Arctic Treeline MTG Card

Rarity	Common
Type	Snow Land — Forest Plains
Released	2021-02-05
Set symbol
Set name	Kaldheim
Set code	KHM
Number	249
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Alayna Danner

Key Takeaways

Provides card advantage through access to an additional land, pivotal for late-game resource management.
Enhances mana pool acceleration crucial for casting high-cost spells and activating snow mana abilities.
Supports instant speed decks by ensuring necessary mana is available for responsive play.

Text of card

(: Add or .) Arctic Treeline enters the battlefield tapped.

"When the Light of Starnheim shines here, every frost-edged needle glitters with the reflected glory of the Cosmos." —Iskene, Kannah storyteller

Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Arctic Treeline has the powerful ability to provide consistent card advantage by giving access to additional land on the battlefield. This can be pivotal for pulling ahead in the late game when resources are tight.

Resource Acceleration: As a snow land, Arctic Treeline enters the field tapped but ramps up your mana pool with an additional color. This accelerates your ability to cast more demanding spells or activate abilities that require snow mana.

Instant Speed: While Arctic Treeline itself doesn’t operate at instant speed, its presence can support decks that rely on instant speed interaction by ensuring that you have the necessary mana available when you need it, thus keeping you responsive to your opponent’s moves.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Arctic Treeline may require you to discard another card to fully utilize its abilities, representing a potential setback if your hand is already depleted.

Specific Mana Cost: Given that Arctic Treeline taps for specific mana, it may not seamlessly fit into multi-colored decks that need a more diverse mana base.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Its entry into the battlefield tapped and the possible mana investment needed to reap its full benefits could be disadvantageous in contrast with other lands that offer immediate value or have lower activation costs.

Reasons to Include Arctic Treeline in Your Collection

Versatility: Arctic Treeline is a flexible land card that supports decks seeking a balance between mana fixing and late-game value. Its ability to enter the battlefield tapped for a guaranteed snow land or untapped if you control two other snow permanents makes it a great fit for snow-themed decks or any deck running a snow-centric strategy.

Combo Potential: As a dual land with the snow subtype, it synergizes well with cards that benefit from having snow permanents or lands on the field. This can enable more intricate combos that profit from the increased presence of snow cards, enhancing various gameplay tactics.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta where snow-based strategies prevail, Arctic Treeline’s significance soars. It can serve as a pivotal backbone for decks that lean into snow mechanics, proving to be an effective tool for mana fixing and supporting relevant card interactions unique to snow decks.

How to beat

Arctic Treeline stands out as a unique land card in MTG, providing players who are using Snow decks with both mana fixing and a bit of life gain. This dual-functioning card enters the battlefield tapped and can be tapped for green mana or one mana of any color if used for a Snow spell. It also gives you one life upon entering the battlefield which, while minimal, can add up in a long game.

Despite these benefits, there are ways to counter Arctic Treeline’s advantages. Strategies include land destruction, which can inhibit the mana acceleration and life gain from the card. Cards like Ghost Quarter can remove Arctic Treeline from the field, disrupting your opponent’s mana base. Additionally, aggressive decks that focus on early-game dominance can outpace the slow advantage gained from Arctic Treeline, making the life gain less significant.

Another approach is to employ graveyard manipulation, as some decks may try to reuse Arctic Treeline from the graveyard. With cards like Leyline of the Void and Rest in Peace, you can prevent this strategy and hold the upper hand. Ultimately, while Arctic Treeline can be a useful addition to Snow decks, it is not insurmountable and can be effectively countered with the right tactics and deck composition.

Cards like Arctic Treeline

Arctic Treeline enters the illustrious field of mana-fixing lands within Magic: The Gathering. Its closest relatives include the basic Snow-Covered Forest, which it mirrors in its ability to provide green mana. Nevertheless, Arctic Treeline offers an additional advantage with its capacity to supply white mana, thus enhancing deck versatility. However, unlike its basic counterpart, Arctic Treeline enters the battlefield tapped, which could slightly delay your game momentum.

In the sphere of dual lands, we have the Alpine Meadow, another snow land providing red and white mana. The Alpine Meadow shares the enter-the-battlefield-tapped trait, yet offers mana of different colors. When contemplating deck construction, players will weigh the importance of mana colors against the speed of their play. For those seeking immediate access to both green and white mana, the Temple Garden is an untapped option, albeit at the cost of 2 life, presenting an interesting strategic trade-off.

Analyzing the landscape, Arctic Treeline stands out for those desiring a balanced approach in deck building within Magic: The Gathering, giving a potent mix of color accessibility and snow land synergies, though its tapped entry is a point of consideration.

Cards similar to Arctic Treeline by color, type and mana cost

Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway - MTG Card versions

Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Arctic Treeline MTG card by a specific set like Kaldheim, 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 Arctic Treeline and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Arctic Treeline has restrictions

Format	Legality
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Commander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Explorer	Legal
Brawl	Legal
Timeless	Legal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Arctic Treeline card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2021-02-05	Snow is a supertype, not a card type. It has no rules meaning or function by itself, but spells and abilities may refer to it.
2021-02-05	Snow isn’t a type of mana. If an effect says you may spend mana as though it were any type, you can’t pay for {S} using mana that wasn’t produced by a snow source.
2021-02-05	Some cards have additional effects for each {S} spent to cast them. You can cast these spells even if you don’t spend any snow mana to cast them; their additional effects simply won’t do anything.
2021-02-05	The Kaldheim set doesn’t have any cards with mana costs that include {S}, but some previous sets do. If an effect says such a spell costs less to cast, that reduction doesn’t apply to any {S} costs. This is also true for activated abilities that include {S} in their activation costs and effects that reduce those costs.
2021-02-05	The {S} symbol is a generic mana symbol. It represents a cost that can be paid by one mana that was produced by a snow source. That mana can be any color or colorless.