THE THING ABOUT AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER TRADING CARDS
Attention, fans of Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender series! Did you know that there have been two trading card games based on your beloved cartoon? Much like the Pokemon TCG, both Avatar TCGs give fans the ability to collect cards featuring their favorite characters from the show and pit them against each other in battle.
Think a cardboard version of Super Smash Bros, but with characters like Aang, Katara, Toph, and Sokka instead of Mario and Luigi. Both games also allow players to compete against others who are using cards from different franchises. This means you can settle age old questions like, “Who’s stronger, Aang or Captain Jack Sparrow?” and, “What would happen if Prince Zuko met Hatsune Miku?”
But before you go out and start collecting these cards, there are a few things you should learn. Keep reading, and we’ll discuss all there is to know about both Avatar: The Last Airbender TCGs.
Weiß Schwarz vs. QuickStrike: Who Made the Avatar TCGs?
Image sources:Weiß Schwarz (left) and Fandom (right)
The first Avatar: The Last Airbender collectible card game was made by Upper Deck Entertainment in 2006, and it was part of the company’s QuickStrike game, which also included sets based off of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean and the original Shaman King series.
The cards used for this game featured original card art instead of just screenshots from the Avatar cartoon. And while an expansion set was originally planned, QuickStrike was discontinued, so the expansion was never made. The cards from the QuickStrike Avatar TCG are now out of print, making them a bit of a rarity.
The other Avatar: The Last Airbender TCG was made much more recently by a Japanese company called Bushiroad. This second Avatar TCG was released in 2023 as an expansion of the company’s Weiß Schwarz (pronounced “vice shvarts”) card game, which features card sets for popular anime and cartoons like Attack on Titan, Adventure Time, and Chainsaw Man.
Like the QuickStrike game, the cards in the Weiß Schwarz Avatar TCG are made to be compatible with those from other sets, so you can use them in battles against cards based on characters from other franchises.
Unlike the QuickStrike game, though, many of the cards in the Weiß Schwarz Avatar TCG feature simple screenshots from the show instead of original card art. This makes most of the Weiß Schwarz cards a little less unique and beautiful than the QuickStrike cards, but on the plus side, you can now own a picture of your favorite moment from the Nickelodeon series (Azula vs. Zuko, anyone?).
Another benefit of Weiß Schwarz is that it’s currently being produced, so the cards are a little easier to get ahold of and there is an active player base you can compete with. Meanwhile, since the QuickStrike game is old and out of print, it can be much harder to find other collectors to play it with.
Playing the Avatar TCGs
If you’ve ever sat down to play a new trading card game like Yu-Gi-Oh! or Magic: The Gathering, you know it can be difficult to pick up all the rules and mechanics that govern gameplay. This is true for both the Weiß Schwarz and the QuickStrike Avatar card games.
Weiß Schwarz is especially… let’s say “involved,” and there are many mechanics fairly unique to the game. For example, it has a complex leveling system that determines what can happen between players at different times, and it has several play areas with unintuitive names like the “Clock,” the “Waiting Room,” and the “Climax Area.”
The good news is that, once you learn how Weiß Schwarz works, you’ll be able to play with cards from a wide variety of your favorite franchises. To learn more about playing Weiß Schwarz, watch this official tutorial video.
Every box of the QuickStrike Avatar card game came with an instructional booklet that taught new collectors how to play the game, but there isn’t an official tutorial from its production company to be found online. This is understandable since the game was discontinued almost two decades ago, but it means that new fans will have a difficult time learning how to play.
Fortunately, many fans have produced their own tutorial videos that can be found on .
Are Avatar TCG Cards Valuable?
Image source: TCGPlayer
Based on prices from listings across eBay and TCGPlayer, neither the QuickStrike nor the Weiß Schwarz Avatar trading cards are especially valuable on the resale market.
This might seem surprising for the QuickStrike game since it’s out of print, but when you consider that QuickStrike is relatively unknown and that the Avatar TCG fanbase is much smaller than that of games like Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Magic: The Gathering, it starts to make sense.
Unfortunately, if the QuickStrike Avatar cards were going to become valuable, they probably would have done so by now. And while a sudden rise in popularity could make unopened packs of these out-of-print cards skyrocket, I wouldn’t plan on it. At this point, it’s safer to consider the QuickStrike game a novelty collector’s item for die-hard fans instead of a sound investment.
And while cards from the Weiß Schwarz Avatar TCG are also fetching fairly low prices online, this game is still at the relative beginning of its life cycle, so these cards could become immensely valuable after a few years. You just never know.
Protect your Avatar TLA trading cards with Goat Armor!
Whether you have cards from the QuickStrike or the Weiß Schwarz Avatar TCG, you should protect them as well as you can. Lucky for you, you’re reading a Goat Armor blog. Protecting cards is what we do best.
Keep precious pieces of your fandom in pristine condition for years by storing them in Goat Armor toploaders and binders between games.
