Standard Sets
Modern Sets
Legacy Sets
Specialty Sets
Ice Age
After some low seasons with The Dark and Fallen Empires, Ice Ace is coming over this time as a big set again. Introducing new mechanics like Cumulative Upkeep and snow permanents, the set started to become more focused on card design than before. The most iconic (and powerful) cards that came out from the set are probably Necropotence and Brainstorm. Necropotence is a black enchantment at the cost of three black mana, that after blocking your draw step lets you draw one card for each life you pay at the end of turn.
Swamp, Dark Ritual and Necropotence are already a staple play for monoblack and friends, and the card advantage is immense. Brainstorm is another card draw spell, but it's a blue instant and after Ancestral Recall, the best one yet to surpass. For one blue mana Brainstorm draws three cards and put back from the entire hand, two cards that are not really useful, giving a lot of new blood to the gameplay.
Ice Age also presents the first set of straight dual colour lands, nicknamed painland as they provide colourless and one of the two coloured mana at the price of one life. The five ones use the usual friendly pair, but with the absence of the original duals, it is still nice to have. Other cards famous for decks and combos back then and now, Enduring Renewal, a white enchantment able to make a chain of zero mana creatures to sacrifice for damage, Stormbind, a three mana golden red green enchantment, that at the cost of two and one random card deals two damage to any target, Pyroblast and Hydroblast, new versions of Red and Blue Elemental Blast, then Incinerate, a two mana lightning bolt, and Pyroclasm, a two damage to all, future cards in many sideboards after then.
Follow us