Fortunately, there is a reason not to play in snow areas. Hate maps like Reidane, God of Worthy, specifically target snow maps, and it`s terrible to get caught by them when you don`t need snow. However, Magic has other areas of snow. These don`t have a “snowy” in the name, but they work well in bridges built around this cool supertype. Most of them are simple double countries, like Rimewood Falls, but others have more interesting effects. Dark Depths, for example, is one of the few MTG countries that doesn`t bet on mana! The same standard applies to double snowlands. Kaldheim prints cost around $0.50, while Coldsnap prints cost around $1 or more. Personally, I really like snowcards. I think they can be extremely tasteful and create a good atmosphere for the set they are on.
They`re mechanically fun, and there`s even more variety when it comes to deciding how to use them with each new set they`re in. What prevents Schneeland from adopting regular land countries is probably a mix of them, which have only become really important in the last two years, and limited deductions. As I mentioned earlier, there are over 25 years of basic land. They are cheap and abundant. Snowy areas do not have this advantage. At least not yet. Aside from their use for snow synergies, these countries function as normal bases. You enter the untapped battlefield and still add only one color of mana. Effects that seek base countries, like creeping growth, they can find because they always have the basic type.
The only differences between these bases and the typical ones are that they have a different name and snow supertype. When designing, you can add as many base countries to your deck as you want. In some models, you can even take the earth out of the pack. However, the same is not true for sets with snow. When designing a set of snow maps, you can only use the snowy countries you choose. You stay in the pack and you can design them like any other map. The other reason is much simpler, and that`s if you like how they look. Since snowlands work like regular countries, you can technically add as many as you want to any terrace built where they are legal.
Maybe you`re playing on a deck where they fit the aesthetics, even if it doesn`t really use a snow mechanic. There are two ways snow synergies occur during the game. The first is easy to understand: some maps are only interested in the number of snow maps you control. Skred, for example, is a removal spell that does more damage when you have a lot of permanent snow. In a bridge that Skred operates, it`s worth including snowy countries just to cause more damage. Cards like Frost and Boreal Outrider can be reason enough to turn all the land in your deck into snow zones. Not to mention that Jorn, God of Winter, can be a good excuse to build a Snow-centric Commander Bridge. This is exactly why there are complete art countries. Magic is a social game, after all, and when other players talk about the freshness of your countries, it`s always a great feeling.
It`s normal to get to the heart of the matter a bit. They run the risk of becoming outdated and obvious. When every bridge you encounter plays snowland, the novelty starts to wear out. You won`t fool your opponents anymore because they simply expect everyone to have at least a few snowlands in their deck. Kaldheim was still more than a year away at the time, but it would be the first time in nearly 15 years that permanent snow would be standard legal. Since snow landings without snow spells are practically just simple countries, if I were a fan of art, would I be punished if I participated in an official tournament like FNM with Schneeland after the Kaldheim rotation? Hypothetically suppose that all countries cost the same amount. You can choose from any basic land cycle ever printed in Magic to put in your deck. I`m a big believer in the idea that what you choose for your decks says something about you as a player. If you`re not just looking for the land you have, you`ll try to choose something that you think is pretty or that fits the theme of your deck. The history of snow as a supertype goes back a long way. Although it peaked in recent years thanks to Modern Horizons and Kaldheim, snow was introduced during the sixth expansion of Magic.
We are talking about 26 years ago. Snow is back to normal after more than a decade! Kaldheim provided a lot of support for the snow supertype as well as several snowy lands. With cards like Narfi, Betrayer King and Jorn, God of Winter, snow is now also a viable central strategy that you can throw into your commander decks. Snow is a supertype with no inherent functionality. Instead, it serves as a feature for identifying permanents and spells and is closely related to snow activation costs and mana costs. Snow is a replacement for the “Snowy” supertype Land is an important but often overlooked part of your deck. It`s important to build a coherent mana base, but your country doesn`t often play a role in your overall strategy. However, if you operate snowy terrain, it is often an important part of the engine of your terrace. The new Predict mechanic was fun and pretty well implemented. The double-sided god cards were a very interesting interpretation of both the type of divine creature and the interpretation of the Norse gods.