The Best Commander Cards From... Ice Age

Mystic Remora by Ken Meyer Jr. 

Welcome back to The Best Commander Cards From..., a series focusing on the most powerful EDH cards from across Magic: the Gathering's thirty-year history. Today's focus is Ice Age, the sixth expansion set ever created. Ice Age was released in June of 1994, following the release of the Fourth Edition core set.

More Post-War

It might seem a bit odd that, like several of the sets prior, we're still in the aftermath of the Brothers' War in Ice Age. I agree, although obviously the narrative of Magic hadn't quite expanded to the degree that we are familiar with today. For better or worse, a lot of Magic was about Dominaria, but it's a pretty big plane.

Terisiare's Gold Medals

When it comes to firsts, Ice Age has quite a few. Creature types like Dog, Dryad, Mercenary, Kraken, Barbarian, Dinosaur, Goat, and Illusion saw their debut in this set, either naturally or via errata. Unfortunately Sloth, Mammoth, and Saber-Tooth don't make an appearance. Additionally, there were some pretty strange counters floating about in the ice. Healing, Music, Paralyzation, Sleight, and yes, even Ice counters were introduced here.

Redesigns & Lessons Learned

During the design process, the then-overseers of Magic began to notice that players wanted new cards more than reprints. This caused an overhaul of the Ice Age set that saw new mechanics and cards put in. One huge problem with this was that they didn't have time to properly test everything. You can probably imagine how that went, but you don't have to. The snow-covered mechanic was underdeveloped, and some of the set feels rather clunky. Despite how bad the set plays in Limited, we're here for EDH, and there's actually a lot more to be found here than most probably think. Without any extra discussion, let's get right into those cards.

Mystic Remora

As slow as Ice Age was, you can hardly call the pace at which Mystic Remora draws you cards as glacial. Of course, if you're at a more disciplined table it might slow the game to a snail's pace, but usually this one-mana draw engine overperforms. Who am I kidding? You know this card, what it does, and how good it is.

Dance of the Dead

I first picked up this card as a budget alternative to Animate Dead years ago. I guess people finally realized Dance of the Dead existed, because the card has shot up to more than ten times what I paid for it. I'm left wondering why this card hasn't seen a reprint across dozens of Commander decks, as a twenty-dollar bill included in your deck goes a long way towards encouraging a purchase.

Fyndhorn Elves

Everyone's favorite Llanowar Elves functional reprint made its first appearance here. Not much of a story to this one, just a permanent staple of green decks. I don't have the design notes, but I have to imagine wanting this effect in the set and not having the set based in Llanowar probably had a lot to do with it being called Fyndhorn Elves.

Nature's Lore

As one of the few two-mana ramp spells that puts a potentially untapped land onto the battlefield, Nature's Lore occupies a valuable place in green EDH decks. I doubt we'll see this card torn from the pantheon of green staples anytime soon, and Wizards has even reprinted it in a recent Commander product.

Necropotence

Although I've not played with the card much myself, I've probably witnessed far more than one-thousand life get funneled into Necropotence across all the games I've played. The rather cheeky "Skip your draw step." line of text probably did a lot of heavy lifting in twenty-life formats, but in EDH you're probably just getting the best seven cards out of your top twenty-five or so.

Fire Covenant

Life as a more expendable resource has been one of the biggest things separating EDH from other formats, and Fire Covenant really takes that philosophy and turns it up to eleven. If you've never cast this card, it might seem unappealing to spend fifteen-or-so life to burn out a handful of on-board creatures. You'd be wrong though, as a selective board wipe for key targets for only three mana is usually well worth it. While I wish it also hit planeswalkers, I'm not going to complain.

Glacial Chasm

The power level of this card is undeniable, but just like a glacier, there's a lot that's just below the surface. Glacial Chasm is very much sink or swim. Either it's doing nothing at all and is extremely weak, or it's turning the game into a truly miserable slog for the other players. I can't blame WotC for this one, they really went out of their way to try and make sure this wasn't easily broken. Either way, high-variance cards make games of EDH fun and make for great stories.

Game of Chaos

If your playgroup isn't made up of Cowards, this card is a must-play. However, if they refuse to continue the Game of Chaos, remind them that the spirit of the game dictates (alongside Boldwyr Intimidator) that they may no longer block Warriors.

Pyroblast ... & Also Hydroblast I Guess

The classic Pyroblast, and to a lesser extent, Hydroblast, are both top-notch ways to interact with greedy multicolor decks. One-mana counters are always nice, and Pyroblast in particular overperforms against random counterspells or the occasional Rhystic Study.

Demonic Consultation

Regardless of how you feel about Demonic Consultation, since its most common use ostensibly goes against what the card was actually designed to do, you can't deny its impact on modern-day EDH. Since the printing of Thassa's Oracle, I've seen this card quite a bit more frequently, although there was a time where this was nothing more than a very risky tutor effect.

The Ally-Color Pain Lands

Untapped duals are the cream of the crop when it comes to EDH staples, and the ally-color pain lands are no exception. Adarkar Wastes joins Karplusan Forest, Sulfurous Springs, Brushland, and Underground River to complete this cycle. I only have one complaint, and it's that these lands don't have basic land types.

Jeweled Amulet

Surprisingly few people know about Jeweled Amulet, and I stumbled upon it while looking for cheap mana ramp during one of my Gatherer searches. It may not be Sol Ring 2.0, but I've found it still works quite well alongside commanders that cost four mana.

Tinder Wall

You get a surprisingly solid ritual out of Tinder Wall for a very low up-front cost. Although green is rarely hurting for ramp, this one-shot Sol Ring enables some very powerful starts in some very strong decks. It's even been known to pop up in other constructed formats at times.

Merieke Ri Berit

Don't ask me to pronounce this card name, because I can't. That said, the effect is pretty cool. Of course, you'll have to find ways to untap Merieke Ri Berit yourself if you want max value, but not needing a sacrifice outlet for your Mind Control commander is kinda sweet.

Orcish Lumberjack

If you're looking to chop out some high-cost cards, this woodsman (err, woodsorc?) gets the job done. A turn-one Orcish Lumberjack enables you to spend five mana on turn two pretty easily. If you can turn that into more ramp, things get out of hand quickly. As an aside, I love how much this card reminds me of Civilization 6.

Brainstorm

Aside from being a generally decent card, you can cheat the fairness on Brainstorm by shuffling away the cards you put back on top, usually with a fetchland. At the end of that exchange you'll have traded away your two worst cards for two, usually better, cards. This synergy has often taken older formats by storm whenever it's been legal, and it's still a pretty good strategy in EDH.

Zuran Orb

You ever read a card and just know that it's definitely not used for normal and fair things? Well Zuran Orb certainly qualifies. It costs zero mana and looks unplayable, but there's a surprising number of cards that want lands in your graveyard for one reason or another. For those decks, this card is a slam dunk, and I think that's a testament to how diverse and interesting the EDH format can be.

While there's some other pretty sweet cards in the set, those are generally considered some of the most powerful and popular. I'd love to revisit Ice Age again to take a look at anything I didn't have space to include next time around. However, this is where we'll end today. If I missed something you love, perhaps Songs of the Damned, let me know in the comments! I've been Luka "Robot" Sharaska, and I'll catch you next time.