Ohran Frostfang Threat Assessment for MTG Commanders

Ohran Frostfang Threat Assessment for MTG Commanders

In TCG ·

Ohran Frostfang card art

Image courtesy of Scryfall.com

Threat assessment at the Commander table: what Ohran Frostfang changes about the game

Green midrange has long excelled at stacking inevitability, but Ohran Frostfang from Outlaws of Thunder Junction Commander adds a very particular kind of tempo to the board. At 5 mana for a 2/6 Snow Creature — Snake, Frostfang isn’t a rushy beater. It is a strategic engine that shifts the moral calculus of every combat step: attacking creatures you control have deathtouch, and whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, draw a card. Those two lines—one defensive, one aggressively offensive—coalesce into a threat that players underestimate at their peril 🧙‍♂️🔥💎⚔️. The card’s flavor text—“Silent as a snowdrift. Inexorable as an avalanche.”—reads like a battle plan you might whisper to your own creatures before swinging for impact 🎨.

“Silent as a snowdrift. Inexorable as an avalanche.”

From a gameplay perspective, Frostfang is a threat multiplier that scales with the table size and the number of attackers you can field. The deathtouch gift to attacking creatures punishes soft blocks and invites bold combat decisions. Your opponents will find themselves weighing not only damage totals but also how much they want to cement a single blocker in front of a single tall attacker. The card-draw trigger turns every successful combat step into a resource engine, which is especially potent in Commander where tempo windows are wide and the deck-building space is abundant 🔥🎲.

Why Frostfang can tilt a multi-player game in green’s favor

  • Deathtouch on your attackers makes every swing a potential tax on opponents’ life totals. Blockers become risky to commit and, in many cases, a mistake by design. This creates a psychological pressure that can shape opponents’ plays for several turns, even if Frostfang itself isn’t smashing harder than a wall of 2/6 bodies 🧭⚔️.
  • Card advantage on dealing damage is the kind of evergreen green trait that snowballs in multiplayer formats. In a four-player game, a single Frostfang swing where multiple creatures connect can draw you several cards in a single combat phase, accelerating your board development and potentially enabling larger blowouts as the game stretches on 🧠💎.
  • Snow-scrapbook synergy the set design emphasizes snow themes; Frostfang’s presence dovetails with other snow permanents and green removal to stabilize the board while you draw to your next big play. The flavor and mechanics weave a storytelling thread through your games, making each Frostfang trigger feel like a small, thematic victory 🎨❄️.

Threats and counterplay: how opponents can respond

  • Single-target removal can silence Frostfang and blunt the draw engine—without the engine online, your go-wide plan loses momentum. Plan back-ups: re-cast Frostfang, copy effects, or ways to recur value creatures to keep pressure on opponents while you draw elsewhere.
  • Board wipes and mass removal punish you if you overcommit. In a crowded Commander setting, you’ll want to weigh the risk of overextending and consider resisting the temptation to swing into a cleared board—protective play and resilient threats help maintain inevitability after a reset.
  • Artifacts or enchantments that blunt deathtouch aren’t as common, but any effect that neutralizes combat damage or negates your attacking power can blunt Frostfang’s synergy. Pairing Frostfang with resilient threats or untap/duplicate effects can keep the pressure up even after a removal spell hits the board.

Deck-building notes for a Frostfang-driven Commander meta

If you’re considering building around Ohran Frostfang in EDH, lean into resilience and density of attackers. Ramping into the 5-mana curve comfortably leaves room for mana rocks, land drops, and acceleration that keep you competitive through late-game stages. Since you’re granting deathtouch to your attacking creatures, you’ll want to include a mix of subjects to pump power, provide additional attacks, or create go-wide boards that force difficult blocking decisions. The card-draw payoff encourages you to pair Frostfang with reliable creature-dense boards that can swing multiple times across a single turn—think in terms of value engines, not just raw power 💪🧙‍♂️.

Artistry and flavor aren’t just decorative here. The author’s intent and Torstein Nordstrand’s evocative illustration emphasize the inevitability of Frostfang’s menace on the battlefield, which in turn informs your tempo choices. If opponents respond with removal or exile effects, you’ll want redundancy—reanimators, recursion, or token generators—to keep Frostfang’s presence felt across the table. After all, a single well-timed draw from a successful combat instance can snowball into a game-changing hand advantage 📈🎨.

Meta snapshot: where this card sits in the broader Commander landscape

Ohran Frostfang’s rarity (rare) and its green color identity place it squarely in established EDH archetypes that value card selection, board presence, and control of combat stalls. Its rarity and price point (~USD 3.68 on the deck tally) make it accessible to many players exploring green strategies with a distinctive trick: turning your aggression into card advantage. In terms of EDHREC rankings, Frostfang sits as a credible, non-broken option that shines in longer games where you can leverage multiple attacking creatures to coax formidable blocks and draw into critical tools. It isn’t a busted commander on its own, but as a support engine, it can define the mid- to late-game pacing of your deck with a green, natural-canvas flair 🧩💎.

As with any threat assessment, the key is alignment with your local meta. Frostfang thrives when you have a plan that favors robust board development and efficient card draw, but it can stall if opponents coordinate mass removal and crowd you out of the game. The sweet spot is a green shell that tutors up value, keeps a dependable body on the board, and capitalizes on every successful combat step to keep the engine running—without sacrificing your ability to adapt to the unpredictable rhythms of Commander games ⚔️🧿.

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Ohran Frostfang

Ohran Frostfang

{3}{G}{G}
Snow Creature — Snake

Attacking creatures you control have deathtouch.

Whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, draw a card.

Silent as a snowdrift. Inexorable as an avalanche.

ID: 0693bcd2-8a3d-4dcf-8360-5b9891044dfe

Oracle ID: b99ada26-9a61-4175-9fb8-15a106960220

Multiverse IDs: 658643

TCGPlayer ID: 545184

Cardmarket ID: 764861

Colors: G

Color Identity: G

Keywords:

Rarity: Rare

Released: 2024-04-19

Artist: Torstein Nordstrand

Frame: 2015

Border: black

EDHRec Rank: 462

Set: Outlaws of Thunder Junction Commander (otc)

Collector #: 199

Legalities

  • Standard — not_legal
  • Future — not_legal
  • Historic — not_legal
  • Timeless — not_legal
  • Gladiator — not_legal
  • Pioneer — not_legal
  • Modern — not_legal
  • Legacy — legal
  • Pauper — not_legal
  • Vintage — legal
  • Penny — not_legal
  • Commander — legal
  • Oathbreaker — legal
  • Standardbrawl — not_legal
  • Brawl — not_legal
  • Alchemy — not_legal
  • Paupercommander — not_legal
  • Duel — legal
  • Oldschool — not_legal
  • Premodern — not_legal
  • Predh — not_legal

Prices

  • USD: 3.68
  • EUR: 5.70
  • TIX: 2.74
Last updated: 2025-11-20