Katara wants a deck that plays sturdy creatures that also deal with opponents' cards. It also suits a deck that makes an army of small creatures and attacks with all of them.
Mana cost
White, Blue ()
Power / toughness3 / 3
RarityRare
Vigilance
When Katara enters, create a 1/1 white Ally creature token.
Waterbend : Creatures you control have base power and toughness X/X until end of turn. X can't be 0. Activate only during your turn. (While paying a waterbend cost, you can tap your artifacts and creatures to help. Each one pays for .)
Picked for what they do in Katara's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit Katara's color identity.Mana ValueThe total amount of mana a card costs, all added up. A card costing two generic and one green has a mana value of three. Wizards renamed this from "converted mana cost" in 2021, so older cards and articles may still use the old name.Open the full glossary
explain how Katara works in tricky situations. They come from Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic.RulingThe official answer to how a card works in a tricky situation. Most rulings are written by Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic, and a few are notes from Scryfall, the card database Magic players use. A ruling explains a card. It does not change what the card says.Open the full glossary
Wizards of the Coast2 Oct 2025
"Waterbend [cost]" means "Pay [cost]. For each generic mana in that cost, you may tap an untapped artifact or creature you control rather than pay that mana."
Wizards of the Coast2 Oct 2025
Even if the cost of the spell or ability that waterbend is part of increases or decreases, you still may only tap artifacts or creatures to pay for costs up to the amount of the generic mana in the waterbend cost.
Wizards of the Coast2 Oct 2025
If a waterbend cost is part of the total cost to cast a spell or activate an ability, you may tap an untapped artifact or creature you control rather than pay one generic mana in that total cost any number of times up to a maximum of the amount of generic mana in the waterbend component of that total cost.
Wizards of the Coast2 Oct 2025
If an artifact or creature you control has a mana ability with {T} in the cost, activating that ability while casting a spell or activating an ability with waterbend will result in the artifact or creature being tapped before you pay the spell's costs. You won't be able to tap it again for waterbend. Similarly, if you sacrifice an artifact or creature to activate a mana ability to pay a cost with waterbend, that artifact or creature won't be on the battlefield when you pay the spell's costs, so you won't be able to tap it for waterbend.
Wizards of the Coast2 Oct 2025
Katara, Water Tribe's Hope's ability overwrites any effects that previously set a creature's base power and/or toughness. Any existing effects or counters that raise or lower a creature's power and/or toughness continue to apply.
Wizards of the Coast2 Oct 2025
You can tap any untapped creature or artifact you control to pay a waterbend cost, even one you haven't controlled continuously since the beginning of your most recent turn.
Color identityEvery color of mana symbol on a card, in its cost and in its rules text. Your commander's color identity sets the limit for your whole deck: every other card has to fit inside it. A deck led by a green and white commander cannot play a card with any blue in its color identity.Open the full glossaryWUPlayers write colors as letters: W for white, U for blue. Blue is U because B was already taken by black.MidrangeMidrange decks play solid creatures that also deal with opponents' cards, attacking when it is safe and defending when it is not. They sit in the middle: slower than an all-out attacking deck, sturdier than a deck built to answer everything.Open the Midrange pageHumility / Stat SettingSets creatures to a fixed power and toughness, or strips their abilities. It answers a threatening creature without destroying it, which matters against a commander: a neutralized one stays on the battlefield instead of going back to the command zone. Darksteel MutationOpen the Humility / Stat Setting pageValue CreatureA creature that does two jobs: it deals with an opponent's card when it arrives, then stays as a real attacker. Its enter the battlefield ability destroys, damages, counters or bounces something, and it has 3 or more power or an ability like flying that makes it hard to block. Answering your opponent and pressuring them with the same card is what a Midrange deck is built on. Shriekmaw, Meteor GolemOpen the Value Creature pageTarget RemovalRemoves a single chosen permanent by destroying it, exiling it or returning it to its owner's hand, however big it is. It is the precise answer to one problem, as opposed to a board wipe that hits everything. Damage and -X/-X can miss a big creature, so they are Damage Removal and -X/-X Removal instead. Swords to Plowshares, Beast WithinOpen the Target Removal pageTokensToken decks fill the battlefield with small creatures made by their cards, then attack with all of them or make them all bigger at once. A token is a creature (or other object) that a card creates, not a card from your deck.Open the Tokens pageToken MakerCreates one or more tokens. Different cards make very different ones: creatures Grave Titan, Treasures Smothering Tithe, Clues Tireless Tracker or Food Gilded Goose. This is one of our largest tags, so pair it with an archetype or theme when you are hunting a specific kind.Open the Token Maker pageOverrunMakes your whole team bigger at once, usually with trample or another way past blockers. It turns a big group of creatures into a winning attack. Craterhoof Behemoth, Akroma's WillOpen the Overrun pageETB ValueDoes something useful the moment it arrives: an enter the battlefield ability, which players shorten to ETB. You keep that effect even if the card is removed straight afterwards, which is why these pair so well with flicker cards that make them enter again. Solemn Simulacrum, The One RingOpen the ETB Value pageAggroAggro decks play cheap creatures early and attack every turn, trying to knock opponents out before their bigger plans come together.Open the Aggro pageMana SinkGives you somewhere useful to spend spare mana, usually through an ability you can activate again and again. Rogue's Passage, Mind StoneOpen the Mana Sink pageAlliesAllies range from Zendikar's adventurers to the heroes of Magic's Avatar: The Last Airbender cards. Many Zendikar Allies get a bonus whenever another Ally enters the battlefield under your control.Open the Allies page
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: Creatures you control have base power and toughness X/X until end of turn. X can't be 0. Activate only during your turn. (While paying a waterbend cost, you can tap your artifacts and creatures to help. Each one pays for 
.)
Open the full glossary
