Should we be playing snow-covered basics?

[Lord Seth]

Can anyone post the UG Dark Depths build or even a link to it?

Is there a UG Dark Depths build? The Dark Depths builds I've seen are mono-Green, like this one.

[lordofthepit]

I agree they look like shit.

My inspiration for considering snow-covered basics came from watching a stream in which an opponent went green fetchland into Snow-Covered Forest. The streamer put him on Elves or Maverick, but the fact that it's Snow-Covered was a dead giveaway to me that the opponent was on Turbo Post.

I'm wondering if I shouldn't be swapping the Forests in my Elves deck for Snow-Covered Forests at least, since this seems like the only basic land type where you could credibly represent another archetype. If only they looked like Beta forests.

[Megadeus]

I agree they look like shit.

My inspiration for considering snow-covered basics came from watching a stream in which an opponent went green fetchland into Snow-Covered Forest. The streamer put him on Elves or Maverick, but the fact that it's Snow-Covered was a dead giveaway to me that the opponent was on Turbo Post.

I'm wondering if I shouldn't be swapping the Forests in my Elves deck for Snow-Covered Forests at least, since this seems like the only basic land type where you could credibly represent another archetype. If only they looked like Beta forests.

To be fair, with elves, how often are you playing a turn 1 forest and not casting something that is basically a dead giveaway to what you are playing?

[iamajellydonut]

To be fair, with elves, how often are you playing a turn 1 forest and not casting something that is basically a dead giveaway to what you are playing?

As much as it pains me to admit similarities, they can share Green Sun's Zenith. Fortunately, that's where the similarities end.

[Finn]

I admit ignorance to Anchorman references. That movie did not do it for me. I'm lucky I did not choose to make fun of your statement.

[TsumiBand]

I admit ignorance to Anchorman references. That movie did not do it for me. I'm lucky I did not choose to make fun of your statement.

I eschew every movie centered around Will Farrell, with the exception of Stranger Than Fiction. Yeah, I'm "that guy", IDGAF. vOv

I'm not entirely positive that Into the North's synergy with one tutorable card means that all of Snow lands are worth a look - it's akin in my mind to suggesting Stoneforge Mystic makes Bonesplitter a better card. It's a two-way street; if there had never been any "Sword of Bill and Ted" cycle or if Batterskull had been conceived a little differently, we might not be playing SFM at all, but we have those cards and so the limited tutor aspect of SFM makes it a worthwhile card. Into the North gets Dark Depths, sweet -- but it's pretty hard to argue for a ton of other snow cards, for the sake of playing moar Snow.

I still maintain that Scrying Sheets being the one other playable Snow land and not seeing play is indicative of this trend in Snow cards. Shit mang, it says "2, T: Draw a card" on it. Tempo and control decks should have been snowing the fuck out of their mana bases if that effect were worthwhile, but it didn't really happen because the rest of the Snow cards aren't strong enough to keep the success rate closer to 1.

I'd be all about seeing more Snow or other rando elementally-supertyped cards, but "dicking with types" seem to be another way of spelling "DOA" for any given mechanic (Arcane, Tribal... :/) so maybe it's better left on the shelf -- but if they did ever return to a Snowy plane and maybe raise the playability of Snow things, this would be a more interesting discussion. As it stands there's only one-offs to playing Snow stuff beyond a handful of spells that it's not even a pro or a con really, just a "why bother".

[Bed Decks Palyer]

IDK how I could throw them into RUG Thresh without being ridiculous.

Otoh, when I was building some casual pile a month or two ago, I thought about the GW snowlands. Yet they don't work well in ICE-WTH environment, because something something Jamuraa. So I sticked to normal ICE lands (as Mirage bushes are awful), thus having a manabase made completely of Allice:

10 Forest
5 Plains
4 Brushland
3 Thawing Glaciers

4 Fyndhorn Elves
4 Quirion Ranger
2 Wall of Roots
4 River Boa
4 Jolrael's Centaur
4 Maro
4 Serrated Biskelion

2 Sylvan Library
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Armageddon
2 Reprisal
1 Disenchant