic whereas quietly serving to residents. He soothes a crying little one, extends kindness and presents tea to a mugger, and ultimately settles on the base of a big tree at sundown. There, he units up slightly shrine and desires his son a contented birthday. “If solely I might have helped you,” he says with tears in his eyes earlier than singing a mournful track a few “little soldier boy.” Iroh’s son died within the conflict, which recontextualizes how we understand his character, particularly in the case of his relationship along with his nephew, Prince Zuko.
The superb Iroh, Grand Lotus obtained a BoxLunch-only promo card with alternate artwork. It was handed out with any in-store buy of $50 or extra on Nov. 21, the day the set was broadly launched. The Grand Lotus model of Iroh showcases who he’s on the finish of the sequence: After spending months in jail turning into tremendous buff, he broke out to guide a White Lotus military within the liberation of Ba Sing Se. The bottom model of the cardboard depicts Iroh wreathed in flames on the head of the military. As an alternative of that awe-inspiring depiction, the BoxLunch variant as a substitute reveals Iroh — nonetheless in his White Lotus gear — crouched for a picnic, smiling away from the sundown with a pot of tea within the foreground.
To be clear, Iroh, Grand Lotus does not depict that heart-wrenching second from season 2, but it surely positively evokes it. That is basic Uncle Iroh, a humble, candy, and contemplative man who loves the easy pleasures of life. Apart from the 4 borderless neon ink foil playing cards for Zuko, Aang, Toph, and Katara, the BoxLunch Iroh variant is the one most costly card from the set proper now. Over on TCGPlayer, the one listings are priced above $80. Over on eBay, costs are in every single place throughout greater than two dozen listings, from $25 all the way in which as much as $200.
That’s much more costly than the coveted Badgermole Cub. The bottom card proper now’s round $54, and the borderless is hovering round $72.
It helps that Iroh, Grand Lotus is without doubt one of the set’s greatest Commanders and simply an all-around nice card. Not solely does he have Firebending 2, producing two crimson mana each time he assaults, however throughout your flip, generic instants and sorcery playing cards have flashback, so you possibly can play them for his or her common mana value. He additionally provides each Lesson card in your graveyard a flashback value of just one colorless mana. Lesson, a subtype for instants and sorceries reintroduced with this set, aren’t usually all that costly. Nevertheless it does imply you are able to do all types of issues for very low cost throughout your flip with Iroh on the board.
For a personality outlined by humility and quiet knowledge, it feels becoming that one of many rarest Avatar playing cards isn’t a show of overwhelming energy, however a quiet second of peace. Uncle Iroh doesn’t want the flashiest card within the set, only one that remembers him in the identical heartfelt approach that he remembers his son.
