Winter's Chill
Instant
Cast this spell only during combat before blockers are declared.
X can't be greater than the number of snow lands you control.
Choose X target attacking creatures. For each of those creatures, its controller may pay 
or 
. If that player doesn't, destroy that creature at end of combat. If that player pays only , prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to and dealt by that creature this combat.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Ice Age
- Price
- $1.74
- EDHREC rank
- #17151
Winter's Chill locks down an entire attacking force — each Snow Island you control lets you counter a declared attacker's attack trigger, forcing the opponent to pay two mana or lose that creature entirely. The catch is that Isu the Abominable is basically required to make this worth a card slot, since you need a critical mass of Snow lands for the effect to span more than one or two attackers.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Isu the Abominable
Isu the Abominable is the natural home for Winter's Chill because the commander incentivizes stacking Snow permanents anyway, turning every extra Snow Island into another attacker you can lock out or blank for free.
Jorn, God of Winter
Jorn, God of Winter's Snow-matters identity means Winter's Chill slots in as a defensive pillar — Jorn's decks run enough Snow lands that the spell regularly threatens to eat four or five attackers, which buys the time Jorn needs to grind out value.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Winter's Chill is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but its practical home is Commander — the multiplayer table gives you more attacking creatures to blank, and Snow-tribal commanders like Isu the Abominable and Jorn, God of Winter supply the land base it needs. In Legacy and Vintage it's essentially unplayable: those formats move too fast for a reactive combat trick that demands a specific land type, and neither format has commanders to justify the Snow infrastructure. Oathbreaker is the one fringe case where a Snow-themed build could slot it in, but the card sees negligible play there.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$1.74 cheap tier
At $1.74, Winter's Chill sits firmly in the cheap tier — low enough that it's an easy include if your deck wants it, with no real financial risk. It's a narrow enough card that demand stays contained to Snow-tribal Commander lists, so the price is unlikely to spike.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Isu the Abominable
- Jorn, God of Winter
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.