We first saw this card in Avacyn Restored, and
it performs much the same function now as it did
then. When you're facing a creature with a death
trigger or a leaves-play trigger or some sort of
effect that works in the graveyard (come to
think of it, how many of those have there been
since Genesis and friends? Fewer than I
expected), this is a decent way to deal with it.
While it's usually overshadowed by exile effects
in constructed, it does work in mono-blue and it
lets you draw a card. Not dominating, but then
it doesn't always have to be.
Today's card of the day is Crippling Chill
which is a three mana Blue instant that taps
target creature and they don't untap on their
next untap step and you draw a card. This
is a fairly weak cantrip even with the draw
effect as bounce has nearly the same impact on
the creature and recasting it. This is
unlikely to see much play and really isn't
noteworthy as control when so many other options
exist.
In Limited this is a decent stall and thins the
deck, so should be used in any Sealed deck using
Blue. In Booster it isn't strong enough
for an early pick, but is a very reasonable on
color choice later in the pack to fill in empty
slots and help manage the field and library at
the same time.
This is a great tempo card. If you need to slow
down or hold off your opponent for a turn while
digging for your threats or answers, this is a
pretty good option. Control decks might make use
of it while they look for their board sweeper or
race with their evasive creature. Three mana
puts this on the top end of what you want to pay
for tricks like, but the fact that it draws you
a card makes it worth it.
While it's possible this could be played in
constructed, it really shines in limited. You
essentially get to hold back their biggest
threat for 2 turns. Anything that can do that is
quite valuable.
This card effectively stuns a creature for your
turn (so it can't block) and then your
opponent's turn (so it can't attack or activate
its abilities). Temporarily freezing a
creature isn't as good as outright killing it,
but at the same time Blue doesn't have a lot of
removal like Black does.
On the upside you do get to draw a card, making
your card advantage neutral. At the same
time, this card is a bit pricy at 3 mana.
Not bad but not quite essential either.
