Magic: The Gathering: Coldsnap Expansion Set Review

We review the Magic: The Gathering card game expansion, Coldsnap, from Wizards of the Coast!

Courtesy of Wizards

In the middle of summer, the new Magic card game expansion drops - Coldsnap! It's packed with cool new snow cards and powerful ice magic so you can put your opponents in the deep freeze. For the basics on the Magic: The Gathering card game, check out this review. Here we review the new powers, cards and Theme Decks in Coldsnap. Check it out!

Frozen Magic and Cool New Combos in Coldsnap

This new set brings back the Snow-Covered Lands cards from the Ice Age set, and covers creatures and artifacts in snow too! Plus, it has new Recover, Ripple and Cumulative Upkeep powers. Here's the scoop.

Ripple - Play a Ripple card, look at the next four cards in your deck, if any of them are the same you can play them for free!

Recover - If a critter goes to the Graveyard and you have a card with the Recover ability there already, you can pay some Mana and put the card back in your hand. But if you don't, it's removed from play!

Cumulative Upkeep - Cards with this ability are powerful, but they cost something each turn, and the longer they're out the more they cost!

Snow - Snow cards don't do anything on their own, but other cards have abilities that only work if you have Snow cards.

Coldsnap Theme Deck Reviews

In the middle of an ice age a bunch of armies are fighting - some want to thaw the ice, others want to freeze the whole planet so their ice magic will get stronger! Here's a look at the four new Theme Decks and what they do. Click them for the 411 on which is the strongest!

Aurochs Stampede - Huge stampeding beasts trample your opponent flat.

Beyond the Grave - Animate the dead to win the duel!

Kjeldoran Cunning - Knights, soldiers, heroes and giants stomp your opponent's deck flat.

Snowscape - Use the power of ice magic to freeze your opponent solid.

Magic: The Gathering: Coldsnap - Cool or Just Chilly?

The new powers in this set are great! Recover is an awesome ability. Ripple is great as long as you use lots of it. Cumulative Upkeep gets lame fast, but it lets you use powerful cards for a few turns. The Snow cards are solid and the best thing is that you can add these new cards to any deck easily! Some of the powers can be confusing for new players, so you should check out the basic game before you load up on Coldsnap cards, but they're definitely cool enough to duel with. Oh, and Dark Depths equals indestructible legendary 20/20 flying black Marit Lage avatar - woo hoo!