It's hard to be down on any low cost mana
acceleration. It also gives you the freedom to
choose what you color you want it to produce.
This can be very handy in a three or four color
deck. In a few cases it will be even better
because it's a snow permanent, but it's likely
that fact won't be too huge.
One of the best snow mana producers there is.
Coming into play tapped is a drag, but for
choosing a color and getting it in snow mana, it
enables a lot of decks. Especially in Limited,
where you can't just play snow-covereds instead
of regular lands and are often scrounging up any
snow mana source you can get your mittens on.
The first
"mana rock" was Fellwar Stone. Then we got the
Diamonds from Mirage. The bits of Ramos. The
Curios. The Eggs. The Talismans. The Signets.
There's a long history of little artifacts that
produce mana. Coldsteel Heart might be one of
the best of all. It comes into play tapped like
a Diamond, but you get to choose the color of
mana it produces. That's an important
consideration. And, maybe most importantly, it
produces Snow mana. Now, there's not a lot of
super powered snow cards, but it's still
important. It can help activate your Scrying
Sheets and it also gets drawn by the Sheets.
That's not bad. Snow mana is going to be
insidious in constructed for the next two years.
Just when you think that it's gone, someone's
going to find a clever way of using it. And
Coldsteel Heart will be one of the best ways of
producing it.
This card is excellent in Standard right now.
Quick mana acceleration in any color is always a
boon. The signets outshine this right now, but I
believe this is a superior card for early game.
This should be run in all snow decks that can
usefully run it. Blue/Red Snow control: need it.
Black/Green Snow Agro: use it. It produces Snow
mana of any color, and that is incredibly
useful.
In casual, there are many better ways to get any
color mana on turn one, never mind turn two. The
only reason you would run this is if you need
snow mana in a casual deck.
In limited, this is a first pick. It’s snow mana,
and it’s always in your colors. If you EVER see
this going around mid to late pack, just take
it. This is not going to win you the game, but
it will help you play all your other game
winners.
Constructed 5/5 in a snow deck 2.5/5 otherwise
Casual 2/5
Limited 4/5
