We hope you’ve been keeping warm for the upcoming Wilds of Eldraine release on Sept 8, because thanks to Wizards of the Coast, we’ve got an icy-cold, exclusive spoiler card that can douse any flaming threat on the Battlefield. Bitter Chill may only be a blue Uncommon, but it may be the best Aura in its class we’ve ever seen. How good can it possibly be? Let’s take a closer look.
Bitter Chill is an Enchantment Aura that costs 1 blue and 1 generic Mana. Even though it only costs a total of 2 Mana, it does quite a lot. Firstly, it taps down the enchanted Creature and then prevents it from being untapped as per usual during the Untap phase. While tapped, it would be unable to attack or block.
If for whatever reason the Creature dies or the opponent gets rid of Bitter Chill, you get to Scry 1 and draw a card, as long as you are able to pay 1 Mana.
The artwork by Julie Dillion is an eye-catching rendition of a poor lady’s heart turning cold and frigid. Any Creature locked with Frozen Chill is definitely not going anywhere.
How Does it Compare to Other Lockdown Blue Auras?
Blue is famous for Auras like Bitter Chill that locks down a Creature without actually killing it. There’s Capture Sphere, Charmed Sleep, Encrust, and many more.
The problem with such lockdown cards is that the Creature is kept alive, and any Activated or Triggered abilities can still go off as long as the Creature is on the Battlefield. They are also particularly vulnerable to cards that can bounce either the Creature or the Enchantment back to hand, effectively ‘freeing’ it. Since blue doesn’t have good ways to remove or kill a Creature, these lockdown Auras are the common go-to answers.
If you look at the historical options, Bitter Chill is miles better than almost of them. The other lockdown card that we feel can give Bitter Chill a run of its money is Tamiyo’s Compleation, since it has Flash, can target Artifacts and Planeswalkers in addition to Creatures, and removes all abilities as well. All that costs 4 Mana, so if you want to cast things fast, Bitter Chill is a better option.
How Good is Bitter Chill in the Various Formats?
It’s way above average in our books. It may not have Flash (being able to cast as an Instant), but it costs a mere 2 Mana, a big discount over the often-seen 4 Mana in other cards.
Not only that, the upside and potential of replacing Bitter Chill with a draw and Scry (albeit not free) is really not to be messed with. In Sealed prerelease format or Draft, this would be a premium semi-removal card for anyone who is playing blue.
In constructed formats, such lockdown cards don’t see much action, since a control player would often mix blue with other colours such as white and black which have more direct removal options.
In Commander, Bitter Chill will be a good addition to budget decks since it’s readily available (and cheap) as an Uncommon. We wouldn’t be surprised if it does show up in the Wilds of Eldraine preconstructed Commander decks either – the card is both effective and on point with the set’s flavour.
End Step
If Bitter Chill is any indication of Wilds of Eldraine’s power level, then we could be in for a ride. Two Mana for an Aura that locks down a Creature and has the chance to replace itself is more than a decent card. It won’t become a Commander staple (or in many other constructed formats), but it’s certainly a playable card and one to look out for during prerelease weekend on Sept 1.
P.s. In case you missed it, we also revealed another black spoiler card yesterday – that was pretty strong too!
