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Freeze Baby!

Commander / EDH WU (Azorius)

NV_1980

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Land (36)

Sorcery (7)

Creature (22)

Instant (11)

Planeswalker (1)

Commander (1)

Commander: Hylda of the Icy Crown

Artifact (14)

Enchantment (8)

Welcome to Freeze Baby!

Hi there! Welcome to the decription of this icy Azorius (assault-)inhibition, draw-, token and boost deck; commanded by Hylda of the Icy Crown. Her long black hair flutters in the cold, winter gale while she surveys from the balcony of her glacier-castle Winter’s Home the adventurers and armies that have come to try and defeat her ice-elemental forces and powers. From below, her slim body in impeccably white attire is not visible as blasts of snow obscure the vision of every soul that attempts to ascend to her level. She knows power attracts either those that fear it or those that are hungry for it. Her crystal jewelry tinkles slightly as she raises her arms above her crown of the purest white permafrost. A white-blueish energy field starts to surround her hands as with a final, harsh glare to the enemy, she condemns all beneath her to an agonizingly chilly end. This deck is meant to be played casually. It’s not meant to be used in a competitive fashion, but of course anyone is welcome to try! Feel free to comment on anything you (dis)like throughout this description; hope you will enjoy it!

Because her triggered ability is amazingly strong and has great utility. Its required trigger, the tapping of opposing creatures, is dead-easy to achieve when wielding Azorius magic. Once applied, it’s just a matter of choosing one of Hylda’s spectacular rewards and causing some serious havoc. Whether it’s through the application of ice elementals in combat, boosting all creatures OR by choosing to scry and draw; all of it is useful!

The following ten parameters have been used to determine the strength of the deck. For each, a score of 5 (very good), 4 (good), 3 (mediocre), 2 (bad) or 1 (very bad) has been allocated; when totalized this score represents the power rating of the deck (maximum score is 50 points).

  • Mana: indicates the availability of energy-sources within the deck.
  • Ramp: indicates the speed at which mana sources within the deck can be made available.
  • Card Advantage: indicates availability of filter- and draw resources represented within the deck.
  • Overall speed: indicates the deck’s potential for pace, based on resource availability and mana curve.
  • Combo: indicates the measure of combo-orientation of the deck.
  • Army: indicates the deck’s creature-army strength.
  • Commander: indicates how much the deck is commander-oriented/dependent (less dependency is better).
  • Interaction: indicates how much this deck can mess with opponents’ board states and turn-phases.
  • Resilience: indicates whether the deck can prevent and take punches.
  • Spellpower: indicates the availability and strength of high-impact spells.

Mana: 3

Didn’t go overboard with the mana generation within this deck. Aside from a solid land-count, it contains six rocks, two artifacts that reduce overall mana-costs by 1 and an enchantment that relinquishes treasure tokens whenever opponents try to draw something without paying for it.

Ramp: 1

Two white options allow the fetching of land under the condition that one’s behind on land-count. Not exactly spectacular but still reliable; especially when facing decks featuring green.

Card Advantage: 3

Without a doubt, card:Hylda of the Ice Crown|Hylda is the deck’s most important (repeatable) draw resource, provided she has the mana available to be activated when opportunity knocks. Aside from her, seven other direct draw cards, two scrying resources and one card that allows stealing make up this deck’s card-advantage suite.

Overall speed: 3

Cards within this deck have an overall low CMC, which is useful as that leaves more mana available for Hylda’s triggered ability (which ideally triggers multiple times per turn). Combined with this, there’s enough mana/card-resources available to guarantee early-game castings and get things going fast.

Combo: 1

No infinite combos in this one, though there are a couple of very swanky synergies that deserve mention; especially mass tapping combined with the commander’s benefits or those of some other permanents.

Army: 3

Just about every creature here is utilitarian and is not really a behemoth of destruction in any significant way. However, the force here doesn’t need to be particularly strong; it just needs to be unopposed by blockers and the deck features plenty of ways to make that happen (not to mention benefits other than unimpeded movement in the opposition’s direction).

Commander: 3

Having Hylda around does make a major difference to the deck’s possibilities; purely because of her many available utilities when one manages to tap opponents’ stuff. However, she’s not the only provider of advantages regarding that strategy, so one doesn’t need to consider her indispensable to a winning strategy.

Interaction: 5

Obviously, in a deck that’s been made to tap opposing creatures, it is filled to the brim with interaction options. Twenty-seven cards that can force tapping: either through attacking, spell-casting or other means. Three counter-spells as well as two exile spells can also cause some havoc on the opposing side.

Resilience: 4

For the most part, this deck’s resilience score is derived from how resistant it is versus attacks (because it has the power to tap at least some attackers before they ever get the chance of being declared as attackers) and how resistant it is against activated abilities from creatures. However, it does also feature some countering magic and limited access to some life gain.

Spellpower: 4

A decent number of mass-tapping spells, along with some mass-bounce, mass draw and a number of very insidious removal spells make up this deck’s impressive spell arsenal.

Total power score: 30

By itself, this deck has average strength when compared to the average EDH deck. Sure, it only has a few ramp and combo options. These minor weaknesses are offset by its access to enough resources, its massive inhibitive powers and an army that synergizes very well with these. And yet, the deck’s true power resides within a factor that’s even more potent in determining victory, politics! The wielder of this deck is bound to be offered deals in exchange for disabling certain powerful features of opposing decks. This feature alone, grants the deck great staying-power overall.

One of the most sure-fire ways to stop opposing creatures from screwing up one’s gameplan (by blocking attacks OR instead by attacking (how dare they?!), is freezing (tapping) their sorry asses. The general idea of this deck is to use that method of inhibition copiously, after which one benefits from either stomping through to opponents unopposed OR by using Queen Freeze’s excellent utility powers to create/boost armies or drawing some more cards.

From early game-phases onwards, the aim is to create plenty of opportunities for tapping opposing forces, in both the deck’s own turns as well as during opponents’ turns. Ideally a battlefield state is created that allows one to attack regularly with at least some forces every turn. These attacks need to be balanced affairs though, as the enclosed army within this deck is not huge and one can’t afford large-scale losses. Hence the support through tapping combined with Hylda’s boons. While building up forces, try to use tapping abilities to (temporarily) gain allies. This allows one to focus the deck’s tapping resources and take out targets piecemeal (until enough ice-elementals have been generated, enough creatures have been boosted OR one can drop a game-winning combo).

At least three cards in the starting hand ought to be lands (or two lands and a cheap-to-cast rock like Arcane Signet, Azorius Signet, Fellwar Stone or Sol Ring. It is recommended not to start a game without this hand (even if one has to mulligan down to three cards). The ideal hand would also contain some additional ramp and/or low-cost draw options.

As some of the resources that can tap opposing forces (or benefit from such) require mana to use (per tapping), ensure first that sufficient energy is available for that. Ramp cards like Land Tax and Weathered Wayfarer have casting priority, along with rocks like Talisman of Progress and Thought Vessel. Some card advantage stuff is also appropriate at this stage. Especially options like Esper Sentinel, Hammers of Moradin, Rhystic Study and Verity Circle. Next on the agenda (in terms of casting-priority) are permanent tapping resources. During the initial stages of games, try to cast the tappers that don’t cost mana to activate. Cheap CMC options include Hylda's Crown of Winter, Icewrought Sentry and Niblis of the Urn. Once a bit more mana becomes available, options like Gideon's Lawkeeper, Icewrought Sentry, Niblis of the Breath, Quiet Contemplation and card:Squal Drifter can join to support the tapping action.

Note that it’s useful during this phase to ally-up with another player, to compensate a bit for this deck’s lack of brute force. Opponents using a token strategy of their own, a spell-slinging deck or a mill/forced-draw decks can all be useful allies at this point (this deck has some difficulties to guard against opponents going wide and non-creature decks are hard to deal with when there’s nothing to tap).

With some tapping assets secured, Hylda is ready to come out and play. Ideally, resources that increase her effectiveness join her on the field. Some good examples would include Anointed Procession and Mondrak, Glory Dominus, to increase the amount of ice-elemental tokens she can generate. Grand Arbiter Augustin IV and Smothering Tithe help me to save/generate mana for Hylda’s abilities while Champion's Helm, Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots strengthen her staying-power.

By this time it should be possible to field enough strength to cause some ruckus in the opposing creature-ranks. To make sure the deck’s attacks remain undisturbed, tap defending creatures whenever one can; not just with the aforementioned permanents but also with instants/sorceries, amongst them being spells like Downpour, Freeze in Place and Succumb to the Cold. Of even more importance are tapping-spells that can be imprinted on the deck’s creatures so that they’re recast whenever said creatures attack. This includes options like Hands of Binding and Hidden Strings.

Impact on the battlefield can be increased further by bringing in the next tier of creatures. First off, a more powerful generation of tappers, including Frost Titan, Gadwick, the Wizened, Niblis of Frost, Ojutai Exemplars, Opposition, Sharae of Numbing Depths and Timin, Youthful Geist. Increasing benefits from tapping can be realized through cards like Borrowing 100,000 Arrows and Rhoda, Geist Avenger.

Once the principal opponents have been eliminated, (during the mid-game phase or even before), it’s time to finish things off to close out the game. This can be done by disabling an entire army with a single spell after which one proceeds to trample the controlling opponent with the deck’s forces. Such spells include Bond of Discipline, Cone of Cold, Cryptic Command, Cyclonic Rift, Icy Blast and Sunblast Angel.

  • Hylda of the Icy Crown + Court Street Denizen + tapping mechanism:
    1. Use the tapping mechanism to tap a creature. This triggers Hylda’s ability.
    2. Pay 1 and create an ice-elemental.
    3. When it enters the battlefield, the Ice Elemental triggers the CSD, which allows it to tap another creature.
    This process can be repeated as long as mana lasts so that Hylda’s ability can be activated (this can be achieved by sacrificing the elemental to Ashnod's Altar to generate a potential large amount of colorless mana. Adding Anointed Procession or Mondrak, Glory Dominus to the mix ensures the army of elementals keeps growing while one is sacrificed per cycle of the combo).
  • Hylda of the Icy Crown + Opposition + Ashnod's Altar + one untapped creature (to start the combo):
    1. Use Opposition to tap the untapped creature and tap an opposing creature. This triggers Hylda.
    2. Sacrifice the tapped creature to Altar to generate 2.
    3. Use 1 to have Hylda’s ability generate an ice-elemental.
    4. Now use Opposition to tap the elemental to tap an opposing creature again.
    Repeat until all opposing creatures are tapped; yields 1 colorless mana per tapped opposing creature (adding Anointed Procession or Mondrak, Glory Dominus to the mix ensures the army of elementals keeps growing while one is sacrificed per cycle of the combo).
  • Drumbellower + Opposition: Allows one to use Opposition during every turn, which makes it the perfect political mechanism.
  • Dismiss into Dream + targeted tapping mechanism: Any (opposing) creature that’s targeted by a tapping ability/spell dies.
  • Willbreaker + targeted tapping mechanism: Any (opposing) creature that’s targeted by a tapping ability is stolen by Willbreaker’s controller.

Reliable sources of mana, and some utility:

The cards used to accelerate mana-availability:

  • Arcane Signet: cheap-to-cast, doesn’t come into play tapped and grants any Azorius mana whenever tapped.
  • Ashnod's Altar: great mana source in a pinch; especially useful when a creature is about to be killed anyways, might as well still make itself useful.
  • Azorius Signet: excellent mana rock in any Azorius deck. Its only drawback is that it requires 1 to activate.
  • Grand Arbiter Augustin IV: creates a wonderful casting-cost imbalance in the deck’s favor.
  • Land Tax: for commander decks featuring white, this card must have formed the base for an innumerable amount of successes in games.
  • Pearl Medallion/Sapphire Medallion: spell-casting can be an expensive affair; one should always be on the lookout for discounts.
  • Smothering Tithe: opposing draws are no longer free, they cost Treasure tokens.
  • Sol Ring: are there EDH decks without this card?
  • Talisman of Progress: grants either colorless or an Azorius mana on tapping (and 1 life), nice rock for CMC2.
  • Weathered Wayfarer: fetches any land (not just basics!), provided someone else currently controls more lands.

Hylda allows draw, but she wouldn’t mind some support on this front:

  • Borrowing 100,000 Arrows: so much fun to cast after first making sure most of the opposing field is tapped.
  • Danny Pink: Hylda’s counters on creatures mean more draw!
  • Esper Sentinel: with Hylda potentially boosting its power, Sentinel becomes a draw-engine that increasingly becomes harder to stop/counter.
  • Gadwick, the Wizened: massive insta-draw along with some multi-functional tapping upon casting blue spells; noice!
  • Idol of Oblivion: create a token, and the gate towards new drawing opens.
  • Rhystic Study: one of the most important draw enablers of the deck; a staple in most blue commander decks.
  • Sharae of Numbing Depths: too bad her triggered ability only applies once a turn; still, it’s pretty much guaranteed in this deck to go off (during other players’ turns as well).
  • Verity Circle: this one is not just great because it can force taps, but also because players using creatures with activated abilities that require tapping are screwed over.
  • Willbreaker: tapping now means stealing; goody!

The cards that will freeze them where they stand:

In case you need to be kept from using stuff:

  • Cyclonic Rift: gets rid of all opposing permanents except lands for a measly 7 mana; which is almost win-enabling by itself under certain circumstances.
  • Dismiss into Dream: it’s only going to get tapped for an instant!
  • Fierce Guardianship: potentially a free-to-cast counterspell; has wonderful applications for resource-strained situations.
  • Mana Drain: sucking the mana right out of your spell.
  • Path to Exile/Swords to Plowshares: in exchange for a minor boon, your titan over there has been atomized into nothingness forever!
  • Sunblast Angel: remember those tapped creatures? They’re dead now …

Some protection, token-production and un-tappers.

  • Topplegeist: it’s cheap to cast, but the delirium-requirement is a bit annoying for the remainder of his abilities.

Appreciate the time you took to read this description. Hopefully it was entertaining and useful to you. If so, feel free to leave a +1 and/or feedback of any kind in the comments below. Thanks again!

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94% Casual

Competitive

Revision 5 See all

(1 month ago)

+1 Danny Pink main
-1 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV main
+1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage main
-1 Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset main