Coldsnap Magic The Gathering Cards
Coldsnap is the third set in the Ice Age block for the Magic:The
Gathering collectible card game. It was released on July 21, 2006 by
Wizards of the Coast. The set came out over ten years after Ice Age was
released in June 1995, the longest period of time between the beginning
and the completion of a full block in Magic. Coldsnap replaced
Homelands in the Ice Age block.
In the initial announcement, Randy Buehler said that Coldsnap was
designed around the same time as Ice Age and Alliances but was never
released because "internal politics" had "forced" Wizards to release
Homelands instead. Buehler said that although the set was not a modern
design, it would go through modern development and released with modern
Magic text and wordings. However, in the Ask Wizards section on
November 10, 2005, a player pointed to several inconsistencies in
Buehler's story and suggested that Coldsnap was in fact a newly
designed set. While Buehler did not explicitly confirm that the
player's analysis was correct, he did imply as much by saying only that
the notion that Coldsnap was "from the vault" was more fun to think
about.
Mark Rosewater confirmed in his February 6, 2006 column that the
"from the vault" story was a "cute little cover" to make the
announcement more interesting and expressed surprise that any players
took the story at face value. He apologised for the confusion Wizards
R% 26amp;D had created and made it clear that the set is indeed a newly
designed one.
As of August 20, 2006, Coldsnap is tournament legal in Standard,
Extended, Legacy, Vintage, and Ice Age Block tournament formats. It was
also released on Magic: The Gathering Online on August 14, becoming the
first expansion ever to be legal for Constructed tournament play on
Magic Online before its paper version was.
Four theme decks were released for Coldsnap. The theme decks were
unusual in that they contained selected reprints of older cards from
both Ice Age and Alliances. The reprints kept the original artwork but
used the new borders, updated Oracle wording and the original expansion
symbols were given rarity colors. Collector numbers were also added to
the bottom of the cards to show where they would be in the original
sets if they were printed today.
The Ice Age and Alliances reprints were not legal in Standard
tournament play however, and the reprints have not been added to the
official card database. The theme decks are important to the on-line
version of the game because the Ice Age and Alliances expansions have
never been released, meaning purchasing the theme decks is the only way
to acquire these cards.
- The theme deck titled Aurochs Stampede a red and green colored deck featured a theme based on the Auroch creature type with past and present Aurochs.
- Beyond the Grave is a 3 color theme deck composed of red, green and black that heavily features cards that benefit from the graveyard.% 26nbsp;
- The theme deck titled Kjeldoran Cunning is a white and blue theme deck based on the popular Kjeldoran nation that thrived during the Ice Age.% 26nbsp;
- Snowscape is a blue and black deck that features cards that use the snow supertype.
- Ripple. When a spell with Ripple is played, the controller of the spell may reveal the top four cards of his library. If he reveals any cards with the same name as the spell with Ripple effect, the player may play those spells without paying their mana costs. The card Thrumming Stone gives all spells its controller plays Ripple. Interestingly, although each card involving Ripple requires four cards to be revealed, the mechanic is templated as "Ripple X", meaning that further iterations of the ability could involve revealing a greater or smaller number of cards.
- Recover. Recover is a triggered ability that allows cards to be
returned from the graveyard to their owner's hand. When a card with
Recover is in the graveyard and a creature is put into the same
graveyard, the ability triggers. Its controller may then pay the
Recover cost and return the Recoverable card to their hand. If they do
not, the player removes it from the game. This mechanic was designed to
preserve the spirit of Death Spark, a popular Alliances card, while
holding to the modern policy of not printing cards that require the
graveyard to stay in a specific order.
- Cumulative Upkeep. An old ability that initially debuted in Ice Age, cards with Cumulative Upkeep require their controllers to pay increasing upkeep costs every turn or sacrifice them. Coldsnap offers new twists on this mechanic, including bonuses or penalties based on the number of turns the card has been in play.
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