Frozen Solid

Blue's Historical Capabilities

New 10 May 2019 Asked by nutsofoden 29 Comments

There are a few on your non-Blue list that actually do have have cards. That being said, I think Blue is just fine and most of these cards are older and oddball anyways, just figured I would point some out. Direct Damge is Psionic Blast. Life gain is Relic Bind/Merchant Ship and few other more niche spells. Creature Destruction is Frozen Solid/Dwindle. Land searching is Dreamscape Artist and technically Mana Severance. Damage prevention is Cephalid Illusionist/Energy Field and a few others.


I was talking modern color pie. Magic’s past is filled with things the color shouldn’t have done (or was in color pie at the time).

Frozen Solid vs Dwindle

New 27 Mar 2019 Asked by mrfrinkinpuff 39 Comments

A couple of years ago, in your podcast, you mentioned how Frozen Solid (SCG) is a complete break of the color pie. Why is a card like Dwindle (M19) okay, whereas Frozen Solid is not?


Dwindle is a bit of a bend, but the creature’s controller has the choice when the creature dies, not the blue mage.

Blue's Pie Breakers

New 18 Oct 2015 Asked by sketch-satyr 33 Comments

Blue cards that are perceived as breaking the color pie always seem to have a justification. Have there actually been any recent color pie breaking cards in blue? (I ask, because cards like beast within, chaos warp and mentor of the meek get called out all the time)


Frozen Solid is a classic example of a flavorful but out of color pie Blue card.

Blue's Removal Limits

New 07 Dec 2014 Asked by rond-en-l-air 77 Comments

you've said multiple times that one of blue's weaknesses is supposed to be that it can't deal with permanents on the battlefield, which is why it gets counter and mill. how is polymorphing not just an 'in-flavor' way to get around what you yourself have said is one of blue's weaknesses?


No, what I’ve said is blue has problems permanently removing permanents. It can bounce them, steal them, copy them, shrink their power, lock them down… and it can change them into other things. Blue has to find solutions other than destroying a troubled permanent and being done with it. Blue’s ability to change things is completely consistent with how blue functions both mechanically and flavorfully. I’ve already said that I feel it’s wrong for blue to have the word “destroy” on its change effects. (Reanimating a creature that you’ve previously changed into a different creature is a huge flavor fail.) Frozen Solid is to Blue what Hornet Sting is to Green. It’s letting Blue do something it’s not supposed to which is permanently destroying a permanent. I’m tempted to put this answer in my FAQ because I feel like I’m constantly answering it and then people write that I said something slightly differently than I actually said and I have to re-explain it all over again. So for the last time, Blue is about change. Blue solves its problems in ways other than destroying the problem at hand. It has to get creative. Changing a threat to a different threat falls within blue’s color pie and it is something we’ve done many times over many years. There are areas where Blue oversteps its bounds (like Frozen Solid listed above) and I’m eager to hear about those if they happen, but polymorphing is not one of those things. As a final note, the one area I am not happy with is changing something into a 1/1 or 0/1 (unless it is on an aura that can be undone) as it is much closer to a destruction effect. Hopefully, this will serve as the definitive answer on this topic.


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