There are sad moments in Avatar: The Last Airbender, and then there is Iroh’s touching vignette in season 2’s “The Tales of Ba Sing Se.” Though the animated series aims for kids as its target audience, it never talks down to them. For almost two full seasons, Prince Zuko’s Uncle Iroh was depicted as a kind and wise goofy old man, and the show only occasionally hints at his profound past and power.
Now, one of the most expensive cards in the Magic: The Gathering Avatar crossover evokes a heartbreaking moment from Iroh’s story. Even more heartbreaking: There’s no way to get this card anymore unless you buy it from someone. Womp womp.
In Iroh’s vignette during “The Tales of Ba Sing Se,” he wanders the streets of the Earth Kingdom capital readying himself for a picnic while quietly helping citizens. He soothes a crying child, extends kindness and offers tea to a mugger, and eventually settles at the base of a large tree at sunset. There, he sets up a little shrine and wishes his son a happy birthday. “If only I could have helped you,” he says with tears in his eyes before singing a mournful song about a “little soldier boy.” Iroh’s son died in the war, which recontextualizes how we perceive his character, especially when it comes to his relationship with his nephew, Prince Zuko.
The excellent Iroh, Grand Lotus received a BoxLunch-only promo card with alternate art. It was handed out with any in-store purchase of $50 or more on Nov. 21, the day the set was widely released. The Grand Lotus version of Iroh showcases who he is at the end of the series: After spending months in prison becoming super buff, he broke out to lead a White Lotus army in the liberation of Ba Sing Se. The base version of the card depicts Iroh wreathed in flames at the head of the army. Instead of that awe-inspiring depiction, the BoxLunch variant instead shows Iroh — still in his White Lotus gear — crouched for a picnic, smiling away from the sunset with a pot of tea in the foreground.
To be clear, Iroh, Grand Lotus does not depict that heart-wrenching moment from season 2, but it definitely evokes it. This is classic Uncle Iroh, a humble, sweet, and contemplative man who loves the simple pleasures of life. Aside from the four borderless neon ink foil cards for Zuko, Aang, Toph, and Katara, the BoxLunch Iroh variant is the single most expensive card from the set right now. Over on TCGPlayer, the only listings are priced above $80. Over on eBay, prices are all over the place across more than two dozen listings, from $25 all the way up to $200.
That’s even more expensive than the coveted Badgermole Cub. The base card right now is around $54, and the borderless is hovering around $72.
It helps that Iroh, Grand Lotus is one of the set’s best Commanders and just an all-around great card. Not only does he have Firebending 2, generating two red mana every time he attacks, but during your turn, generic instants and sorcery cards have flashback, so you can play them for their regular mana cost. He also gives every Lesson card in your graveyard a flashback cost of only one colorless mana. Lesson, a subtype for instants and sorceries reintroduced with this set, aren’t typically all that expensive. But it does mean you can do all sorts of things for very cheap during your turn with Iroh on the board.
For a character defined by humility and quiet wisdom, it feels fitting that one of the rarest Avatar cards isn’t a display of overwhelming power, but a quiet moment of peace. Uncle Iroh doesn’t need the flashiest card in the set, just one that remembers him in the same heartfelt way that he remembers his son.
