Early Winter

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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Alchemy Legal
Archenemy Legal
Arena Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Freeform Legal
Gladiator Legal
Highlander Legal
Historic Legal
Historic Brawl Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pauper Legal
Pauper Duel Commander Legal
Pauper EDH Legal
Pioneer Legal
Planar Constructed Legal
Planechase Legal
Pre-release Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Standard Legal
Standard Brawl Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Early Winter

Instant

Choose one —

  • Exile target creature.
  • Target opponent exiles an enchantment they control.

SaberTech on Mark Rosewater's Statements About Enchantment …

5 months ago

You can also see how inefficiency was build into Early Winter's enchantment removal option in comparison to Shatter the Oath. Early Winter is instant speed and exiles but the opponent gets to choose which of their enchantments they will exile. That's a potential pattern that WotC could follow going forward; if black gets instant speed enchantment removal then it would have to be limited to an edict effect instead of direct targeting. It kind of gives black this vibe to its enchantment removal where it isn't good at it so if it has to try to do it quickly it's sloppy in its execution.

Black has to be aggressive with its enchantment removal. It doesn't get the luxury to sit back and wait to see how the game develops. It either gets ahead of the game and forces the opponent to discard their enchantments or it has to clear an enchantment right away before the opponents can give themselves options against edict effects. As for black's targeted enchantment removal that costs life, black needs to use it before the opponent's board pressure makes paying that life too steep of a cost.

legendofa on Mark Rosewater's Statements About Enchantment …

5 months ago

Shatter the Oath and Early Winter are 5 mana, not a drawback but inefficient enchantment removal. Vile Mutilator is 7 mana plus a sacrifice. Withering Torment's been covered pretty well in this thread.

I also didn't really count Braids, Arisen Nightmare, which needs a sacrifice and let's the opponent choose the outcome.