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Coldsnap: Pre-Preview Review Part II

By Chris Harrold (a.k.a
Dr Chunk)

Welcome
back. I do hope you’ve brought a thermos full of hot, weak tea to see you
through the rest of the Coldsnap. We really should be
hardened to this by now – It’s just like a typical English summer.

Allosaurus
Rider 5GG

Creature
- Elf Warrior

You
may remove two green cards in your hand from the game rather than pay Allosaurus Rider’s mana
cost.

Allosaurus Rider’s power and toughness are each equal to 1 plus the number of lands you control.

1+*/1+*

Does
anyone remember Molimo, Maro
Sorcerer? Does anyone remember him dominating the format? I didn’t think
so. This guy costs the same in converted mana cost at
7 but gains pitch instead of evasion (ie. Trample).

I am
still not sold on the inherent card disadvantage this is going to set up. If
you play him early he is just small, as you have few lands out, and by the time
he gets to a suitable size you could probably play him anyway. The lack of
trample really hurts, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t play him in
limited. The bigger the creature the better, just don’t expect me to
pitch two cards for him.

Boreal Centaur 1G

Snow
Creature – Centaur Warrior

S:
Boreal Centaur gets +1/+1 until end of turn. Play this ability only once each
turn. (S can be paid with one mana from a snow
permanent.)

2/2

At
base stats we have a bear, at best we have a Watchwolf. In limited you have to remember that you only
get to play with the snow (covered) lands that you draft, though there will be
one in every pack opened. In draft or sealed he gets played, with or without
snow mana. In constructed you can do much better (see
Ape, Wolf & Mauler)

Hibernations End 4G

Enchantment

Cumulative
Upkeep 1

Whenever you pay Hibernation's End's cumulative upkeep, you may search your
library for a creature card with a converted mana
cost equal to the number of age counters on Hibernation's End and put it into
play. If you do, shuffle your library.

There
is something inherently Timmy about this card. Admittedly it does little for
the first few turns but once it gets going it is a mean tutor engine. The five mana cost is a little prohibitive but I guess it would be
rude if it came down earlier.

For
some reason I fear someone breaking this a la Tooth and Nail, albeit somewhat
slower. In limited it is not a bad way to spend your mana
over the next couple of turns, as long as you have something to find.

Karplusan
Strider 3G

Creature
– Yeti

Karplusan Strider can't be the target of
blue or black spells.

3/4

At the
start 3/4 for four mana is a
good deal and with this sort of colour hosing I expect him certainly see
limited play and possibly break into the world of constructed if a good Fat
Green Men deck appears. He is too costly for Heezy
and Zoo, but I suspect a deck may well find space for him.

Certainly
better than River Bear.

Diamond Faerie 2GWU

Snow
Creature - Faerie

Flying

1S: Snow Creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn. (S can be paid with
one mana from a snow permanent.)

3/3

We
have yet to find out what sort of mana fixing is
going to be around in Coldsnap (Snow Covered Stevey T perchance?), but without something good this guy
is going to be tricky to play. 3/3 for five with flying is reasonable, but
three different colour requirements is not easy to
meet. The ability is potentially very good, but we need to see how many Snow
Creatures appear before I can really make judgement.

So if
the colours let us support him and he has some friends along to help this guy
could be very good. Otherwise he will sit in your hand laughing at your lack of
fixing. I also don’t see him making the leap to constructed.

Vanish Into Memory 2UW

Instant

Remove
target creature from the game and draw cards equal to its power. At the
beginning of your next upkeep, return that creature to play under its owner's
control and discard cards equal to its toughness.

I
suspect this card has already been done to death, what with it being YMTC.
Instant speed card draw is at a definite low point at the moment and this could
potentially net some serious card advantage if the right creature exists. Are
there any 11/1s?

Jester’s Scepter
3

Artifact

When
Jester's Scepter comes into play, remove the top five
cards of target player's library from the game face down. You may look at those
cards as long as they remain removed from the game.

2, T,
Put a card removed from the game with Jester's Scepter
into its owner's graveyard: Counter target spell if it has the same name as
that card.

So far
the Coldsnap hasn’t really offered us any great
gems and this continues the trend. If you are lucky you might get to counter
one, maybe two relevant spells with this, but chances are you will just get to
mill your opponent for five. The only place I see this being played is reject rare draft and even then it would be unplayable.

Phyrexian
Soulgorger 3

Snow Artifact Creature - Construct

Cumulative
upkeep - Sacrifice a creature. (At the beginning of your upkeep, put an age counter on this
permanent, then sacrifice it unless you pay its upkeep
cost for each age counter on it.)

8/8

Well, mana for power ratio you cannot go wrong with  8 for 3. The cumulative upkeep
reminds me of Devouring Strossus – one of my
pet favourite creatures of all time. Again the lack of evasion means this guy
will eat a few chumps on both sides of the board before chowing
down on himself. Seems a waste and I doubt he will see much play also.

Shame
really, because he is rather large.

”Scrying
Strata”

Snow Land

T: Add
1 to your mana pool

1S, T: Look at the top card of your library. If it's a snow card, you may
reveal it and put it into your hand. (S can be paid with one mana from a snow permanent.)

Even if it means you just play snow covered instead of basic lands this
card could be a huge card drawing engine. If we also get some very playable
Snow Creatures to go with this it could get even better. It is just a shame
that I very much doubt there will be Snow Covered Instants and Sorceries. In a
good control deck I certainly think this would be worth a try.

So there we are – Everything we know so far. And how does it look?

For constructed I suspect the Strata is the most likely to get played,
with the Owl Keeper, Martyr of Ashes and Karplusan
Strider being potential players. Hibernations End also looks like something
very bad will come of it, but I will have to see what the deck designers do
before we know for sure. I suspect Commandeer will continue to be overrated
until we all try and fail miserably with it.

For limited we will have to wait and see how much Wizards push the snow
theme. Most of the creatures, barring the Soulgorger
and the Grunt, are playable and the ripple cards look to be interesting. I also
really like the Feast, but you just need to make sure you draft enough of them.

So be
watch out for Coldsnap, because it’s cold
outside and there’s no kind of atmosphere.

Dr
Chunk (All alone, more or less.)