Ice Block

Ice Block

Regular

Gold

Set:	Legacy
Type:	Spell
Spell school:	Frost
Class:	Mage
Rarity:	Epic
Cost:	3
Abilities:	Secret
Wiki tags:	Damage-related, Triggered effect

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

Flavor text

Ice is nice, and will suffice!

External links

Data page • PlayHearthstone • Hearthpwn

Ice Block is an epic mage spell card, from the Classic set.

How to get

Ice Block can be obtained through Classic card packs, through crafting, or as an Arena reward. Regular Ice Block can also be obtained through the Highest Rank Bonus chest at the end of a Ranked season, or as a first-time reward for first time reaching Platinum 10 or Diamond 10 in Ranked mode.

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 Mistress of Pain and Eye for an Eye will not be activated.
• For additional details, see Damage#Advanced rules.
• Notice that when a hero is replaced it will lose any Immune effect. For example, if your Ice Block triggers duing 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.

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.

Artist

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Gallery

Ice Block, full art