New Ice Age Block Set: Coldsnap (Yes, this is real)

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Notepad

Guest
EDIT: Official Q&A on the subject:
OFFICIAL UPDATE said:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/feature/291
Click to expand...

WizCo announced it:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/arcana/933
And Star City seems to be yacking it up:
http://www.starcitygames.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=283075

For those who don't want to read, WizCo has announced that in 2006 they will release Coldsnap, a set to be considered the "lost set" of Ice Age Block. Quite insane...Randy Bullhead is to comment on it for Wednesday. I can hardly wait to see what more is revealed.

So far, I have got to say I like the idea. Would be neat to return to the storyscape and themes of Ice Age block. Then again, it means getting bogged down with snow-covereds and cumulative upkeep. Still, if they have the classic border, I'm in! :D ;)
 
G

Gizmo

Guest
Interesting. It fits because Ravnica is most like IA/AL block.
 
D

depolarization

Guest
Probably means now that Cum-Upkeep will produce age counters and the reminder-text will say so. Could have some interesting implications.

Of course what I wonder about is what the art is going to look like. Is it going to be new, or pieces commisioned at the time or an amalgamation? Are they going to use classic borders or not? Probably not in my mind.

Well, I'll raise my glass to Lietbur and get my cultists ready to sacrifice those nasty thralls...What no necropotence? I also wonder if they're going pull stuff out like the Storm Cauldron and the like. Or a free counterspell, the likes of Force of Will...

I know many people found Ice Age cool, but for me, it was a time that really started to cool things off for me with magic. What I find really surprising is that it's going to be tournament legal...wouldn't that mess up block stuff? Or is this going to act like a supplement to the base set?
 
R

Ransac

CPA Trash Man
I like pretzels!!!!!!!!



.....


I mean..... cool. Wait..... Ice Age has been out for 10 years?

*Ransac cries*

I'm oinking old.


Ransac, cpa trash man
 
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Ransac

CPA Trash Man
*Ransac cries again over his aging.*

Dang. I've been playing this game for 11+ years now. I'm really old.


Ransac, cpa trash man
 
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Nightstalkers

Guest
The hell?

So instead of a normal 3 set block... we're getting 4 sets we can play with as well as our good old Kamigawa?


Who the hell thinks this stuff up? And what about the story to all this?! Am I going to have to dig up all my old Ice Age cards now?!
 
N

Notepad

Guest
Looking at it point for point:
-Borders, who knows. They showed with Unhinged that they will do old card borders if they feel the border fits. It would be wrong to play this "block" and have the new borders of Coldsnap clashing with the old borders of Ice Age and Alliances.
-This is an independent expansion, so the only block it belongs to is Ice Age. Though its released during Ravnica block, its not part. (Think how Portals and Uns were never part of the blocks they were released during.)
-This is only three sets for the block. Ice Age, Alliances, and now Coldsnap. Homelands was never really part of the Ice Age block, and more of a truly independent expansion, since back then they didn't fully realize the block lineup yet.
-In the early years of the game, they used to talk about having a large file of unused art. There were even a group of cards themed after the horsemen of the apocalypse. There is a lot of cool stuff stashed away, art-wise. The main problem, is this art was all commissioned during the old days of royalty payments under the old artist contracts. Though they have a ton of awesome art (supposedly) they probably won't use it due to accounting confusion or legal concerns.
-As part of the Ice Age block, it really should fit in with Snow-Covered lands and Cumulative Upkeep. The latter would be easy to just slap on cards, especially with the new age counter idea. The former, might be harder. Would they put snow covered basics in the packs? This would be odd. It would be like Saviours of Kamigawa coming with basic lands. Then again, they could make whole new snow covereds, like a cycle of nonbasic snowcovereds, which wouldn't be as good as having a swarm of the basics, but would work. This is the most likely scenario, some snow covered lands with some slight ability on the side or something.
-This may set a precedent for summer releases. They release a core set every two years, leaving the off years with nothing. This may be the start of independent expansions released during the off summers. If this is the case, Summer 2008 *might* be another independent set, or something like another Un set (though I would really hate to wait that long for another Un set).
-Legality-wise, its really hard to tell wherre this would fit. Quite obviously, this only belongs to Ice Age block when it comes to block. No Ravnica block stuff with Coldsnap. But as for Type II, who knows. It is a current expansion, but I would think players have gotten used to the 4-6 xpak version of Type II. Now it becomes a 5-7? Neat, but are they ready for this type of a leap? The same oddity occurs with Extended. Ice Age ain't part of Extended anymore, so does this sit out with the block, or does its newbieism cause it to come in and stick around for a while? The only formats we can be sure of: Ice Age Block, Vintage, and Legacy. All others are a thinking game, but chances are, it'll be legal in Standard and Extended as well.
 
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Nightstalkers

Guest
Well Duke, I would thinkt hat they would probably have to release the snow covered stuffs in a "starter" or something so that we could have a lot of those... but... most of this snow covered stuff is obsolete so I don't see any reason why they'd resurrect that dead horse.


But hey, seeing as winter is coming on, they sure are picking a really great time for this set to be released.
 
O

orgg

Guest
I'm going to wait until Wednesday.

It's nowhere near April 1st, though... this just seems ODD to me, honestly.
 
Ferret

Ferret

Moderator
Staff member
I can't say that I'm looking forward to this. Snow-Covered land mechanics weren't that great. I recently finished up a little league where we used a lot of Ice Age cards. I liked some of the duplicate cards that were in the set (mana elves, Tims, etc), but about 40% of the set was cards that would never see one of my decks. Snow Covered Lands were a really bad idea. It seemed that there were more cards that penalized people for playing them than cards that benefited them. Of course, WotC will try and find a way to make them better, but I still think that this won't end well...

...between this and the re-release of Mirage on MTGO it's showing that the guys at Wizards are running out of new ideas...

-Ferret

"No, sir. I didn't like it" - that horse from Ren & Stimpy
 
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Notepad

Guest
I dunno if it means a lack of ideas. There really isn't a way to run out of ideas for a text-based game. However, I do think this repackaging of the old stuff does spell something bad. Just what, I dunno.

It is easy to agree with The Ferrett that the game is dead and in the last age of profit once they repackage the Power Nine. We're nowhere near that yet, but this almost appears to be a step toward that direction...

Either that, or its just a sign of the times. Look at this latest Summer of Movie Remakes. Look at our current economy of collectible goods that is really just rehashing of old stuff from the 80s. This generation is very nostalgia-heavy, and as such, perhaps WizCo is just profiteering off our lust for the past.
 
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Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
I'm inclined to wait until the "further info announcement" before making any speculations on the particulars of how this is going to fit in the grand scheme of things.

But I also doubt this means they're "running out of ideas". If anything, I think they're playing to the nostalgia factor of those who played long ago and have dropped out for various reasons but long for the "good 'ol days" AND playing to exposing new and current players to the mechanics from back then and maybe get them interested in other formats besides Standard.

In other words, they're trying to appeal to "everyone" and broaden their player base.
 
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Notepad

Guest
Agreed, Limited. This certainly looks like it'll fill out Ice Age block, and cause that to be the first oldies set online. For what reason, though, who knows. Why is it so important for Ice Age to be around? Wait...more profits *smacks head*
 
Killer Joe

Killer Joe

New member
I always though Homelands was part of that block, I guess not :confused:

What do you think Force of Wills will be worth now? :rolleyes:
 
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