One comment compared this to Gustha's Scepter. I feel obligated to point out that a Shattered Scepter means a major card loss for you whereas a Shattered Ice Cauldron will never result in a loss of cards. Once a card is exiled with the cauldron's first ability, there is an ability with an indefinite duration that reads "You may play that spell card as though it were in your hand" linked to the exiled card, not Ice Cauldron. Ice Cauldron's only purpose after you exile the spell is to give you mana (if you stored any).
This means you can do things with Ice Cauldron that you never could with Gustha's Scepter. Let's say you want to kill someone (or several people) with Worldfire. You can amass cards in exile with Ice Cauldron, and Worldfire can't touch them. (For each card you want to amass, you should use the first ablity with X = 0, the... (see all)
Posted By:
LordZogar
(10/10/2012 10:14:14 AM)
Essentially it's "Exile target spell you control for later use." That's what this card does (and it can spread the cost over two turns). Do it with something like Wrath of God in multiplayer and enjoy the stalled game you just created.
If it gave the exiled spell flash, this would be super-playable.
Posted By:
ChumleyX
(12/8/2012 5:08:50 AM)
I'm going to make a proxy that just has "tl;dr" in the text box. (but not really, okay, wotc?)
Posted By:
madoli
(3/22/2013 8:00:23 PM)
This card will always have a place in my heart because the effect is so peculiar and not explored much: the ability to protect a card in your hand from almost anything and still be able to play it easily. The mana downpayment mechanic is what made the card so obnoxiously verbose, but if it were trimmed to "T: Exile a card in your hand face up. You may play that card as though it were in your hand." I think people would have been much more interested in it.
Posted By:
dinkum
(8/26/2013 11:09:57 AM)
Ice Cauldron can do some pretty wonky stuff when you start messing with its charge counters. Let's take a look at its normal operation:
Step 0 - Play Ice Cauldron
Step 1 - Tap Ice Cauldron and pay X mana (X can be zero) to activate its first ability. Can only be used if Ice Cauldron has no charge counters on it.
a. Exile a card from your hand
b. Put a charge counter on Ice Cauldron
c. Note any many payed towards the activation cost.
Step 2 - Tap Ice Cauldron and remove a charge counter to activate its second ability.
a. Add X back to your mana pool.
Note that Ice Cauldron retains its notes on the mana last paid to activate its first ability, even if you have already used its second ability. Normally, this is irrelevant, as its two abilities are mutually exclusive, due to the charge counter requirements on both abilities, so in order to access the second ability you must first override the noted stored mana with another use of the first ability.
However, should you sta... (see all)
Posted By:
strider24seven
(4/13/2014 2:12:28 PM)