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CardName: Coldsword Claimant Cost: 2G Type: Creature - Human Warrior Pow/Tgh: 3/3 Rules Text: Frost Bitten (For each Snow permanent you control, Coldsword Claimant costs an additional {1} to cast.) {S}: Coldsword Claimant gains deathtouch until end of turn. Flavour Text: Set/Rarity: Multiverse Design Challenge Common |
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to cast.)
: Coldsword Claimant gains deathtouch until end of turn.
For Challenge # 060. The picture has hints of very cold things in it (the waterfall, the sword, and the fact that the guy is dressed for winter) that I felt this would be a chance to tackle something that always bothered me. Snow sets always focus on Snow being tribal and 'more is better', which, in general, is a good idea. With snow, though, I don't know if it's really 'fun'. Coldsnap draft was good, and struggling to fit snow mana sources into your deck was neat, but Snow in constructed? If you need
, just add as many Snow-Covered lands as you possibly can. Cards like Heidar, Rimewind Master are foregone conclusions, and Skald just reads 'equal to the number of lands you control'. Wizards did include some anti-snow tech, but they couldn't include too much of it, or no one would like the new mechanic. And, granted, it's hard to play multi-color... but ultimately, you only have two real choices: Play 100% snow or do something else.
This is an attempt to fix that. I'm very aware that 'Frost Bitten' is a very unsexy ability. Nobody wants a power that's a drawback. But Frost Bitten helps keep snow relevant. Spells with Frost Bitten interact well with snow permanents, but want you to play with the least amount possible for them to be efficient. It brings the stress back to Snow. There's still plenty of room in a set like this for the traditional 'count 'em up' style Snow cards, mind you. This would just be an extra layer of complication.
Oh, yeah, it would be interesting if deck-building had to try to aim for two snow permanents, instead of "lots". And yeah, frost bitten is hard to do well, but it's a good idea.
I like the flavour too. The picture does look cold now you've pointed it out, but I didn't see it that way before.
Am I the only one who would rename that ability to something more flexible, like "animosity for snow"?
Like the opposite of affinity? That would certainly make it more flexible. I doubt Wizards would print it or Frost Bitten, thought, because as jmgariepy points out, people don't like pure drawback abilities.