Strengths and Weaknesses Series Part 3: Freljord
We decided to chill out for a while but we’re back with part three of this series showcasing the buff-blue boys.
I’m Jordan “WhatAmI” Abronson and I’ll be your guide today through this frozen wasteland as we dig into what makes Freljord a powerhouse of a region.
Freljord Overview
Freljord often feels like the most misunderstood of all the regions.
People look at the variety of powers that these hearty mountain survivors offer and think it all boils down to big butts and sweeper effects.
While those are certainly an important part of this region’s identity that is far from all we can find here.
Freljord Strengths
The Ramp
While this may be on the decline right now, it’s important to remember that Freljord was the home of doing big things unreasonably quickly for a long time.
I doubt it would take much for Warding Stones or Catalyst of Aeons to jump back to center stage again.
The Stomp
Most regions have to deal with silly things like your opponent being allowed to block your creatures.
While they can certainly try, the dare I say overwhelming power of some of Freljords top ends threats can make those blocks feel like trying to stop a breaking dam by sticking your finger in the cracks.
The Sweep
From Avalanche to Blighted Ravine with occasional showcases from Ice shard and Icequake Freljord is the place to be to deal with swarm-y nonsense.
That said be careful when leaning too hard on these.
The newest iteration of the swarm has started not caring about silly restrictions like “once a turn,” or “six wide board limit,” and can make things quite tricky.
The Burst
I don’t think a region is better at playing at Burst speed than our icy buddies here.
From the bevy of Freezes, to arguably the best combat trick in the game with Troll Chant, all the way down to Elixir of Iron and back up to Battle Fury, Freljord has this particular title on absolute lock.
Freljord Weaknesses
The Speed
Everything Freljord does they tend to do slowly.
Whether it’s the simple speed of their actions with a total of two spells that work at Fast speed in the entire region, or actual delays courtesy of Avarosan Trapper and Blighted Ravine, speed is not the name of the game.
The Large Removal
While here in Freljord we excel at dealing with large amounts of small bodies, show us one with more than three health and we’re going to have problems.
Outside of avalanche-ing twice or finding a way to force it into combat we can’t really do much.
And don’t even get me started on five-plus health units that require answers.
I’m looking at you Inspiring Marshall.
The Draw
This particular weakness is why you will often find Freljord paired up with another region that can create value for it.
Whether it is the absolute K.O. power of the Shadow Isles combo or the brutal card draw engine that Trifarian Assessor provides we need to turn to other colors to cover this particular weakness or we will find ourselves quickly out of gas.
The Sneaky
Not to say that Freezes and Buff spells aren’t extremely powerful interaction tools, but there really isn’t sufficient variety in the region to represent multiple things.
You can either have it or not have it, but the thing you are representing to your opponent is basically always going to be the same.
Unless we include tricks and interaction from other regions hand reading against us ends up being both relatively simple and unfortunately binary.
Conclusion
Freljord is a place of howling winds, biting cold, buffs on buffs, and beefy boys.
They might be a little bit slow to get going but once the pace picks up the threat output they can get onto the board is almost unmatched.
Stay frosty, watch out for those Mega-Avalanches, and may all your Avarosan Trappers give you the Yeti on your first draw.
Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, feel free to ask WhatAmI during his streams (around 10AM PST basically every day).
WhatAmI streams at twitch.tv/xxwhatamixx around 10AM PST every day
