Long ago in the plane of Dominaria, there was a major war on the island-continent of Terisiare between Urza and Mishra - The Brothers' War. That war ended with the Sylex Blast, which was powerful enough to alter the planet's climate; the slow creep of glaciers, the mighty gales of blizzards, and the numbing cold of lumpy winters have all combined to make Dominaria a dark and frigid world. All the major civilizations of Terisiare had been destroyed by either the war or the ice. New cultures arose on the ice, fighting bitterly for survival, but when the necromancer Lim-Dûl unleashed a horde of undead, old enemies were forced to work together or be overwhelmed. Years later, Dominaria transitioned into a state of rebirth known as the Thaw. The icy shell that encased the continent began melting away. Most of the inhabitants of Terisiare rejoice as the ice gives way to warmth and the rebirth of the land. But, in this time of great change, there are some who see it as a time to angle for power: a secretive society of mages poised to shroud the continent with their icy brand of magic.
Welcome to my Sultai, Snow-themed EDH deck, featuring Jorn, God of Winter
as the Commander. This deck is built to look aesthetically pleasing as well as contain a ton of flavor from the lore of Ice Age, Coldsnap and Kaldheim. Designed to be fun, yet focused and powerful, it has a healthy amount of card draw, scrying, and control spells so we can summon our big snow permanents onto the battlefield. 59 of the cards within this deck are Snow permanents (31 lands, 22 creatures, and 6 artifacts & enchantments) to help with cards which check for Snow permanents (e.g. Rimefeather Owl). Jorn is a powerful value engine when left unhindered, and in this deck we aim to keep him alive with plenty of protective artifacts and spells so that we can win via Commander damage or with our other big snow creatures.
The mana base of this deck is very straight forward with mostly basic snow lands, and a few utility lands. Scrying Sheets is a great utility land to let us dig through our deck. The classic Rogue's Passage will allow Jorn to attack unblocked, which is crucial in our strategy of keeping him alive. Thespian's Stage is intended to make a copy of Dark Depths, however, it will enter the battlefield with zero ice counters on it, thus immediately creating a Marit Lage token. Lastly, there are two land tutors for the utility lands: Expedition Map and Into the North.
We also run a healthy amount of of ramp and card draw in this deck. Specifically for ramp, Tempt with Discovery is a fantastically fun card that creates interaction across the entire table. For card draw, Viridian Revel is a very underestimated enchantment which allows us to draw a card for each artifact that enters an opponents graveyard. This means every time one of our opponents sacrifices a treasure token, clue token, etc., we get to draw a card because it technically hits the graveyard before exiling. The classic Sylvan Library and Phyrexian Arena are also in the deck, along with an oldie but goodie, Diabolic Vision which lets us draw a card and manipulate the the order of the next 4 cards on top of our library.
For control and protection, this deck contains 4 counter spells (counting Rimewind Cryomancer as counter on a stick), 5 spot removal, and 3 board wipes - 2 of which are asymmetrical and only benefit us. Archelos, Lagoon Mystic makes it so everyone's permanents enter the battlefield tapped, but with Jorn we're able to untap our own on the attack step. If Jorn isn't out, we also have Rime Tender to untap the new creature we play for turn. Gix had escaped prior to the Sylex Blast, and his name still comes up in stories across Tarisiare. The Cruelty of Gix will let us first take a creature from an opponent's hand and then put it into their graveyard. Next, we can tutor for any card in our library and put it into our hand. The last part of the saga lets us either use graveyard recursion on our creatures or we can steal that creature we had an opponent discard on the first part of the saga. Lastly for protection, we can equip Jorn with Darksteel Plate and Winged Boots to keep Jorn's attacks going each turn, untapping our lands, and casting more spells.
The win conditions are always changing as I evolve this deck over time. The recent upgrades to the deck granted more useful creatures that take advantage of Jorn's untap ability. With the current build, if you can protect Jorn well enough, attacking for Commander damage is a plausible strategy. If shooting for Commander damage isn't looking feasible, then we still want to protect Jorn to get his attack trigger of untapping our snow permanents. We have some pump creatures such as Hailstorm Valkyrie and Phyrexian Snowcrusher which, although not overly powerful, still wear down our opponents if not blocked.
Secondary conditions include casting Dead of Winter and having some large, stompy snow creatures remaining on board such as Conifer Wurm, Rimefeather Owl or Abominable Treefolk which should go unblocked. Icebreaker Kraken is also a devastating creature to have out to issue out some control effects to the opponents' boards, and later casting Moritte of the Frost to bounce them back and forth for as long as lands remain.
Lastly, another fun combo is to summon Marit Lage via Dark Depths + Vampire Hexmage or Thespian's Stage.
Suggestions are always welcome and I hope you enjoy adventuring in the era of The Thaw with this Snow-themed EDH deck!
