Hello and welcome to the Magic Super Cube!

If you did not know, this is the series of blogs where I go throughout the history of Magic sets that were released for Standard or would have been Standard legal had the format existed and pick cards from those sets in order to create what is possibly the world’s largest Cube.

We have a bit of an oddball set as we are not looking at a Core set or a new block, but rather a set that was appointed as the end of an older block, replacing Homelands in the Ice Age block. We are taking a look at Coldsnap, a small set that had some callbacks to the original Ice Age block, while also having some cards that would become well known in the future.

Let’s get started!

White

White would be in the middle of the pack in terms of how easy it was to pick cards for it.

The creature card was pretty easy as a lot of the other creatures in the set range from not ideal to gimmicky to pretty interesting. The creature I ended up choosing was a creature that had a pretty interesting way to get creature tokens onto the board.

The noncreature spells were where I had a bit of trouble, as they fell into a similar space as the creature spells did for white, which will become a theme in the set. In the end I chose a protection spell against certain colors and a board wipe that could be cast for very cheap.

My picks for white are Darien, King of Kjeldor, Luminesce, and Sunscour.

Blue

Blue was the color that I had the most trouble with, and it has been a while since that was the case.

The creature spell was fairly easy, despite there being the previously mentioned interesting creatures. I chose a creature that worked well as a way to use artifact creatures as a way to tutor some big artifacts into play.

The noncreature spells had me debating on what I actually wanted for the Cube. Some spells were not reprinted in Standard legal sets, so I had to make the big choice as to what spells to pick and I chose a very well known theft spell and a draw spell that has a pretty unique for blue downside.

My picks for blue are Arcum Dagsson, Commandeer, and Perilous Research.

Black

Black was also pretty tough to pick cards from, more so than white and less so than blue.

The creature spell was fairly tough because of the aforementioned oddities and quirky creatures, so I decided to lean into it a bit. The creature that I chose plays with a notoriously well known bad mechanic in a way that is actually very beneficial to you, if you manage to keep it in play.

The noncreature spells were a bit easier, though I did play it a bit safe with one of them. That one is a removal spell that goes with a particular theme of the set and the other is another card that plays well with that previously mentioned bad mechanic in an interesting way as well, potentially having a major downside when it leaves the battlefield.

My picks for black are Chill to the Bone, Herald of Leshrac, and Phyrexian Etchings.

Red

Red was the second easiest of the five colors to choose from, which is saying quite a bit considering how much of a challenge it was to pick from the previous three colors.

The place where it was most difficult was the noncreature spells. One was a surefire lock in, since it also plays with that previously mentioned bad mechanic in a fun way, but the other was a bit more of a tough choice between two particular cards. I decided that going into a way to add additional combat would be better for aggressive decks in the Cube.

Speaking of aggressive decks, the creature spells of the set in red did play into the aggressive side of things. The creature I chose is very much an aggressive creature, but also plays into a different type of counter and is, according to a bare bit of research, the last creature to be printed with this type of counter.

My picks for red are Braid of Fire, Fury of the Horde, and Lightning Serpent.

Green

Of the five colors, green was by far the easiest to pick cards from, bar none for the set.

The noncreature spell was pretty easy, especially since it allows the Cube to delve a bit into an alternate land type that exists and is a solid two mana ramp spell to boot.

The creature spells are where green really got interesting because there are two creatures that immediately stood out to me. One was a creature that would normally be expensive to cast, be brought out onto the battlefield very cheaply while the other has a unique way of being cast that no other card to my knowledge does so.

My picks for green are Allosaurus Rider, Into the North, and Panglacial Wurm.

Multicolor

There were a few multicolor cards that were available in the set, so that added some interesting options for which ones to choose.

I ended up choosing three legendary creatures as they all had pretty unique effects for the time, one being a creature that plays well with enchantments, one that gets bigger when it kills creatures and can draw you some cards when you deal damage, and the last one is a creature that can be a way to potentially be a payoff for a sacrifice based deck.

My picks for multicolor are Zur the Enchanter, Garza Zol, Plague Queen, and Sek’Kuar, Deathkeeper.

Artifacts

Artifacts also had a good number of options to choose from, though because of the nature of the Cube, I did have to leave out an iconic artifact that was available in this set.

Instead I chose an artifact that provides some ramp, a way to peek at your opponent’s next draw while also giving you a draw, a big creature that can deal a good bit of damage, and another big creature that has a downside that can work in your favor if you have the cards to help do so.

My picks for artifacts are Coldsteel Heart, Mishra’s Bauble, Phyrexian Snowcrusher, and Phyrexian Soulgorger.

Lands

Finally we get to lands, which isn’t just one cards from a set cycle.

There is a cycle of dual lands that I picked from the set, but that was more so because they are a neat way to play with a previous pick while also being decent fixing.

The other land cards I picked was a land that can act as an emergency burn removal card, a way to take a peek at the top of your library and potentially draw an extra card in certain scenarios, and a very well known land that can cheat out a creature that could potentially win you a game.

My picks for lands are Boreal Shelf, Frost Marsh, Tresserhorn Sinks, Highland Weald, Arctic Flats, Dark Depths, Mouth of Ronom, and Scrying Sheets.

In Conclusion

Coldsnap was an interesting set to pick cards from, and there were a lot of cards that I am a bit disappointed were not picked, but I think the ones I did pick were solid choices.

When we return to the Magic Super Cube, we are entering a brand new block by taking a look at the first set of Time Spiral block, the titular Time Spiral. This is a set that happens to also include its bonus sheet as cards that were legal in Standard at the time, which was not only a first to have a bonus sheet, but also the first of I believe only two sets that had this unique feature.

As usual, here is the Moxfield link to keep up with all the cards in the Cube and here is the second part of it Moxfield II!

See you next time!

Peace,

From, J.M. Casual