Snow-Covered Swamp MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 10 setsSee all
RarityCommon
TypeBasic Snow Land — Swamp

Key Takeaways

  1. It allows decks to exploit snow synergies, giving players an advantage in specific formats.
  2. Crucial for mana ramping in snow-themed decks, enabling powerful activated abilities.
  3. Vital in deck archetypes utilizing snow mechanics and interacting with combos.

Text of card

oc T: Add o B to your mana pool.


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.


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.

Frostwalk Bastion - MTG Card versions
Dead of Winter - MTG Card versions
Arcum's Astrolabe - MTG Card versions
Frostwalk Bastion - Modern Horizons (MH1)
Dead of Winter - Modern Horizons (MH1)
Arcum's Astrolabe - Modern Horizons (MH1)

Cards similar to Snow-Covered Swamp by color, type and mana cost

Swamp - MTG Card versions
Volrath's Stronghold - MTG Card versions
Spawning Pool - MTG Card versions
Cabal Coffers - MTG Card versions
Agadeem's Awakening // Agadeem, the Undercrypt - MTG Card versions
Lake of the Dead - MTG Card versions
Takenuma, Abandoned Mire - MTG Card versions
Unholy Grotto - MTG Card versions
Tomb of Urami - MTG Card versions
Vivid Marsh - MTG Card versions
Crypt of Agadeem - MTG Card versions
Dakmor Salvage - MTG Card versions
Bojuka Bog - MTG Card versions
Polluted Mire - MTG Card versions
Barren Moor - MTG Card versions
Ifnir Deadlands - MTG Card versions
Desert of the Glorified - MTG Card versions
Cabal Stronghold - MTG Card versions
Phyrexian Tower - MTG Card versions
Mortuary Mire - MTG Card versions
Swamp - Modern Horizons 3 (MH3)
Volrath's Stronghold - World Championship Decks 1998 (WC98)
Spawning Pool - Urza's Legacy (ULG)
Cabal Coffers - Tales of Middle-earth Commander (LTC)
Agadeem's Awakening // Agadeem, the Undercrypt - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Lake of the Dead - Vintage Masters (VMA)
Takenuma, Abandoned Mire - Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty (NEO)
Unholy Grotto - Onslaught (ONS)
Tomb of Urami - Saviors of Kamigawa (SOK)
Vivid Marsh - Lorwyn (LRW)
Crypt of Agadeem - Zendikar (ZEN)
Dakmor Salvage - Duel Decks: Izzet vs. Golgari (DDJ)
Bojuka Bog - The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander (LCC)
Polluted Mire - Dominaria Remastered (DMR)
Barren Moor - Commander 2019 (C19)
Ifnir Deadlands - Amonkhet Remastered (AKR)
Desert of the Glorified - Hour of Devastation (HOU)
Cabal Stronghold - Dominaria (DOM)
Phyrexian Tower - Ultimate Masters (UMA)
Mortuary Mire - Commander 2019 (C19)

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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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.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
11995-06-03Ice AgeICE 3721993normalblackDouglas Shuler
22006-07-21ColdsnapCSP 1532003normalblackRob Alexander
32008-09-22Masters Edition IIME2 2431997normalblackDouglas Shuler
42018-07-14MTG Arena PromosPANA 2592015normalblackTitus Lunter
52019-06-14Modern HorizonsMH1 2522015normalblackTitus Lunter
62019-12-02Secret Lair DropSLD 14752015normalblackELK64
72019-12-02Secret Lair DropSLD 3272015normalblackJubilee
82019-12-02Secret Lair DropSLD 32015normalblackAlayna Danner
92021-02-05KaldheimKHM 2812015normalblackJung Park
102021-02-05KaldheimKHM 2802015normalblackAdam Paquette

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Snow-Covered Swamp has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
PauperLegal
PremodernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
PredhLegal
TimelessLegal

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.

DateText
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.

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