Frozen Shade MTG Card
1993-08-05 - Number 109
1993-10-04 - Number 110
1993-12-01 - Number 110
1993-12-10 - Number 110
1993-12-10 - Number 110
1994-04-01 - Number 112
1994-04-01 - Number 112
1994-06-21 - Number 112
1995-04-01 - Number 138
1995-04-01 - Number 138
1997-03-24 - Number 163
2022-11-28 - Number 106
2022-11-28 - Number 403
| Card sets | Released in 13 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 3 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Creature — Shade |
| Power | 0 |
| Toughness | 1 |
Text of card
oo B +1/+1
"There are some qualities—some incorporate things,/ That have a double life, which thus is made/ A type of twin entity which springs/ From matter and light, evinced in solid and shade." —Edgar Allan Poe, "Silence"
Cards like Frozen Shade
Frozen Shade offers an intriguing dynamic to creature cards within Magic: The Gathering. This card bears resemblance to other mana-intensive creatures such as Wall of Shadows. Both require a continuous mana investment to either increase power or maintain invincibility. However, Frozen Shade is unique due to its ability to incrementally increase its strength for each black mana spent.
Comparatively, we can look at Drudge Skeletons, which also leverages black mana, but in a different way. Drudge Skeletons uses the mana to regenerate, ensuring its survival from turn to turn, whereas Frozen Shade becomes a growing threat if not dealt with immediately. Then there is Shade’s Form, an enchantment with similar flavor as it turns any creature into a Shade-like entity, allowing for strength boosts based on mana investment. Although it doesn’t create a creature on its own, it can potentially make any creature a more formidable force.
Choosing between these options, Frozen Shade stands out among its counterparts for those who prefer to build up a single, overpowering creature. It epitomizes the strategy of enhancing power through financial commitment, serving as a time-honored example of mana allocation in play.
Cards similar to Frozen Shade by color, type and mana cost
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Frozen Shade offers flexible power boosting per mana invested, allowing you to scale the threat level dynamically. By pumping it multiple times, you maintain pressure without over-committing new cards to the board.
Resource Acceleration: While not directly a resource acceleration tool, Frozen Shade can benefit from any available mana, including colorless. This flexibility can capitalize on unused mana from other acceleration sources, making it a potential mana sink for turns where you’re flush with resources.
Instant Speed: The ability to pump Frozen Shade at instant speed gives you an advantage by forcing opponents to guess at how much mana you might invest. This can complicate their combat math or deter them from targeting it, as you can respond by increasing its toughness out of harm’s way.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: The Frozen Shade card doesn’t have an innate discard requirement, but its ability to increase power relies on a steady stream of mana. Running out of mana can leave you with an underpowered creature and a weakened board position.
Specific Mana Cost: To tap into Frozen Shade’s potential, you need to invest black mana for each point of power boost. This restricts the card to black-centered decks or those that can generate multiple black mana conveniently.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: Despite its initial low casting cost, to fully realize Frozen Shade’s offensive capabilities, you must sink additional mana into it every turn. This cost adds up, making it less efficient compared to creatures that come with higher base power and toughness or offer more impactful abilities.
Reasons to Include Frozen Shade in Your Collection
Versatility: Frozen Shade offers a dynamic element to black decks, as it becomes a threat that can be scaled according to the mana available. It’s a card that can fit well into decks focused on mana generation or those that might need a flexible creature to manage board presence.
Combo Potential: As a creature that can increase its power at will, Frozen Shade has potential to be a combo piece in strategies that involve creature strength manipulation or sudden power boosts for lethal damage.
Meta-Relevance: In metas where games are drawn out and mana pools grow larger, Frozen Shade could surprise opponents by evolving from a modest blocker to a substantial threat, capitalizing on the abundance of available resources.
How to Defeat Frozen Shade
The chilling presence of Frozen Shade on the battlefield requires a solid strategy to overcome in Magic: The Gathering. This creature can become a formidable force if left unchecked, thanks to its ability to grow stronger with each black mana invested. However, players can neutralize this threat effectively without resorting to costly measures.
To dismantle the threat posed by Frozen Shade, consider spells or abilities that can bypass its flexible power increase. Targeted removal such as Swords to Plowshares offers a quick and definitive answer, eliminating the Shade regardless of its current strength. Forced sacrifices circumvent the need to match mana for mana, with cards like Chainer’s Edict making short work of the creature, especially in a one-on-one creature situation.
Lastly, engaging Frozen Shade in combat can be risky due to its power-boosting ability. Therefore, evasion tactics or creatures with protection from black, like Knight of Grace, can prove invaluable. By taking these approaches, Magic: The Gathering players can ensure that Frozen Shade’s icy grip on the game quickly thaws.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Frozen Shade MTG card by a specific set like Limited Edition Alpha and Limited Edition Beta, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.
For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.
Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.
Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Frozen Shade and other MTG cards:
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- eBay
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See MTG Products
Printings
The Frozen Shade Magic the Gathering card was released in 12 different sets between 1993-08-05 and 2022-11-28. Illustrated by 2 different artists.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1993-08-05 | Limited Edition Alpha | LEA | 109 | 1993 | Normal | Black | Douglas Shuler | |
| 2 | 1993-10-04 | Limited Edition Beta | LEB | 110 | 1993 | Normal | Black | Douglas Shuler | |
| 3 | 1993-12-01 | Unlimited Edition | 2ED | 110 | 1993 | Normal | White | Douglas Shuler | |
| 4 | 1993-12-10 | Intl. Collectors' Edition | CEI | 110 | 1993 | Normal | Black | Douglas Shuler | |
| 5 | 1993-12-10 | Collectors' Edition | CED | 110 | 1993 | Normal | Black | Douglas Shuler | |
| 6 | 1994-04-01 | Revised Edition | 3ED | 112 | 1993 | Normal | White | Douglas Shuler | |
| 7 | 1994-04-01 | Foreign Black Border | FBB | 112 | 1993 | Normal | Black | Douglas Shuler | |
| 8 | 1994-06-21 | Summer Magic / Edgar | SUM | 112 | 1993 | Normal | White | Douglas Shuler | |
| 9 | 1995-04-01 | Fourth Edition Foreign Black Border | 4BB | 138 | 1993 | Normal | Black | Douglas Shuler | |
| 10 | 1995-04-01 | Fourth Edition | 4ED | 138 | 1993 | Normal | White | Douglas Shuler | |
| 11 | 1997-03-24 | Fifth Edition | 5ED | 163 | 1997 | Normal | White | DiTerlizzi | |
| 12 | 2022-11-28 | 30th Anniversary Edition | 30A | 106 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Douglas Shuler | |
| 13 | 2022-11-28 | 30th Anniversary Edition | 30A | 403 | 1997 | Normal | Black | Douglas Shuler |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Frozen Shade has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Oldschool | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |