Ice Age
Ice Age is the seventh Magic expansion and was released in May/June 1995 as the first set in the Ice Age Block. With 383 cards including basic lands, it was the first standalone expansion.
Mechanics and Themes
Ice Age introduced Cumulative Upkeep and Snow-covered Lands to the game. Cumulative Upkeep is a cost on permanents that increases with each turn, and was used entirely as a disadvantage on cards with powerful effects in Ice Age. Snow-covered Lands were a cycle of basic lands that also have the "snow-covered" quality, which is meaningless by itself, but was referenced by other cards. This ability in particular was not very well developed, but served as a precursor to the Arcane spells of Kamigawa (block).
Another popular mechanic was introduced in Ice Age, but was not keyworded: Cantrips. These were spells that, in addition to their normal effect, also drew you a card. The normal formula for this was the standard cost for the spell, plus two mana, depending on what color the spell was; this made many cantrips cost three mana total. Additionally, Ice Age set the precedent of such spells drawing you a card on the next turn. This was done either for flavor reasons, with the idea that things should move slowly during an Ice Age, or simply because they did not want Urza's Bauble to draw a card right away. Nevertheless, the delayed card drawing would continue on such cards through Visions (set).
In addition to these new mechanics, Ice Age also further explored some of the rules introduced in Legends (set). It brought back the concept of Legendary Permanents, and branched them out from multicolored creatures and lands, including single-colored creatures for the first time.
Ice Age also included a theme of multicolor play, with cards of one color that required or improved by the use of additional colors. For example, Freyalise's Supplicant is a green creature that requires you to sacrifice a white or red creature, and Word of Undoing is a blue instant that returns a creature to owner's hand, as well as any white Auras you control on that creature.
Ice Age was designed thematically for slow play, with very few evasive creatres. Ice Age limited was often characterized by ground stalls.
Important Cards
Jester's Cap -- At the time, the most valuable card in the set for its ability to interfere with your opponent's strategy, Jester's Cap has since been overshadowed, and is seldom played. Pyroclasm -- A powerful early game board-clearing effect. Incinerate -- Along with Lightning Bolt, Incinerate was the gold-standard for burn spells for a long time, but has since been decided to be too powerful for its cost. Zuran Orb -- A powerful artifact that gives any deck lifegain, and was notorious for prolonging games. It eventually was banned or restricted in every sanctioned format it could have been played in. Necropotence -- Originally dismissed as a crap rare -- indeed, even called the worst rare of the set by InQuest Magazine, Necropotence became the engine behind the powerful mono-black deck of the same name, which was so powerful that period is often called "Black Summer" or "The Summer of Necro." Several cards from the deck were banned, but Necropotence appeared again later in several other decks, and was finally banned itself. Demonic Consultation -- Another card considered at first to be too risky, Demonic Consultation eventually proved to be a solid tutoring spell, and proved just how valuable tutoring spells are. It, too, was banned. Stormbind -- A recurring source of damage back when they were much harder to come by, Stormbind was a powerful tournament card at the time, comboing well with Whiteout for further damage. Polar Kraken -- At 11/11, Polar Kraken was, for a time, the largest creature in the game.
Storyline
The Ice Age storyline, like the earlier sets that took place on Dominaria, occured on the continent of Terisiare, where the Brothers' War had taken place. That war ended with the Sylex Blast, which was powerful enough to alter the planet's climate. All the major civlizations of Terisiare had been destroyed by either the war or the ice. New cultures arose on the ice, fighting bitterly for survival. But when the necromancer Lim-Dûl unleashed a horde of undead, old enemies were forced to work together or be overwhelmed.
The setting was based largely off of Norse style mythology and culture. Names were largely Scandanavian in character, and occasional runes and Norse-style clothing and armor can be seen in the art.
Development Information
Development Team: Skaff Elias, Jim Lin, Chris Page, Dave Pettey