When Wizards of the Coast announced its plans to release Coldsnap, the reception was like nothing before – only fitting, since Coldsnap is like no other set. An expansion based on a decade-old set? Revisiting old themes, mechanics, and storylines, and even with old-school art? Homelands locked away and Ice Age now a true block? The reception was generally positive.

The exceptions, of course, were people who were so offended by the too-good-to-be-true story of Coldsnap's origins as a “lost R&D file”. When it was revealed to be a joke, most of those players swore off Magic, then preordered three boxes of Guildpact anyway.

One thing that intrigued players was the announcement that the preconstructed decks Wizards would be selling for Coldsnap would include reprinted cards from Ice Age and Alliances. (Wizards has said that the reprinted cards would not be legal in Standard and Extended.) Some players are speculating on what would be reprinted, and most of that speculation is centering on Force of Will.

Ever since Force of Will was printed originally in Alliances, it's been recognized as one of the best, if not the best, counterspells ever printed, since it could be cast by players who were tapped out, or even on their first turn without any lands in play, thanks to its alternate casting cost. It's a staple card in Vintage and Legacy.

Some players, who can't afford the high price tag, would like to see Force of Will reprinted in a Coldsnap precon so they could play with one or save some bucks on a playset. Others point out how having Umezawa's Jitte so easily available in the “Rat's Nest” Betrayers Of Kamigawa precon helped define the Kamigawa block format, and don't want a card so powerful in a precon again.

Wizards is, as usual, not talking about what's going in any precons, and won't until the set is actually released. I thought it would be interesting to review the arguments for and against reprinting Force of Will in a precon, and see what conclusions we can reach.

A disclaimer: I have no connection with Wizards of the Coast whatsoever, beyond giving them a great deal of my money. I have no emotional interest one way or the other in how this is resolved. That said, let's start with the arguments in favor of reprinting:

Reprinting Force of Will would increase interest in Coldsnap.

It would get players to, at the least, buy the precon that had Force of Will; if they liked the new cards in the deck, they would buy more. And the buzz this would generate in the Magic community would be considerable.

Rebuttal: New Magic sets tend to generate their own buzz. Admittedly, Coldsnap is a unique case, but this uniqueness is causing interest by itself. I would theorize that new mechanics, new themes, and powerful or interesting new cards would create more interest in Coldsnap than almost any reprint could.

Reprinting Force of Will would be very popular with players.

After all, Force of Will is a sought-after card; being able to pick them up cheaply would be good.

Rebuttal: Wizards of the Coast is not out to make players happy with individual decisions; they're out to make them happy with the state and development of Magic as a whole. Or, to put it another way, players might be happy if Wizards gave away tournament-legal Power Nine reprint sets in Wheaties boxes, but it ain't gonna happen.

Admittedly, any reprinting might make new Vintage and Legacy players happy, but I'm not sure if that's enough to sway Wizards in favor of doing so. I'm certainly not expert enough in the issues surrounding those formats to know how the established players would react.

Let's survey the arguments against reprinting:

Wizards won't reprint powerful cards in precons ever again, after the Jitte fiasco.

Rebuttal: Lightning Helix is one of the best burn spells to come along in a while, and you can get two in a Ravnica precon. Next.

Wizards doesn't reprint too many uncommons from earlier block sets in precons later in the block.

The purpose of precon decks is to give players an inexpensive taste of a new set, and so Wizards prefers to showcase cards from the new set in precons.

Rebuttal: Again, Coldsnap is a special case; since a lot of Ice Age and Alliances cards have not been reprinted recently if at all, they would be new to many players. Besides, Wizards does include uncommons (and commons) from older sets in some precons, to help with their playability (keep in mind that “playability” is, as always when discussing precon decks fresh out of the box, a relative term). So they could easily include an uncommon or two from Ice Age and/or Alliances in a deck. (However, the rares in any precon deck always come from the set the precons accompany, and that means that the two rares in the Coldsnap precons will be from Coldsnap.)

Reprinting Force of Will would create confusion with players, since it would not be Standard-legal.

If someone buys a precon, they expect to be able to use every card from it in their Standard decks. But with non-Standard legal Ice Age and Alliances cards included, it increases the chances that Sammy Scrub or Joe Pro might accidentally bring an illegal deck to a PTQ or Champs.

Rebuttal: If you're looking to become a Magic Pro, or you're one already, you need to know the format. You have to be aware of what's legal in any Constructed format you play. If you're not, it's your fault; the information is readily available. And 99.99% of Magic Pros are smart enough to know what's legal and what isn't.

That said, I'm sure that Wizards is aware of the potential confusion for new Magic Pro wannabes. They'll probably go out of their way to remind/warn players about tournament legality. They may also try to fill in most of the non-Coldsnap slots with average or worse cards (Pyknite, anyone?) or cards that are already Standard-legal (Icy Manipulator, Guerrilla Tactics).

Reprinting Force of Will would irritate dealers, who might be stuck with extra stock on the other three precons.

After all, when one card drives demand for a precon deck, that's usually the one that sells out fastest. The others could sit for some time, tying up shelf space and cash for dealers.

Rebuttal: Actually, most dealers do their homework and react to market trends quickly. If Force of Will does get reprinted in a Coldsnap precon, dealers will certainly do what good old StarCityGames.com did when Betrayers came out – boost the cost of the one precon, and maybe cut the cost of the others.

It might be different for big-box chains – but then again, I check the card game aisles almost every time I visit Target and Wal-Mart - that's how I got my Rat's Nest precon, after all - and I've never seen them overstocked with the three unlucky Betrayers precons. They probably don't order too heavily on them on a store-by-store basis, and what they do order gets snapped up by casual players.

Reprinting Force of Will would irritate dealers and collectors who have invested heavily in that card.

After all, look what happened when Chronicles came out – many high-demand cards saw their prices sink, and some dealers lost money and sales because of this. Wizards heard their complaints, and this eventually led to their setting up the Reserved List (a list of cards that Wizards has promised to never reprint). Force of Will is still in heavy demand amongst Legacy and Vintage players, and many dealers have stocked up on it. And players who have dropped $25 for it might be peeved about seeing it in a precon for half the price at Target.

Rebuttal: While Wizards has learned from the Chronicles fiasco, and while they are sensitive to dealers' concerns… Force of Will isn't on the Reserved List. It's fair game. Still, it's a strong argument against reprinting.

Reprinting Force of Will would spoil any release of Alliances on Magic Online.

Bingo.

Coldsnap is heading for MTGO, and many people have speculated that Ice Age and Alliances will follow. As the amount of cards available online grows, more people will be playing online formats such as Classic and Prismatic. They'll want as many as they can get of the best counterspell ever printed.

Wizards is in business to, among other things, turn a profit, and Magic Online is profitable. If and when Alliances comes out online, they're going to want to sell lots and lots of packs to players who want Force of Will, which is easily the most in-demand card from Alliances. They won't want to ruin those booster sales by making Force of Will easily available, at least until the Alliances online release.

Rebuttal: Who cares what online players think?

Answer: The players themselves, and Wizards.

It's safe to say that Magic Online isn't going away anytime soon. Nearly every decision Wizards makes from now on will be influenced by what effect it will have on MTGO. I think that wanting to save the good stuff for that online release will lead them to not reprint Force of Will in a Coldsnap precon.

Then again, the existence of Coldsnap alone proves that Wizards loves to surprise the Magic community. They could have one or two more surprises up their sleeves when it comes to those precons. If they do, maybe it won't be so bad for me to be wrong.

Just as long as they don't reprint Brown Ouphe again. Once was one time too many.

-Robert