|
Home Decks Combos Articles Visual Spoilers Art Features Links Search Forum |
|
|
|
|
I know everyone's head is swimming with thoughts of what Planar Chaos will do to Magic and the impact, if any, that Time Spiral had on the game. But I want to fade back a little and return to last summer. In the midst of the heat, and the wait for a new set, Wizards threw out a curveball. A little thing called Coldsnap that was an attempt to tie up the flavor of the Ice Age block. It brought about several unique decks and some interesting attempts at creating new abilities and ideas that would only really be usable in set, or perhaps with some of the Ice Age cards.
I also saw the power of some amazingly powerful cards that appealed to Timmy's, Johnny's and Spikes. Cards like Ohran Viper, Adarkar Valkyrie, and Rimefeather Owl, were powerhouses online tearing people apart by themselves. I noticed a good snow deck could easily shut down the best guild-themed decks. Counterbalance and Icefall became synonymous with frustration for many as well. But most importantly, I couldn't help but feel that Coldsnap was a much better set than people gave it credit for. Maybe it was the hype of Time Spiral or too many sets too close together, or something entirely different, but most others disagreed and thought Coldsnap was a waste of time and cash. So I decided it was time for a look back, but I didn't want to give you my top 10 cards. I wanted to give you MDV's. The top 10 casual cards for the casual player as voted by the casual player. Granted, I thought my top 10 would basically win, but boy was I wrong. I found the type of cards people voted for really did match the Magic archetypes of players. I had a few Timmy's vote for nothing but Legendary cards, Johnny's favored the combo cards like Thrumming Stone, and the Spikes were semi-represented by a couple hybrid archetypes. I even had a Vorthos vote for flavor of the snow in cards. While I loved the variety, I hated the results getting spread out so I brought as many people as I could into the project. Sadly, it wasn't enough. I just couldn't get the data I needed to make a legitimate choice of the best cards. So I did what any good researcher would do, I messed with the data to get my top 10. If you have too much variety, the easiest thing to do is to condense down the results. So a vote of 1/2/3 got three points, a 4/5/6 got two points, and a vote of 7/8/9/10 got a card one point. That meant that cards that were only liked by one person got slammed heavily, so you get a true feel for what cards a lot of people liked. In the event of a tie, it was settled by an unadjusted total of votes for a card. Anywhoo, I know statistics and math gets you excited, but here is the top 10 list: 10 - Mishra's Bauble Amazing. A card that does pretty much nothing makes it into the top 10 list. For those of you who question this, realize that what is happening here is people with highly tuned decks are using it to thin them down. Fetch Lands did the same thing at a 1 life cost, so this comes at a bargain. While Mishra's Bauble didn't make the impact Fetch Lands did, I still see some players dropping them down and usually I shudder. If you play Dragonstorm, you should really check this card out. It's a perfect match. And to really drive the point home, here's a tasty quote from Tynion.
9 - Jester's Scepter
I was shocked and awed that this card made it on here. I've only seen it actually come out once against me and it lasted all of a single turn before being Condemned, but I can't imagine the pain of not having an answer for her. She is powerful, but she's a bit high maintenance with that bulky casting cost. Though Timmy's and Reanimation fans adore this beauty for her haste and distinctive *oomph*. Mana cost aside, it really is a massive card. She has haste and flies, gets you cards, and gets bigger as it kills things. It's no wonder people who can manage to cast her love her. 7 - Darien, King of Kjeldor
Darien is a Timmy/Johnny card that can easily win the game for you. He has a unique flavor and feel that really appeals to combo players. You know he has some kind of flare when at least two writers on this staff covered it in someway in their articles: 6 - Skred To me, Skred is a very strong and powerful card. The cost is low and the speed is fast. In fact, the only drawback is that it requires snow to be of any use. Cards of this cost and power have typically earned a lot of attention, and Skred was pretty much the same way. Spikes picked up on this card quickly utilizing it to kill pretty much any card that came out in drafts and in decks like Karsten Baby Killer, shown below.
With variable power for the same cost, it's a definite utility must if you can afford to use snow, taking out key creatures like Meloku and Haakon. The only real problem: Akroma skates on by... 5 - Rimescale Dragon
I've lost countless drafts to this bad boy coming out and wiping the board of my defenses. As far as Coldsnap goes he's the stalemate ender. His appearance should easily signify the tipping of the scales in one players favor. Of course he is expensive to cast, but he's worth every mana. 4 - Counterbalance The first of the powerhouse cards that many agreed were powerful. Counterbalance is probably one of the most annoying cards to ever hit the game. For 0 mana, you have a chance to counter a spell. For 1 mana with your Sensei's Divining Top, you have 3 chances to counter a spell. The card advantage it creates and the shutdown it threatens is very real. If I were to pick one card to come out of Coldsnap and empower Legacy this would be it. Almost every person that voted for it had the same thing to say "Counterbalance + Sensei's Divining Top = a punch in the face". 3 - Heidar, Rimewind Master
I saw a few serious Snow Control decks utilize him, like the one above, but overall I found it often came down to a choice between Heidar's utility vs. Rimefeather Owl's finishing ability. The downside to Heidar is one that limits his play; he's only usable with snow in play.
2 - Ohran Viper From the get go, Ohran Viper drew a lot of attention from all kinds of players. For a mere three mana, you were given a Thicket Basilisk that either killed a creature or did damage netting a card.
A choice of damnations for many, it inspired some decks that utilized it for that very choice: Do you block it and suffer creature disadvantage or let it slide by and suffer card disadvantage? Coupled with Green's ability to bolster the snake, it was never a question in my mind that this would be a top three card from all types of players.
And the number one card is the Angel. Sometimes, Angels are hyped up just like Dragons, but in this case it's extremely due. While no single player actually chose her as their favorite, so many chose her as the second best that she easily took the number one slot. Those that have seen the Valkyrie come into play often regret it. A 4/5 that escapes most other fliers' kill range and capably survives Char and Psionic Blast causes problems in its own right. Add in the fact that she courts in fallen creatures for a mere tap is beyond compare. While very costly, her power and ability to dominate the game are easily recognized from the start. A very deserving card that is adored by Timmy, Johnny, and Spike alike for her power.
When I started getting results, the first thing I did was take a look back at cards to see if I had missed some hidden power. Sometimes a card I once thought to be horrible turned out quite good after a re-examination or quite simply another person telling me it was. I'm not saying that we're dealing with a Necropotence situation here, where an initially dismissed card almost overnight destroys the game, but I am saying that I found more power and unique ideas hidden in the set than all of Time Spiral. Give it a second or third glance, see for yourself if there really is a hidden gem you missed underneath that blanket of snow.
You can discuss this article in the MDV forums
here.
Articles
Spotlights from 2007: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
I
tried using Jester's Scepter in several mill and counter decks. The problem was
it never really panned out as strong as I thought it would. Others tended to
like it though, and in slow games it can really help to create a card advantage.
Our Vorthos contributor (Mogg) liked how it really tied the Jester theme
together and one player seemed to have a personal love for it saying: 
The
next card is a fan favorite here. While it didn't crack into anyone's top three,
it made so many people's lists in the lower portions that he beat out many cards
that were others' #1 cards. 
RG
Karsten Baby Killer. 
Bigger
isn't always better, but the massive snow dragon was beloved by many players. He
made many players lists alongside the legends. What isn't to love about a
massive dragon, especially one that freezes creatures out of the game? 
Who
doesn't love a Boomerang every turn? For 4U you get yourself a 3/3 Boomerang
creator. Myself personally, I didn't like him. I hate paying five mana for any
creature and also thought he might do something different for his flavor, but
others loved him. Timmy's and Johnny's flocked to him realizing his potential to
frustrate and perform. 
Snow
Blue. 
1
- Adarkar Valkyrie