Fellow patrons of Magic Deck Vortex, welcome to my review of a set known as Coldsnap.  Coldsnap brought back some old mechanics from its predecessors Ice Age and Alliances.  Mechanics that we all thought we would never see again.  Slow-trips, Cumulative Upkeep and even a land that doesn’t tap for mana… all returned just to give you players the “Ice Age feel!”

I wasn't playing early enough to enjoy the Ice Age and Alliances sets, so know that I am still very excited to experience those mechanics and concepts of old as presented again in Coldsnap.

Those that did play during the original Ice Age know that, at the time, it was a groundbreaking set.  All I ever hear from older players is how there should have been a new Contagion or how there should have been cooler reprinted abilities from Ice Age and Alliances.  However, Coldsnap has had an impact on Standard, Limited and even, yes, Casual!  I hope to go over some of these impacts in my review of Coldsnap.

I'll be breaking down Coldsnap into five key features:

• Snow- the Archetype
• Cumulative Upkeep
• Ripple
• Alternate cost
• The Wizards of Rimewind

I will discuss the advantages and disadvantages in detail, and throw in some tips on how to properly use them, free of charge. Note, however, that these tips are not the only successful way to use these mechanics. Do what you want to; I'm just here to help out.

Snow- The Archetype

I'm going to start things off with a bang by tackling the biggest mechanic in Coldsnap- snow. Snow has multiple key advantages and multiple key disadvantages. I will go over each in detail, and then explain how to get around the disadvantages.

Advantages

Power in numbers. Being the most dominant mechanic, snow has the largest stomping ground (not the card). This means that there are many ways to use it and many options to choose from. If you try to avoid snow in the limited format, you will probably be badly beaten, unless you feel you can pull off a win on cards such as Krovikan Scoundrel, Survivor of the Unseen, and Goblin Furrier.

Snow is unstoppable. Snow has few natural enemies. The only real snow hoser is Ronom Hulk, and as great as he is acclaimed to be, there are many ways around him: common spot removal (Chill to the Bone, maybe?), Surging Flame or AEther, or my favorite: simply waiting until the opponent has to give him up due to his Cumulative upkeep. The only other card to really worry about is Zombie Musher, and though he may pose a threat, he too can be stopped. Keep wary though, as a Freyalise's Radiance might be lurking somewhere.

Wintry Bombs. In a format with little cards to work with, any card with a decent ability can have a serious impact on limited play. Most of these powerful effects are going to be on snow cards. Sure, they will probably cost snow mana, but they are often worth it. Think for a second; in a booster draft, would you rather pick a Wilderness Elemental, or a Frost Raptor? A Stalking Yeti or a Balduvian Fallen? A Rimescale Dragon or a Tresserhorn Skyknight?

Okay, that last one was a bit unfair, but you get my point. All these snow creatures have become Coldsnap limited monsters because of their amazing abilities. Frost Raptor is evasion that can't be targeted (very good in a format with few evasion creatures and removal), Stalking Yeti is reusable removal (good in most formats regardless) and I don't even have to explain why Rimescale Dragon is so good. Their costs are heavy, but worthy for what they do.

Snow Angels. No, I'm not talking about Adarkar Valkyrie or other good flyers. I'm talking about actual snow angels. More importantly, I'm talking about the snow being fun. What kid (even most teenagers and adults) doesn't like to make snow angels or have a good snowball fight, or even just trod around in your snowshoes. People enjoy snow days for more than just it gets you out of schools. Snow is simply fun to play with and experience.

In this respect, the same can be said for snow cards. Snow cards are something new that brings new elements with them. When you opened up that first pack of Coldsnap and saw that first snow card, didn't you feel the chill, the exhilaration of owning something totally unique to the history of magic? Even some of the most mature, elder players I know felt it, if not only briefly, so I'm going to bet you felt it too.

Simply put, handling and playing with snow cards is a fun, new experience. Enjoy it and play around with it like you would a snow day in June. I guarantee if you spend enough tie with snow, you'll learn to love using it, even if it doesn't show on the outside. Ice Skating, anyone?

Disadvantages

Snow takes commitment. If you're going to want to use the best of what snow has to offer, you have to give snow all the attention it can get. You have to make sure to get enough snow lands to power your creatures and spells. Frost Raptor may be a limited monster, but it comes at a fairly high price at limited too (not the store).

Snow Magic is Slow Magic. Using snow effectively is all about getting good board position (this is why blue snow makes good control). Snow takes not only effort, but also time. You can't just get the most aggressive snow cards you can find and hope to build some kind of arctic zoo. It won't work. In the same sense you can't just throw in random snow cards in your final build and hope it works. Snow must be treated with respect and handled with the utmost skill and brainpower.

Snow stands out. Coldsnap is the only set to use snow cards, and as such, there aren't that many when you look at magic as a whole. This means if your opponent realizes you're playing with snow, it becomes much easier for him to plan ahead. If he's smart, he'll narrow it down to the cards you would play next, and try to formulate a strategy. While snow is powerful, be cautious, because if you're opponent can pick up what you're doing and respond to it, you'll be in a tight spot.

Tips and Solutions

Now I'm going to explain tips and solutions about each of the disadvantages:

Snow takes commitment. This disadvantage is easy to get over. First off, just take your time getting the appropriate mana of snow basic and dual lands (it takes a while, but you need to do it). Furthermore, if you want snow cards but can't handle the commitment with cards such as Frost Raptor and Chilling Shade, use snow mana accelerators. Snow mana accelerators include Into the North, Boreal Druid, Thermopod and Coldsteel Heart.

All of these cards can help pump out enough snow mana for your high-end creature. Also, keep your costs balanced out. By this I mean don't make snow have to compete with other mana absorbing cards. Snow and Cumulative upkeep should be used together in sparing amounts, be careful with recover, and keep your creature curve on a low end. Sure, Rimefeather Owl is great, but you can't be dividing your mana between it and other cards. Remember, if you stick with snow, it will take you a long way.

Snow Magic is Slow Magic. For the most part, snow is worth the wait and effort. If you're one of those die-hard aggro players like me, you can balance this by picking quick-drop non-snow creatures. Cards like these include the Kjeldoran Soldiers and Goblin Furrier. There are also some good quick drop snow creatures. Boreal Centaur, Ohran Viper, Karplusan Wolverine, Squall Drifter, and Rimebound Dead are all good, low-cost snow creatures with good stats and abilities for little or no commitment. 

The best way in the world of Coldsnap to get out quick drops is to utilize the Martyrs. The Martyrs have been getting a lot of bad looks at my local store, but they are still commonly played. They are cheap drops with abilities that look better than they appear at face.

Martyr of Sands may only gain life, but it can gain ridiculous amounts of it (Darien has a new friend).

Martyr of Ashes can simply become a red Wrath of God for two (the ability that is).

Martyr of Spores may seem sub-par, but imagine getting through with an unblocked Bull Aurochs and your opponent laughing at it, just to realize you had just pumped it up by 4-5 with just two mana on turn three.

Martyr of Frost, my personal favorite, can be used in combination with Controvert and Rune Snag to lock down a game by turns four or five.  I know I’ve done it.  Then, bring out an unstoppable, gigantic Chilling Shade.  If you commit to Chilling Shade, he gets really big, really fast.  Nothing says Snow better than five to ten damage a turn!

Snow Stands Out. The answer to counterbalancing this disadvantage is a simple one for any good Timmy or rogue-player: be random.

Just because you play snow doesn't mean you have to always play snow. Instead a turn three Frost Raptor, throw out a Court Hussar or Drift of Phantasms. It might not be a better move, but it will throw your opponent off and make him doubt your deck's strategy (which is always good). By leading him off track with other cards, you tie up his resources, allowing you to nuke him out of nowhere with a surprise Rimefeather Owl or Adarkar Valkyrie.

You can also throw in Snow to make a non-snow deck random. My friend Jason once won a tournament because he did just this.  Instead of playing the traditional Solar Flare using Ink-Eyes and Court Hussar, he played Snowy Flare using an Adarkar Valkyrie combo utilizing Gutless Ghoul and Angel of Despair. I faced him in the semi-finals, and trust me; this combo won games for a reason). Add that one to the Coldsnap combo page!

The Power of a [Snow] Land

Sure, when you read that you think immediately about Scrying Sheets, Mouth of Ronom, or maybe even the new dual snow lands (Arctic Flats, Highland Weald, Boreal Shelf, and Frost Marsh). But I'm not going to talk about any of these (at least, not now).

Instead I'm going to talk about the basics. While to some, the snow lands are just basic lands with snow.  However, I think they are much more.  For years, Magic has created lands that produced colorless mana, mana combinations, and sometimes even no mana at all. What I mean is that though we have done many crazy things involving mana, Magic has never actually done anything to directly change the five basic mana and lands, until Coldsnap.

Snow is revolutionary in the fact that it's not just old mana done a different way, it is an entirely new breed of mana altogether. It may hold the qualities of regular mana, but it also holds qualities of no other mana style to date and yet it still retains as part of the natural five mana types. This is a feat Wizards never dared to face until Coldsnap. This snow mana isn't just a super-type; it is an entirely new concept of unique yet similar cards and qualities.

For this, all snow lands are a step in a new, more advanced direction.  This direction will both challenge and inspire Magic players young and old, but new and experienced players as well.

Christmas in Ravnica

While Wizard claims in a previous Magic Arcana that Ravnica and Coldsnap weren't meant to work well together, I beg to differ; all you have to do if find the right approach.

Some are obvious:

• Juniper Order Ranger was made for Selesnya
• Sek'uar, Death Keeper is a welcome addition to Rakdos and Golgari
• Simian Brawler and Sheltering Ancient can both find comfy homes in Gruul and Simic builds
• Blizzard Specter is hardcore Dimir.

Others are harder to notice and take a keen eye and mind to exploit. For example, at first glance Heidar, Rimewind master seems to be very Dimir in both ability and flavor. But, take a closer look. You’ll notice there is another guild that he is simply master of: the Azorius. Dimir may like bouncing cards, but they thrive on counter and milling. It is the Azorius that thrive on bounce. He is also a perfect model of Azorius motive; he, like the Azorius, believes his world is fine the way it is (completely frozen) and he fights strongly to assure it stays that way. Like the Azorius, he hates change. He also works excellently with cards such as Minister of Impediments and Sky Hussar to quickly lock down a board for good.

Another example is Grim Harvest. Grim Harvest seems like a perfect addition to any good Golgari deck, but it actually is bad for one. Golgari wants things in the grave and it doesn't want something messing up its natural flow and tying up its mana sources. This card is actually super pro-Rakdos. Rakdos is a guild of reckless assaults and pain. They would just as easily commit homicide as they would suicide, and as happily. With its creatures dying so fast, Rakdos needs a good, consistent way to repetitively bring back heavy hitters and keep the slaughterhouse moving. This is efficient removal at a price Rakdos can afford (they aren't in as bad a position of getting tied up on mana considering most of their drops are relatively cheap) that will be easily recovered throughout the game.

By looking at cards in detail and the environment they're in, you can determine how it interacts with previously built strategies and how to build a new deck of your own. This isn't just for Ravnica though. Coldsnap goes great with cards from Kamigawa and Ninth Edition. I won't spoil it for all you Jonnies and rogue-deck builders out there (and I know you're there, this is a casual website after all), but I will say you'll have plenty of fun. Before you go off in a frenzy to see what your Coldsnap stuff does when combined with your other cards, here are some rules of thumb:

1. Look at mechanics as a whole. If you look at the mechanic of a specific card only, your view will be limited and will lead to false conclusions.

2. Look at how a card works with cards in the same environment. By studying not the card itself but how it works with other cards, you better understand the cards functionality in a deck.

3. Look at how a card works compared to similar cards. By testing a card alongside cards of similar mechanics and strategies, you better learn the individual weaknesses and strengths of the card, and how it should be used.

Following these steps will help you learn how to fully take advantage of new mechanics and cards. It may also help any of your previous strategies.

Snow-life in Coldsnap

I've told you many ways snow works with more snow, and how it works with cards outside the block, but how does snow deal with the mechanics it calls roommates (or set-mates, you get the point)?

Cumulative Upkeep
Snow and Cumulative Upkeep are, in my perspective, the two sides fighting it out to get that spot in constructed. More often than not, you will see many Snow cards being used to stop Cumulative Upkeep, and vice-versa. If these two were roommates, they would be the two constantly arguing keeping everyone else up until the landlord told them to shut up. For all that fighting however, they work great together. Playing a Frost Raptor and following up with Krovikan Whispers is a very strong move in most circumstances. While it's hard to choose between one and the other, getting the right balance of both helps to keep a strong deck moving. And don't get me started on those hybrids!

Ripple
This is where Snow get's it easy. Snow cards followed off of Ripple cards are simply devastating. Imagine in limited playing Surging Dementia and rippling four times. With your opponent down for cards, you follow up with a Mouth of Ronom and Frost Raptor (yes, I do very much like that card). Ripple can make any limited deck shine, so long as you don't take it too far. Ripple is great support, but if it's pretty much all you're running, you won't get far. So with Snow and Ripple, use it, don't overshadow it.

Alternate Costs
There's no real point in me explaining this one. The Alternate Cost cards are simply amazing however they're used. The only thing they give snow specific advantage of is a slightly bigger opening for devastating plays. I'm not going to bother going in-depth about this one. I Sunscour you, then play Adarkar Valkyrie. 'Nuff Said.

Rimewind Wizards
Surprisingly enough, Snow does not shine with the members of Rimewind and their minions. Sure, they're required to play the wizards, but that's not the same as working with the cards. Frankly, the wizards are good and so are their zombie minions, but they don't interact well with other snow. Snow and Rimewind may want the same goal, but they go at it two completely different ways. There's nothing wrong about playing more snow with the wizards, just be careful what you play.

Well, this is the end of my first (written) article for MDV. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I also hope you learned something too.

Stick around for my next article when I look at Snow's rival, Cumulative Upkeep. Until then, dress warm, put on some earmuffs, and bust out the hot chocolate and marshmallows!

EDITOR'S NOTE: This should have been posted a long time ago.  Apologies.  ~Streetz~

You can discuss this article in the MDV forums here.

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