Ice Block

Ice Block

Regular

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Gold

Set:	EXPERT1
Type:	Spell
Spell school:	Frost
Class:	Mage
Rarity:	Epic
Cost:	3
Abilities:	Secret
Tags:	Damage-related, Immune-granting, Triggered effect
Artist:	Carl Frank

Secret: When your hero takes fatal damage, prevent it and become Immune this turn.

Ice is nice, and will suffice!

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Ice Block is an epic mage spell card, inducted into the Legacy set, formerly from the Classic and Hall of Fame sets.

Other versions

Classic

How to get

Ice Block can be obtained through Classic card packs, or through crafting.

Card	Crafting cost	Disenchanting
Ice Block	400	100
Golden Ice Block	1600	400

Notes

• Bolf Ramshield, Ice Block and Animated Armor are all predamage triggers, that trigger when your hero takes damage, before the damage is taken: Animated Armor has an early priority and always triggers first, and then Bolf Ramshield and Ice Block trigger in order of play.
  • If Animated Armor and Ice Block are played together, Animated Armor will reduce damage to 1 before Ice Block checks if the damage is fatal.
  • If Bolf Ramshield is played before Ice Block, Bolf Ramshield will intercept fatal damage. If Ice Block is played before Bolf Ramshield, Ice Block will prevent fatal damage before Bolf Ramshield can intercept it.
• When Ice Block triggers, the damage is prevented, and thus on-damage triggers like Queen of Pain and Eye for an Eye will not be activated.
• For additional details, see Damage#Advanced rules.
• Like most Secrets, Ice Block can only trigger during the opponent's turn. Thus, Ice Block will not prevent lethal damage received on their own turn (for example, through Mad Bomber or fatigue damage).
• Notice that when a hero is replaced it will lose any Immune effect. For example, if your Ice Block triggers during the opponent's turn and a friendly Majordomo Executus dies later that turn, your hero will lose the Immune effect, allowing your opponent to kill you that same turn.

Strategy

Can be very effective as an endgame surprise and can be a clutch game saver, giving you one more guaranteed turn. A key card for Freeze Mage.

Note that Ice Block will be triggered in response to any attack (during the opponent's turn) that would deal fatal damage to the user - the user's Health will then be frozen at its current value. For this reason it is generally desirable for opponents to attempt to get the user's Health as low as possible before triggering the Ice Block. In this way, when the user loses Immune at the start of the next turn, they will have a minimum of Health remaining.

As with all Secrets, it should be noted that Ice Block will not activate on the controlling player's turn, meaning that sources of damage such as Fatigue, Mad Bomber or a paladin's Eye for an Eye on the mage's turn are capable of destroying the user despite the presence of an unactivated Ice Block.

Since this Secret will only trigger once your Health gets below 1, playing this card with the Ethereal Arcanist is a fairly strong mid-game combo, giving the minion continual +2/+2 boosts. Medivh's Valet can also consistently deal 3 damage, making both Medivh's Valet and Ice Block core cards for Secret Mage decks.

Lore

Ice Block is a mage spell from World of Warcraft. It encases the mage in unbreakable ice for 10 seconds, but prevents the mage from moving or acting for the duration. Unbreakable by all but the most powerful spells, the ice block renders the mage completely immune to all damage, and other hostile effects. It is commonly used in PvP to frustrate and delay opponents, as well as to give the mage time for their cooldowns to recover, at which point the mage may try to escape, using spells like Frost Nova and Blink to make their getaway. It can also be useful to buy time until a healer can get to you, or can be used immediately after activating a heal over time effect to allow the mage to 'stealth-heal', invulnerable from further attack. Similar to Hearthstone's version, mages can also use it specifically to avoid damage from a particularly powerful attack.

Trivia

• The artwork for this card comes from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game "Through the Dark Portal" series, for the card Ice Block.

Gallery

Ice Block, full art

Patch changes

• Year of the Gryphon rotation (2021-03-30): Moved from Hall of Fame to Legacy set.
• Patch 20.0.0.77662 (2021-03-25): Now has Frost spell school (previously: no spell school).
• Patch 11.0.0.23966 (2018-04-10): Moved from Classic to Hall of Fame set.

Commentary: This Mage secret is a powerful card, and has been the centerpiece of Standard decks for years. It’s time to make more room for new Mage decks in Standard.