Coldsnap

Coldsnap

 

Theme decks

 

Coldsnap
[[File:{{#setmainimage:CSP logo.jpg}}|250px]]
Set Information
Set symbol
Symbol description	three icicles
Design	Bill Rose (lead) Mark Rosewater Aaron Forsythe Devin Low
Development	Randy Buehler (lead) Mike Turian Devin Low Zvi Mowshowitz
Art direction	Jeremy Cranford
Release date	July 21, 2006
Plane	Dominaria
Themes and mechanics	Cantrips, Cumulative upkeep, Snow, Pitch cards, collectible commons
Keywords/​ability words	Ripple, Recover
Set size	155 cards (60 commons, 55 uncommons, 40 rares)
Expansion code	CSP
Development codename	Splat
Ice Age block
Ice Age Alliances Coldsnap
Magic: The Gathering Chronology
Dissension Coldsnap Time Spiral

Coldsnap is the thirty-ninth Magic expansion and was released in July 2006 as the third set and second small expansion of the Ice Age block, ten years after the second expansion of the block, Alliances. This replaced the Homelands expansion as a member of the block, the only time a block has been changed this way in Magic. Since Coldsnap concluded a much older block, its design made a special effort to revisit many of the previous themes while updating them for the more modern environment. The prerelease events for this set were held on July 8–9, 2006.

Set details

Coldsnap contains 155 black-bordered cards (40 rare, 55 uncommon, and 60 commons). Its expansion symbol is a depiction of three icicles. When Coldsnap was initially announced, Wizards of the Coast claimed that the set was a "lost design file" only recently found. Because this statement was taken seriously, Mark Rosewater later had to clarify that it was a joke.

Coldsnap had the shortest-ever design, at six weeks. R&D made a conscious effort to hit on every standout theme in Ice Age and Alliances to give the set the necessary “retro” feel. This included cumulative upkeep, allied colors, pitch cards, old characters springing to life and land that doesn't tap for mana. The 'snow-covered' supertype changed to 'snow' and expanded its use to nonland permanents. The new Recover mechanic captured the feel of "graveyard order matters" without requiring meticulous tracking. Another new mechanic was Ripple.

Because most sealed tournaments would use only Coldsnap cards due to the rarity of Ice Age and Alliances booster packs, as a means of making frequently recurring commons more valuable, several common cards (the "kindle" and "surging" cycles) were printed that rewarded players for using multiple copies in their decks, making them more desirable.

Storyline

Terisiare, the island continent that was home to the Brothers’ War and the Ice Age, is in a state of rebirth known as the Thaw. The icy shell that encased the continent is melting away. Most of the inhabitants of Terisiare rejoice as the ice gives way to warmth and the rebirth of the land. But, in this time of great change, there are some who see it as a time to angle for power: a secretive society of mages poised to shroud the continent with their icy brand of magic.

Marketing

Promotional Coldsnap LED icecube given for demo'ing Magic at the 2006 Comic-Con in San Diego.

Player's Guide included in the Coldsnap fat pack

Coldsnap was sold in 15-card boosters, four preconstructed theme decks and a fat pack. The decks and the fat pack contained a random Pro Tour Players Card. The booster packs featured artwork from Adarkar Valkyrie, Rimescale Dragon and Allosaurus Rider. The prerelease card was a foil alternate art Allosaurus Rider. The release card was a Marit Lage token The fat pack contained Jeff Grubb's classic novel The Gathering Dark and a new original story by the same author included with the Coldsnap Player's Guide (Keeping the Cold).

Tournament impact

Coldsnap is tournament legal in Modern, Legacy, Vintage, and Ice Age block tournament formats. It was also released on Magic Online on August 14, becoming the first expansion ever to be legal for Constructed tournament play on Magic Online before its paper version was. However, the Ice Age and Alliances reprints from the theme decks were not legal in Standard tournament play, and the reprints have not been added to Gatherer.

Coldsnap is the only expansion released that does not fit the Modern block schedule, creating some confusion. It was legal in the Extended format based on its release date, not on its association with the Ice Age block.

Mechanics

• Recover — allows a player to return cards with the ability to their hand by paying the card's Recover cost when a creature is put into their graveyard from the battlefield; however, if they do not pay the Recover cost the card is then exiled.
• Ripple — when a player plays a spell with ripple, they may reveal the top four cards of their library. If they do, they cast play all cards revealed this way that share a name with the spell without paying their mana costs.

Creature types

The following creature types are introduced in this expansion: Juggernaut.

The following creature types are used in this expansion but also appear in previous sets: Angel, Ape, Artificer, Assassin, Aurochs, Avatar, Barbarian, Bear, Beast, Bird, Cat, Centaur, Cleric, Construct, Dragon, Druid, Elemental, Elf, Faerie, Gargoyle, Giant, Goblin, Griffin, Horror, Illusion, Knight, Leviathan, Lizard, Lord (later changed to Human), Minotaur, Mutant, Ooze, Orc, Rogue, Serpent, Shade, Shaman, Skeleton, Slug, Snake, Soldier, Specter, Sphinx, Spider, Spirit, Treefolk, Unicorn, Vampire, Wall, Warrior, Wizard, Wurm, Yeti, Zombie.

Cycles

Coldsnap has ten cycles and a vertical cycle.

Cycle name
Allied-color cumulative upkeep spells	Jötun Owl Keeper	Krovikan Whispers	Balduvian Fallen	Earthen Goo	Arctic Nishoba
	Each of these uncommon spells has a cumulative upkeep cost that can be paid with either that spell's color or the next allied color clockwise around the color pie and has an age counter related ability. Balduvian Fallen has an unusual template to a similar effect - colorless cost with no reference to age counters, but its ability is only relevant when is paid for the upkeep.
Enemy-color hosers	Luminesce	Flashfreeze	Deathmark	Cryoclasm	Karplusan Strider
	Each of these uncommon spells hampers both of their enemy colors at a low mana cost. This cycle was reprinted in 10th Edition.
Kindle spells	Kjeldoran War Cry	Rune Snag	Feast of Flesh	Rite of Flame	Sound the Call
	Each of these common instant or sorcery spells becomes more powerful the more spells there are with the same name in all graveyards. This cycle is named after the card Kindle from Tempest.
Martyrs	Martyr of Sands	Martyr of Frost	Martyr of Bones	Martyr of Ashes	Martyr of Spores
	Each of these common Human creatures has an activated ability that requires you to pay a mana cost, reveal X cards of its color from your hand, and sacrifice it for an effect based on the number of cards revealed.
Super pitch cards	Sunscour	Commandeer	Soul Spike	Fury of the Horde	Allosaurus Rider
	Each of these rare spells may be played by removing two cards in your hand of its color from the game instead of playing its mana cost. Allosaurus Rider was the set's prerelease card.
Surging spells	Surging Sentinels	Surging Æther	Surging Dementia	Surging Flame	Surging Might
	Each of these common spells has the ripple ability.
Snow-covered lands	Snow-Covered Plains	Snow-Covered Island	Snow-Covered Swamp	Snow-Covered Mountain	Snow-Covered Forest
	Each of these basic lands has the snow supertype. They were reprinted from Ice Age.
Cycle name
Allied-color snow taplands	Boreal Shelf	Frost Marsh	Tresserhorn Sinks	Highland Weald	Arctic Flats
	Each of these uncommon nonbasic snow lands comes into play tapped and can produce two allied colors of mana.
Uncommon gold spells	Vanish into Memory	Blizzard Specter	Deepfire Elemental	Wilderness Elemental	Juniper Order Ranger
	Each of these uncommon multicolor spells requires two mana of allied colors to cast.
Cycle name
Tricolor creatures	Diamond Faerie	Zur the Enchanter	Garza Zol, Plague Queen	Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper	Tamanoa
	Each of these rare creatures requires three colors of mana to cast.

Vertical cycle

Cycle name
Rimewind wizards	Rimewind Taskmage	Rimewind Cryomancer	Heidar, Rimewind Master
	Each of these blue Human Wizard creatures, one at each level of rarity, has an activated ability that can be used only if you control four or more snow permanents.

Pairs

Coldsnap has one mirrored pair.

Mirrored Pairs		Description
White Shield Crusader ()	Stromgald Crusader ()	Uncommon 2/1 Knight creatures, each have protection from the other's color, "{M}: [This] gains flying until end of turn", and "{M}{M}: [This] gets +1/+0 until end of turn". These cards are an homage to the "pump knights" from Fallen Empires and Ice Age.

Theme decks

Like other theme decks, Coldsnap theme decks used cards available in its block. This created reprints of Ice Age and Alliances cards. These reprints were different from the originals in that they had expansion symbol rarity coloring (in addition to being slightly redesigned), have collector numbers, and were printed featuring the new card frame.

The preconstructed theme decks are:

Theme deck name	Colors Included
Aurochs Stampede				R	G
Beyond the Grave			B	R	G
Kjeldoran Cunning	W	U
Snowscape		U	B

Notable cards

• Dark Depths — Originally ignored for tournament play, the printing of Vampire Hexmage in Zendikar (and later Thespian's Stage in Gatecrash) caused its play value and price to skyrocket. The associated token, Marit Lage, was made available only as a promotional card, and eventually became one of the most valuable token cards ever printed.
• Ohran Viper - The initial chase rare of the set.
• Panglacial Wurm — The first, and likely only, spell that can be played directly from the library. Due to its rules implications, Rosewater doubts such an ability will return.
• Haakon, Stromgald Scourge - The first creature that specifies that it can't be cast from multiple zones, which officially also includes the command zone, preventing it from being a true Commander.
• Lightning Serpent - The last card printed to use asymmetrical counters and one of two to remain legal in Modern, the other being the Mirage reprint Wall of Roots.
• Lightning Storm - While instant and sorceries cards regularly have activated abilities, Lightning Storm is the only spell that has an ability while as a spell. It also saw regular play for any deck that could draw its library until Thassa's Oracle was printed.
• Vanish into Memory - The third card to be designed through the Wizards of the Coast's "You Make the Card" promotion through their website, MTG.com
• Counterbalance - Perhaps the most powerful Blue enchantment ever printed, the combination of Counterbalance with deck manipulation cards such as Brainstorm and Sensei's Divining Top can be used to repeatedly counter your opponent's spells. The two-card combo of Counterbalance and Sensei's Divining Top is most commonly referred to as "CounterTop", and CounterTop decks have been been a Legacy staple for years, with the most recent archetype to use CounterTop to full advantage being Miracles, before its ban in 2017.

Reprinted cards

The following cards have been reprinted from previous sets and included in Coldsnap.

• Frozen Solid — was last seen in Scourge, possibly reprinted due to the card name and card flavor fitting the set.
• Snow-covered lands — were last seen in Ice Age.

Functional reprints

Coldsnap has two functional reprints:

• Krovikan Scoundrel is a functional reprint of Dakmor Scorpion from Portal Second Age, Skeletal Snake from Portal and Wei Infantry from Portal Three Kingdoms, save for creature types.
• Ronom Unicorn is a functional reprint of Kami of Ancient Law from Champions of Kamigawa, save for creature type.

Trivia

• Skred is the Norse word for avalanche.
• An Island in the Kjeldoran Cunning deck uses the illustration of a Snow-Covered Island from Ice Age.

Gallery

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External links

• Coldsnap product information page — Wizards of the Coast
• Magic Arcana (February 20, 2006). "Coldsnap Expansion Logo". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
• Magic Arcana (July 17, 2006). "Coldsnap Eye Candy". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
• Magic Arcana (November 30, 2009). "Coldsnap Cube". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.