Snow-Covered Swamp MTG Card
1995-06-03 - Number 372
2006-07-21 - Number 153
2008-09-22 - Number 243
2018-07-14 - Number 259
2019-06-14 - Number 252
2021-02-05 - Number 281
2021-02-05 - Number 280
2019-12-02 - Number 1475
2019-12-02 - Number 327
2019-12-02 - Number 3
| Card sets | Released in 10 setsSee all |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Basic Snow Land — Swamp |
Text of card
oc T: Add o B to your mana pool.
Cards like Snow-Covered Swamp
The Snow-Covered Swamp is a unique land card in the realm of Magic. It’s similar to the basic Swamp, as both add a black mana to your pool when tapped. However, the Snow-Covered Swamp boasts an additional adjective – snow. This distinctive feature makes it synergize with other cards requiring snow mana for activation or enhancing abilities, paving the way for more strategic plays.
Cards like Frostwalk Bastion and Dead of Winter both benefit from a deck rich in snow permanents, offering enhanced abilities or more potent effects with more snow lands in play. Additionally, Arcum’s Astrolabe, when included in your arsenal, allows the Snow-Covered Swamp to contribute to artifact synergies while still providing mana flexibility.
Assessing the Snow-Covered Swamp amid other land options we see it shines in decks tailored to capitalize on its ‘snow’ aspect. It is irreplaceable in certain archetypes and presents opportunities for creative gameplay, making it a staple in any MTG collection designed to exploit snow synergies to their fullest.
Cards similar to Snow-Covered Swamp by color, type and mana cost
Decks using this card
MTG decks using Snow-Covered Swamp. Dig deeper into the strategy of decks, sideboard cards, list ideas and export to play in ARENA or MOL.
| # | Name | Format | Archetype | Event |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Dimir Faeries | Pauper | Dimir Faeries | Pauper Challenge 64 2024-04-28 |
 | Dimir Mill | Modern | Mill | Modern Challenge 32 2024-04-27 |
 | Mono-Black Scam | Legacy | Mono-Black Scam | Legacy League 2024-04-26 |
 | WUB | Legacy | Legacy League 2024-04-27 | |
 | Abzan Amalia Combo | Pioneer | Abzan Amalia Combo | Pioneer Challenge 32 2024-04-28 |
 | Omni-Tell | Legacy | Omni-Tell | Legacy Challenge 32 2024-04-27 |
 | Grixis Control | Pauper | Grixis Control | Pauper Challenge 64 2024-04-28 |
 | UBR | Legacy | Legacy Challenge 32 2024-04-28 | |
 | Reanimator | Legacy | Reanimator | Legacy League 2024-04-26 |
 | BR | Pauper | Pauper Challenge 32 2024-04-28 |
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Playing a Snow-Covered Swamp can give you a subtle leg up in formats where card distinctions matter. This card can qualify for certain synergies that specifically require snow permanents, thereby providing you additional utility and potential for card advantage without costing you extra resources.
Resource Acceleration: As a basic land, the Snow-Covered Swamp lets you smoothly ramp your mana resources. Additionally, in a deck that capitalizes on snow mechanics, it can accelerate your game plan by enabling powerful snow-mana activated abilities that can be the key to outpacing your opponents.
Instant Speed: While not an instant itself, the Snow-Covered Swamp can provide mana at instant speed, essential for casting high-impact instants or activating abilities that could swing the game in your favor during critical moments.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: While the Snow-Covered Swamp doesn’t directly necessitate discarding cards, it does fall into deck themes that may require discards as part of their mechanic. Ensuring you have other synergistic cards to complement its inclusion is essential to prevent diminishing your hand for little advantage.
Specific Mana Cost: The mana provided is specifically black, which naturally benefits mono-black or snow-themed decks, but it might not be a flexible choice for multi-colored decks that demand diverse mana sources to cast a broader range of spells.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: Even though the card itself doesn’t have a mana cost, decks that heavily utilize snow mechanics can find themselves limited by higher mana costs associated with powerful snow spells and permanents. This card’s value is intrinsically tied to such cards, which can potentially slow down your game pace if not managed carefully.
Reasons to Include Snow-Covered Swamp in Your Collection
Versatility: The Snow-Covered Swamp blends seamlessly into various deck archetypes. Its ability to function as a basic land while still meeting the snow permanents condition makes it a staple for strategies that leverage snow mechanics.
Combo Potential: This card is central to combos in snow-themed decks. It can be used to fuel powerful spells that require snow mana or to satisfy the conditions for cards like Scrying Sheets, allowing for improved deck consistency and performance.
Meta-Relevance: In metas where snow synergies are prevalent, having Snow-Covered Swamps can give a distinct edge. They are particularly important in formats like Modern, where they can often be a subtle yet significant game-changer, providing the necessary resources for snow-related spellcasting and abilities.
How to beat
The Snow-Covered Swamp is a basic land card with a chilly twist, found in the frosty corners of Magic: The Gathering. This card’s unique attribute lies in its snow supertype, which can power up a variety of chilly spells and abilities across your deck. Similar to its non-snow counterparts, the card provides one black mana to your mana pool but with an icy advantage sought by many deck builders.
Conquering a deck brimming with snow lands like Snow-Covered Swamp calls for a mix of adaptability and disruption. Cards like Blood Moon are particularly powerful, as they can transform all nonbasic lands into basic Mountains, nullifying the snow advantage. Additionally, targeted land destruction or effects that strip away card types, such as Archon of Valor’s Reach choosing lands, can hinder the snow strategy efficaciously.
Ultimately, while the Snow-Covered Swamp can be a valuable asset in a synergy-fueled snow deck, its power is not insurmountable. With proper preparation and the right suite of cards, players can weather the storm and emerge victorious against strategies reliant on these frostbitten lands.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Snow-Covered Swamp 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 Swamp and other MTG cards:
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- eBay
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
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- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
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- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
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Printings
The Snow-Covered Swamp Magic the Gathering card was released in 7 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 | 372 | 1993 | Normal | Black | Douglas Shuler | |
| 2 | 2006-07-21 | Coldsnap | CSP | 153 | 2003 | Normal | Black | Rob Alexander | |
| 3 | 2008-09-22 | Masters Edition II | ME2 | 243 | 1997 | Normal | Black | Douglas Shuler | |
| 4 | 2018-07-14 | MTG Arena Promos | PANA | 259 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Titus Lunter | |
| 5 | 2019-06-14 | Modern Horizons | MH1 | 252 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Titus Lunter | |
| 6 | Secret Lair Drop | SLD | 1475 | 2015 | Normal | Black | ELK64 | ||
| 7 | Secret Lair Drop | SLD | 327 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Jubilee | ||
| 8 | Secret Lair Drop | SLD | 3 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Alayna Danner | ||
| 9 | 2021-02-05 | Kaldheim | KHM | 281 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Jung Park | |
| 10 | 2021-02-05 | Kaldheim | KHM | 280 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Adam Paquette |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Snow-Covered Swamp 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 Swamp 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. |