Snow-Covered Plains MTG Card
1995-06-03 - Number 367
2006-07-21 - Number 151
2008-09-22 - Number 241
2018-07-14 - Number 257
2019-06-14 - Number 250
2021-02-05 - Number 277
2021-02-05 - Number 276
2019-12-02 - Number 1
2019-12-02 - Number 325
2019-12-02 - Number 1473
2021-02-05 - Number 74
| Card sets | Released in 11 setsSee all |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Basic Snow Land — Plains |
Text of card
oc T: Add o W to your mana pool.
Cards like Snow-Covered Plains
Snow-Covered Plains offers a subtle yet strategic variant of basic land options in MTG. Comparable to the traditional Plains, it taps for one white mana. The divergence begins with its “snow” attribute, affording it a special role in decks that capitalize on snow mechanics. Other standard Plains lack this aspect, making them incompatible with spells and abilities that specifically require snow permanents.
In the roster of snow lands, we also discover the Boreal Shelf, a snow land that enters the battlefield tapped but provides both white and blue mana. While this dual aspect is advantageous for multicolor decks targeting snow synergies, the delayed availability of mana can be a tactical drawback when compared to the immediate utility of Snow-Covered Plains.
Glacial Revelation is another companion card, functioning as an engine in snow-centric builds. It’s adept at sifting through your library to reveal snow permanents, such as Snow-Covered Plains, and filling your hand with them. Though not a land, it highlights the strategic depth that snow-associated cards like Snow-Covered Plains add to the gameplay.
Assessing the landscape of similar cards, Snow-Covered Plains proves to be a fundamental cornerstone in decks that thrive on the synergy of snow-themed cards in MTG, ensuring mana consistency while enabling powerful snow-based interactions.
Cards similar to Snow-Covered Plains by color, type and mana cost
Decks using this card
MTG decks using Snow-Covered Plains. Dig deeper into the strategy of decks, sideboard cards, list ideas and export to play in ARENA or MOL.
| # | Name | Format | Archetype | Event |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Mono-White Initiative | Vintage | Mono-White Initiative | Vintage Challenge 32 2024-04-28 |
 | WUG | Modern | Modern Challenge 64 2024-04-28 | |
 | Familiars | Pauper | Familiars | Pauper Challenge 64 2024-04-28 |
 | Boros Synthesizer | Pauper | Boros Synthesizer | Pauper Challenge 32 2024-04-26 |
 | Abzan Amalia Combo | Pioneer | Abzan Amalia Combo | Pioneer Challenge 32 2024-04-28 |
 | 5c Control | Legacy | 5c Control | Legacy Challenge 32 2024-04-27 (1) |
 | Mono-White Midrange | Pioneer | Mono-White Midrange | Pioneer League 2024-04-28 |
 | Selesnya Aggro | Vintage | Mono-White Aggro | Vintage Challenge 32 2024-04-28 |
 | WUB | Legacy | Legacy League 2024-04-27 | |
 | 4c Omnath | Modern | 4/5c Omnath | Modern Challenge 32 2024-04-27 |
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Snow-Covered Plains enables a subtle yet potent edge in decks that capitalize on cards interacting with snow permanents. Its presence can activate additional effects or enhance abilities throughout the game, allowing for incremental gains in utility and performance.
Resource Acceleration: As a fundamental part of a snow-themed mana base, Snow-Covered Plains can be crucial for ramp strategies that benefit from snow synergies. It can be tapped to generate the specific mana you need for snow spells or abilities, streamlining your play and giving you access to your resources faster.
Instant Speed: While lands like Snow-Covered Plains don’t operate at instant speed, their inclusion in your deck supports the strategy of deploying instant-speed spells by ensuring you have the necessary mana. This seamless integration with your land base permits a more responsive and adaptable playstyle.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Unlike other basics, Snow-Covered Plains necessitates owning other cards that specifically appreciate the ‘snow’ mechanic to leverage its potential, potentially leading to dead draws without the support of these synergistic cards.
Specific Mana Cost: This card produces exclusively white mana. Decks lacking white elements or running a multitude of colors might falter in consistently meeting their varied mana requirements, compromising their fluidity and pacing.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: In situations where a basic land would suffice, the demand for Snow-Covered Plains in a deck might not justify its inclusion, especially when facing opposition that doesn’t target ‘snow’ properties, thus potentially escalating the deck’s overhead without proportional benefits.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Snow-Covered Plains stand out in any MTG collection due to their ability to replace any basic Plains without sacrificing efficiency. Their inclusion supports strategies that rely on a snow mana base, bringing added value to decks with snow synergies.
Combo Potential: Within the right deck, Snow-Covered Plains can unlock powerful interactions. They are crucial for activating abilities of cards like Scrying Sheets or can bump the damage dealt by a card like Skred, giving players a combo edge in battle.
Meta-Relevance: In formats where snow mechanics are prominent, Snow-Covered Plains can enhance your deck’s performance significantly. Their relevance in the meta can vary, but when snow decks are in vogue, being equipped with this subtle land variant can mean the difference between a common land drop and a strategic advantage.
How to beat
Snow-Covered Plains is a unique land card in the MTG universe, bringing a touch of distinct strategy to the battlefield. This particular Plains card fits into decks that capitalize on snow mechanics—a theme that’s been explored in various MTG sets. Unlike regular Plains, the Snow-Covered variety synergizes with spells and abilities requiring snow mana, providing a cold advantage in the right deck.
Overcoming the strategic edge provided by Snow-Covered Plains requires a dual approach. Firstly, being a nonbasic land, it doesn’t hold immunity to land disruption. A strategic inclusion of cards in your deck that can target nonbasic lands can efficiently handle such threats. Secondly, focus on limiting the benefits it provides. Cards that restrict the activation of abilities or spells that punish the use of snow mana can weaken the advantage Snow-Covered Plains offers. It’s about maneuvering around your opponent’s strategy and knowing when to cut off their resources.
While seemingly simple, this card’s value is not to be underestimated. A savvy player will include ways to mitigate its impact, ensuring that when the snow starts to settle, it’s your strategy that remains standing.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Snow-Covered Plains MTG card by a specific set like Ice Age and Coldsnap, 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 Snow-Covered Plains and other MTG cards:
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- Card Market
- Star City Games
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- MTG Mint Card
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- ABU Games
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Printings
The Snow-Covered Plains Magic the Gathering card was released in 8 different sets between 1995-06-03 and 2021-02-05. Illustrated by 8 different artists.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1995-06-03 | Ice Age | ICE | 367 | 1993 | Normal | Black | Christopher Rush | |
| 2 | 2006-07-21 | Coldsnap | CSP | 151 | 2003 | Normal | Black | Mark Romanoski | |
| 3 | 2008-09-22 | Masters Edition II | ME2 | 241 | 1997 | Normal | Black | Christopher Rush | |
| 4 | 2018-07-14 | MTG Arena Promos | PANA | 257 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Titus Lunter | |
| 5 | 2019-06-14 | Modern Horizons | MH1 | 250 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Titus Lunter | |
| 6 | Secret Lair Drop | SLD | 1 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Alayna Danner | ||
| 7 | Secret Lair Drop | SLD | 325 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Jubilee | ||
| 8 | Secret Lair Drop | SLD | 1473 | 2015 | Normal | Black | ELK64 | ||
| 9 | 2021-02-05 | Kaldheim | KHM | 277 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Adam Paquette | |
| 10 | Kaldheim Art Series | AKHM | 74 | 2015 | Art series | Borderless | Sarah Finnigan | ||
| 11 | 2021-02-05 | Kaldheim | KHM | 276 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Sarah Finnigan |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Snow-Covered Plains has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Snow-Covered Plains 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 | In a Limited event (usually Booster Draft or Sealed Deck), you can’t add basic snow lands to your card pool as you would other basic lands. You can play with basic snow lands only if you open them in your sealed deck or draft them. |
| 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. |