We’re entering the coldest time of the year in the northern hemisphere, and I thought that would make it a great time to look at one of Magic’s coldest sets – Ice Age. Released way back in June of 1995, it was one of Magic’s earliest sets. It’s not really a secret that the set is filled with important and heavily played cards.
For example, Nature’s Lore is one of the best ramp spells of all time, and Brainstorm and Necropotence are two of the best card draw effects of all time. I could go on, as Ice Age is super stacked, but that’s not really the focus of this article. Instead, I want to draw your attention to some lesser known cards that have been overlooked by Commander players.
UNDERRATED COMMANDER: MÁRTON STROMGALD
Márton is one of the strongest go-wide payoffs in the entire game, especially when we narrow it down to creatures who can be Commanders. He offers a colossal buff of +1/+1 for each attacking or blocking creature you control other than himself. That’s right, he’s basically a Red Craterhoof Behemoth for only 4 mana!
Okay, obviously that’s hyperbolic. However, when things go right with Márton, it really does feel completely absurd. It’s not always easy to make things go right, though. That’s because he’s an anemic 4-mana 1/1, and he also has to be attacking or blocking alongside your creatures to give them the buff.
However, if you fill your deck with various ways to go wide, he really won’t need very many swings to take down your opponents. Don’t underestimate the fact that he buffs your stuff on defense too, as it can make your board impenetrable.
The main ingredients you’ll want for a Márton deck are:
- Cards that make multiple bodies.
- Cards that give haste.
- Cards that make small creatures unblockable.
Combine all of those together, and you end up with a deck capable of dishing out absurd amounts of damage. Here are a few examples of cards that can shine with this unconventional Commander.
Subira is a great way to make sure that Márton can attack more than once and Siege-Gang Commander gives you 4 bodies. However, Song of Totentanz is probably going to be the best card in your deck. It generates a ton of tokens and gives them all Haste. Song of Totentanz resolving will just win you the game a huge percentage of the time.
ALTAR OF BONE
Played in .29% of all Selesnya Decks on EDHRec
Of all the scarcely played cards in Ice Age, this one surprises me the most. Everyone knows that tutors are great in a singleton format like Commander, and this is a pretty good one since it can grab any creature. Because it makes you sacrifice a creature, it’s largely inferior to Eladamri’s Call, but you can only run one of those. Altar of Bone can thrive in token decks especially, since you can sacrifice something that is expendable quite easily.
But the Altar can really shrine in decks that can not only offset its downside, but also turn it into upside. For example, if your Commander is Atla Palani, you’re going to be thrilled to sacrifice one of your Eggs since it’ll let you cheat a creature into play and then you also get to tutor up the most useful creature in your deck.
JOKULHAUPS
Played in .23% of Red Decks on EDHRec
While Altar of Bone’s meager play rate came as the biggest surprise to me when I was looking at Ice Age, Jokulhaups is a close second. This is an incredible sweeper since it demolishes all artifacts, creatures, and lands. That’s a pretty good reset button, and while there are some permanent types that it doesn’t hit – like Planeswalkers and Enchantments – that’s also one of the greatest strengths of the card.
For example, if you’re using a Planeswalker Commander, there’s a good chance it’s one of the few permanents left on the board, and now it can really take over the game. This is especially true if you’re using Lord Windgrace, who is both a Planeswalker commander and a good way to get the lands back that you destroyed.
INFERNAL DARKNESS
Played in .06% of Black Decks on EDHRec
Cumulative upkeep is a much-maligned mechanic, and for good reason. It virtually always tacks a colossal downside onto a card, and most of the cards with it can’t be good because of it. However, Infernal Darkness isn’t one of those.
It’s kind of like a Black Blood Moon. While it doesn’t take away the activated abilities of powerful nonbasics, it does make it so all the lands on the battlefield can only produce Black mana.
Yeah, this isn’t a card you should be playing if you want to keep your friends, but there’s no doubt that it’s powerful and can lock many decks out of the game. That’s well worth losing some life and paying some extra mana.
To get the most out of it, you need to be playing a mono-Black deck that doesn’t suffer from this symmetrical effect, but the good news is that there are tons of great Commanders you can play. If you go with something like Sheoldred, you can even offset the loss of life.
GLACIAL CREVASSES
Played in 0.06% of Red Decks on EDHRec
Have you ever wanted a fog effect in Red? Well, now you can with Glacial Crevasses!
Okay, admittedly, Red’s not usually in the market for such a thing. But this is a repeatable fog effects, something that can often make it very challenging for your opponents to kill you. It does require some significant set up, since the only lands you can sacrifice to it are snow Mountains.
This gets particularly interesting with the recently introduced earthbend mechanic. This not only lets you animate your lands. Earthbent lands are also very difficult to entirely good rid off, since when that land would die or get exiled, it returns to the battlefield tapped.
Toph, Hardheaded Teacher and Toph, the First Metalbender both come with the ability to Earthbend things repeatedly, and that means it’s not very hard to have a snow Mountain that’s a creature. That means you can use the Crevasses with regularity without having to set yourself back on mana.
END STEP
I hope I introduced you to some cards in Ice Age that you haven’t heard of. I also hope you give them a chance in your decks. What do you think is the most underrated card in Ice Age? Let me know over on X or Bluesky.
Jacob has been playing Magic for the better part of 24 years, and he especially loves playing Magic’s Limited formats. He also holds a PhD in history from the University of Oklahoma. In 2015, he started his YouTube channel, “Nizzahon Magic,” where he combines his interests with many videos covering Magic’s competitive history. When he’s not playing Magic or making Magic content, he can be found teaching college-level history courses or caring for a menagerie of pets with his wife.