Rough Drafts: Triple Coldsnap

by SaffronOlive // Apr 8, 2016

Hello everyone! It's time for another edition of Rough Drafts! This week we are headed into the strangest format of the entire 2016: The Year of Modern Flashbacks calendar in Triple Coldsnap. Why is Coldsnap so strange, I hear you asking? Well, mostly because Coldsnap is a small set that only contains 60 commons, which means there is way more redundancy then in a typical format, even a typical "triple" format. As such, strange things happen, and the format feels relatively high variance. The good news is that Triple Coldsnap is the single most valuable flashback format on the calendar. While prices have dipped before flashbacks began, you can expect to come out ahead drafting the format, simply because the EV of the packs is extremely high thanks to Uncommons like Counterbalance and Mishra's Bauble. Even today it's fairly easy to break even if you focus on drafting for value!

Let's get to the videos, then we'll talk about my impressions of Triple Coldsnap limited. A quick reminder. If you enjoy the Rough Drafts series and the other video content on MTGGoldfish, make sure to subscribe to the MTGGoldfish Youtube Channel to keep up on all the latest and greatest.

Triple Coldsnap: Drafting

Triple Coldsnap: Round 1

Triple Coldsnap: Round 2

Triple Coldsnap: Round 3 (Finals)

Money Cards

For full Coldsnap prices, make sure to check out the Coldsnap page here on MTGGoldfish.

Resources

The Definitive Coldsnap Draft Primer by Benjamin Peebles-Mundy.
Triple Coldsnap Draft by Nick Eisel.
The Rules of Coldsnap Draft by Terry Soh.
Coldsnap Draft Archetypes by Peter Jans.

Conclusion

Anyway, that's all for today. I'd recommend giving Triple Coldsnap a try. While a lot of people really dislike the format, I find it pretty fun. It's extremely unique being the only triple small set format in the entire year of flashbacks. So even if you don't really like it, it's worth playing it once, just to see what triple small set draft is all about. As always, leave your thoughts, ideas, opinions and suggestions in the comments. You can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive, or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com.