Aang, Swift Savior // Aang and La, Ocean's Fury

Bracket

• B1 Exhibition — allowed: No restriction at this bracket
• B2 Core — allowed: No restriction at this bracket
• B3 Upgraded — allowed: No restriction at this bracket
• B4 Optimized — allowed: No restriction beyond the banned list
• B5 cEDH — allowed: No restriction beyond the banned list

Why

• No Game Changer, mass land denial, extra turn, tutor or two-card combo

How Lotus Vault estimates a bracket

Bracket: Lotus Vault analysis, with Commander Spellbook flags

Combos

41 known combos.

Combos: Commander Spellbook

Rulings

• 2025-10-02 · Wizards of the Coast
  If a spell is exiled this way, it's removed from the stack and thus will not resolve. The spell isn't countered; it is exiled. This works against a spell that can't be countered.
• 2025-10-02 · Wizards of the Coast
  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.
• 2025-10-02 · Wizards of the Coast
  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.
• 2025-10-02 · Wizards of the Coast
  To airbend one or more permanents and/or spells means to exile each of those objects. For each card exiled this way, for as long as it's exiled, its owner may cast it from exile by paying {2} rather than paying its mana cost.
• 2025-10-02 · Wizards of the Coast
  If the spell you cast has {X} in its mana cost, you must choose 0 as the value of X.
• 2025-10-02 · Wizards of the Coast
  "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."
• 2025-10-02 · Wizards of the Coast
  Lands exiled this way cannot be played from exile. (Lands that were animated by earthbend will be returned to the battlefield tapped when they're exiled.)
• 2025-10-02 · Wizards of the Coast
  Since you are using an alternative cost to cast a spell from exile this way, you can't pay any other alternative costs. You can, however, pay additional costs, such as kicker costs. If the card has any mandatory additional costs, you must pay those.
• 2025-10-02 · Wizards of the Coast
  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.
• 2025-10-02 · Wizards of the Coast
  Tokens exiled this way will cease to exist and cannot be cast.
• 2025-10-02 · Wizards of the Coast
  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.

Rulings: Scryfall · Wizards of the Coast