The art in this set is so much better than the last from the vault. I approve of this. This is also an excellent choice to include, both because of the power, but also it's age, and it's combo potential. But such good art!
Zetto1995
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(3 votes)
I will never understand why people don't seem to fully appreciate this card, When viewing cards you must be careful to not see them in a void, But rather in a good deck. I look at this and I see something that just screams for me to build a deck around it. Try to picture this in a deck that stalls the opponent out and locks them down, Preferably one that is built to work well with this and then rate this card.
Doaj
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(2 votes)
This is definitely one of my favorite reprints. And that new art is incredible. One of three cards in 'Lands' that got reprinted in FtV: Realms. I approve of that. Also, did I mention how amazing the art is?
DarthParallax
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(4 votes)
It's the perfect version of the 'Moat' effect idea: powerful enough and aggressively enough costed (0 drop that goes online turn 2), that it actually can protect you from Zoo and Burn and all the aggro strategies. And, also, not really too broken either- it does cost a healthy bit to keep around, and implies a siege is going on outside your Glacial Fortress. (haha! see what I did there! ^_^ Sac GF to this for the Flava Flaaaav!)- you still lose 2 life a turn, but it's better to sacrifice the lives of your militia than lose your entire city :P
So go ahead and build this Castle in the Ice :) It seems excellently balanced and effective for it's intent, and for some reason the art has me thinking about the Tyrannosaurus Zord from Power Rangers. :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
"Yeah well this card with zuran orb and crucible of worlds is outrageous"
@Oblio The upkeep is cumulative, so each turn it costs more so therefore you would need to sac extra lands each turn to make up the cumulating life cost
Very powerful in EDH, not so much in normal play. When you are loose your creature that was hitting for 16 each tern and you opponent is about to his you for over 20, this can be a life saver while you get another heavy hitter out.
Remember that Power Conduit exists, and cumulative upkeep is powered by age counters now.
"Pay two life each upkeep. You can't attack. Prevent all damage that would be done to you. Have fun topdecking and casting your burn spells!"
Drop a Pithing Needle naming Wasteland and it's a dead lock against almost every competitive Legacy deck (a little more work and you can even survive Emrakul). It's not quite a tournament-caliber combo yet, but neither was Sneak and Show before Griselbrand got printed.
EGarrett01
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@charles_prefect
You sacrifice the Chasm instead of paying the cumulative upkeep, then you just replay it. If you have a method for playing more than one land a turn, this can be a very effective defense.
j_mindfingerpainter
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Nope, you guys are all wrong. Except for marmaris74. That is BY FAR the best combo. Give yourself hexproof and you don't even waste the turns when you'd get the Choker.
@ Salient: Well, you don't really need Ensnaring Bridgeor burn spells...
Also, I think this should be errata'd to a Snow land. And Ancient Stirrings exists.
pity this doesn't combo with platinum emperion, that would make for hideous lockdown.
JL2736
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
People are overcomplicating this. Just use Unstable Frontier. Then you not only don't have to pay the cumulative upkeep cost, but you can also attack as well
Taudisban
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
One of the better lockouts in Harmful Stranger.
bunglefever
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Tinker - Eon Hub - Glacial Chasm. Then sit around with a hand full of counterspells and mill cards and just sit there. Or throw a jace in or something.
Fiery_Artificer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Great with Heartless Hidetsugu in EDH. Play this land the turn you after you cast him, ignore the creatures, take the two life, half all of your opponent's lifetotals. Repeat as necessary. Fantastic with Furnace of Rath. I was really pleased with myself when I noticed this.
Random7Nonsense7
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Glacial Chasm is my JAM! It's really underrated IMO. I use it creatureless decks. Sure it hates Acidic Slime and Wasteland, but a few life and one land is a small price to pay for the generous amount of time this uncounterable card buys. Get out Expedition Map to fetch it or Unstable Frontier to reset its upkeep as needed, then hide behind it and shield it with Terra Eternal until you topdeck or fetch Eon Hub. Then it's up to you to decide how you want to throw damage across the Chasm in imaginative ways.
mtkaim
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@JL2736: There is one problem with Unstable Frontier: you will be wulnerable to instant-speed burn spells during your own turn. The same is true for sacrificing this to Zuran Orb instead of paynig upkeep and then playing it again via Crucible of Worlds.
I would suggest to just pay the upkeep once, then on you main phase play another Chasm, sacrifing the previous one as its enter the battlefiel ability triggers. Now the cumulative upkeep is reset. Then use Crucible of Worlds to repeat this on following turns. Sure, you will not be able to play more lands without something like Fastbond and will pay 2 life each turn, but the protection against damage is never off and you only need 3 cards for the combo.
Kragash
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
At worst, a free*, uncounterable, 1-turn Fog+**. Usually, 12-life, an uncounterable, 3-turn Fog+ (sac'ed when the life cannot be paid). At best, an uncounterable, endless Fog+ (with the proper counter removal and life gain tricks).
* Ok, so you have to sacrifice a land. ** Fog+ because it's all damage and not just combat damage. So much win.
Multiples of these can be used to gain an extra turn or two by just not paying the cumulative upkeep on the older ones.
Allows enough time to set up a game-winning combo or hard lock.
5!
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Can be fetched easily in green. I use it in sideboard with Crop Rotation and Primeval Titan for a variety of legacy combo decks (and possibly others) in my Nic Fit deck.
-Belcher. All win cons are damage based. Stalling them a few turns while you dig your answers is great. -SneakShow. Fetch this off of a Primeval Titan if they show in a Sneak Attack. Prime + Vet keep your lands up through the sac effects while this keeps the damage off of you and you try to find an answer. -Omnishow. They went off? Force them to find ways to put cards on top of their library until you quit stalling. -Storm. They went Empty the Warrens? You get 2-5 free turns from this. -Behind on board position? Stall 2-3 turns while waiting for a Pernicious Deed
While you don't want to lean on this as your answer to everything; if you tell a combo deck that was *JUST* about to win to wait for a few turns while you try to answer it; you can pull a win out of a loss sometimes; which is worth a single (highly fetchable) card slot in the sideboard :)
GrayWizard
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
One wonderful combo I haven't seen so far is when this card is used in conjunction with Chisei, Heart of Oceans. It still comes at a cost of 2 life per turn (the counter goes on, then you pay two life, then you remove it), but it's still decent.
OpeningSalvo
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
WithVorel of the Hull Clade I can double the amount of age counters on my Glacial Chasm every turn!!!
Comments (26)
Although, if you're low on life, you'd only give yourself maybe 2-3 turns to rebound.
That being said, if you built yourself a small army to at least have a fighting chance in EDH, you could stop paying the upkeep and make a last stand.
Either way, the only time you should play it is when you're clearly overwhelmed by your opponents.
But such good art!
So go ahead and build this Castle in the Ice :) It seems excellently balanced and effective for it's intent, and for some reason the art has me thinking about the Tyrannosaurus Zord from Power Rangers. :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
OR DRAGONZORD! :D
@Oblio
The upkeep is cumulative, so each turn it costs more so therefore you would need to sac extra lands each turn to make up the cumulating life cost
Remember that Power Conduit exists, and cumulative upkeep is powered by age counters now.
"Pay two life each upkeep. You can't attack. Prevent all damage that would be done to you. Have fun topdecking and casting your burn spells!"
Drop a Pithing Needle naming Wasteland and it's a dead lock against almost every competitive Legacy deck (a little more work and you can even survive Emrakul). It's not quite a tournament-caliber combo yet, but neither was Sneak and Show before Griselbrand got printed.
You sacrifice the Chasm instead of paying the cumulative upkeep, then you just replay it. If you have a method for playing more than one land a turn, this can be a very effective defense.
@ Salient: Well, you don't really need Ensnaring Bridge or burn spells...
Also, I think this should be errata'd to a Snow land. And Ancient Stirrings exists.
EDIT: @ EGarrett01: Maybe Exploration?
There is one problem with Unstable Frontier: you will be wulnerable to instant-speed burn spells during your own turn. The same is true for sacrificing this to Zuran Orb instead of paynig upkeep and then playing it again via Crucible of Worlds.
I would suggest to just pay the upkeep once, then on you main phase play another Chasm, sacrifing the previous one as its enter the battlefiel ability triggers. Now the cumulative upkeep is reset. Then use Crucible of Worlds to repeat this on following turns. Sure, you will not be able to play more lands without something like Fastbond and will pay 2 life each turn, but the protection against damage is never off and you only need 3 cards for the combo.
Usually, 12-life, an uncounterable, 3-turn Fog+ (sac'ed when the life cannot be paid).
At best, an uncounterable, endless Fog+ (with the proper counter removal and life gain tricks).
* Ok, so you have to sacrifice a land.
** Fog+ because it's all damage and not just combat damage. So much win.
Multiples of these can be used to gain an extra turn or two by just not paying the cumulative upkeep on the older ones.
Allows enough time to set up a game-winning combo or hard lock.
5!
-Belcher. All win cons are damage based. Stalling them a few turns while you dig your answers is great.
-SneakShow. Fetch this off of a Primeval Titan if they show in a Sneak Attack. Prime + Vet keep your lands up through the sac effects while this keeps the damage off of you and you try to find an answer.
-Omnishow. They went off? Force them to find ways to put cards on top of their library until you quit stalling.
-Storm. They went Empty the Warrens? You get 2-5 free turns from this.
-Behind on board position? Stall 2-3 turns while waiting for a Pernicious Deed
While you don't want to lean on this as your answer to everything; if you tell a combo deck that was *JUST* about to win to wait for a few turns while you try to answer it; you can pull a win out of a loss sometimes; which is worth a single (highly fetchable) card slot in the sideboard :)
....wait.....