Freeze

Freeze
Frozen characters lose their next attack.

A Frozen minion

A Frozen hero

Freeze is an ability that marks a minion or hero as Frozen. Frozen characters miss their next possible attack. After this, the Frozen status is removed.

Frozen status only affects combat. Frozen heroes can take all other actions as usual, including using their Hero Power, playing cards, equipping weapons and commanding minions. Frozen characters will also still defend themselves if attacked. Silencing a Frozen character will remove the Frozen status.

Freeze effects are mostly limited to the mage and shaman classes.

Strategy

Freeze effects are useful for stopping strong minions before they become a problem. Alternatively, they can be used to buy time to defeat the targets, or simply to reduce incoming damage by preventing attack this round, especially when using multi-target Freezes such as Frost Nova.

Duration

Frozen characters are unable to attack, and will not thaw until the end of the turn on which they did not attack. The exact duration of the Frozen effect therefore varies depending on whether the character has already attacked that turn. Note that it does not matter whether or not the character is able to attack (such as if they have 0 Attack or the "Can't Attack" text), only whether or not they attacked. This behaviour can be significant when attacking with characters with Windfury, and in predicting vulnerability to Ice Lance. The game rule is therefore:

• After a player ends their turn (just before the next player's Start of Turn Phase), un-Freeze all characters they control that are Frozen, don't have summoning sickness (or do have Charge) and have not attacked that turn.

This rule produces varying durations depending on circumstances:

• For enemy characters on your turn, the result is very simple: if you Freeze an enemy character during your turn, it will thaw at the start of your next turn.
• For friendly characters on your turn, it depends on whether or not they have attacked that turn.
  • If a friendly character gets Frozen before attacking, they will un-Freeze at the end of the turn. This includes characters which were unable to attack, such as a 0 Attack minion or hero.
  • If a friendly character gets Frozen after attacking, they will un-Freeze at the end of the next turn. This includes characters with Windfury who have only attacked once this turn.

Examples:

• If a mage Freezes herself and ends the turn, she will immediately become un-Frozen.
• If a player Freezes his own minion before it attacks and ends the turn, that minion will immediately become un-Frozen.
• If a player Freezes his own minion with Windfury that has only attacked once so far this turn, and ends the turn, that minion will remain Frozen until the end of the player's next turn.
• If a player plays a Charge minion, Freezes it and ends the turn, that minion will immediately become un-Frozen.
• If a player plays a minion that does not have Charge, including Can't Attack minions such as Ancient Watcher and 0 Attack minions, Freezes it and ends the turn, that minion will remain Frozen. The next time the player ends their turn, the minion will finally un-Freeze. The reason it did not un-Freeze the first turn is because the minion had summoning sickness.
• If a player Freezes and takes control of an enemy minion (either order), it has summoning sickness, so it will remain Frozen until the end of that player's next turn. (If it had Charge, it will immediately become un-Frozen when ending turn.)

Cards with Freeze

Freeze effects are mostly confined to mage cards.

Name / Desc	Rarity	Type	Subtype	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Frost Nova	Free	Spell		Mage	3			Freeze all enemy minions. Hey man, that's cold. Literally and metaphorically.
Frost Shock	Free	Spell		Shaman	1			Deal 1 damage to an enemy character and Freeze it. FROST SHOCK!
Frostbolt	Free	Spell		Mage	2			Deal 3 damage to a character and Freeze it. It is customary to yell "Chill out!" or "Freeze!" or "Ice ice, baby!" when you play this card.
Water Elemental	Free	Minion	Elemental	Mage	4	3	6	Freeze any character damaged by this minion. Don't summon a water elemental at a party. It'll dampen the mood.
Breath of Sindragosa	Common	Spell		Mage	1			Deal 2 damage to a random enemy minion and Freeze it. Is it cold in here or is it just Sindragosa?
Brrrloc	Common	Minion	Murloc	Shaman	2	2	2	Battlecry: Freeze an enemy. He may be frozen fish, but he fights fresh!
Cone of Cold	Common	Spell		Mage	4			Freeze a minion and the minions next to it, and deal 1 damage to them. Magi of the Kirin Tor were casting Cubes of Cold for many years before Cones came into fashion some 90 years ago.
Frost Elemental	Common	Minion	Elemental	Any	6	5	5	Battlecry: Freeze a character. When a Water elemental and an Ice elemental love each other VERY much...
Glacial Shard	Common	Minion	Elemental	Any	1	2	1	Battlecry: Freeze an enemy. Ice, ice, baby!
Hyldnir Frostrider	Common	Minion	General	Any	3	4	4	Battlecry: Freeze your other minions. Don't be fooled, that polar bear's the one in charge.
Snap Freeze	Common	Spell		Mage	2			Freeze a minion. If it's already Frozen, destroy it. Lick the ice block. I triple-double-dog-dare-you.
Avalanche	Rare	Spell		Shaman	4			Freeze a minion and deal 3 damage to adjacent ones. One of our more snowbally cards.
Blizzard	Rare	Spell		Mage	6			Deal 2 damage to all enemy minions and Freeze them. This spell can be very Entertaining.
Frozen Crusher	Rare	Minion	Elemental	Any	6	8	8	After this minion attacks, Freeze it. Goes by the online handle "KoolKrusher99."
Ice Walker	Rare	Minion	Elemental	Mage	2	1	3	Your Hero Power also Freezes the target. Ice Walker you say? He doesn't have feet!
Voodoo Hexxer	Rare	Minion	General	Shaman	5	2	7	Taunt Freeze any character damaged by this minion. The Silver Hand recruits shuddered in terror when they saw the dreaded totem of the Hexxer: A tiny little snowman, impaled with pins.
Cryostasis	Epic	Spell		Shaman	2			Give a minion +3/+3 and Freeze it. We'll thaw you out when we find a cure!
Showing all 17 cards

Wild format

 This section contains information exclusive to Wild format.

Name / Desc	Rarity	Type	Subtype	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Emergency Coolant	None	Spell		Any	1			Freeze a minion.
Kazakus Potion	None	Spell			1
Kazakus Potion	None	Spell			10
Kazakus Potion	None	Spell			5
Freezing Potion	Common	Spell		Mage	0			Freeze an enemy. This is delicious! Oh no. BRAIN FREEEEEEEZE!
Ice Lance	Common	Spell		Mage	1			Freeze a character. If it was already Frozen, deal 4 damage instead. The trick is not to break the lance. Otherwise, you have "Ice Pieces." Ice Pieces aren't as effective.
Snowchugger	Common	Minion	Mech	Mage	2	2	3	Freeze any character damaged by this minion. Do the slow chant when he waddles by: "Chug! Chug! Chug!"
Demented Frostcaller	Rare	Minion	General	Mage	4	2	4	After you cast a spell, Freeze a random enemy character. He prefers that you refer to him by his nickname: 'Frostwaker.'
Showing all 8 cards

Related cards

These cards have special - and often lethal - synergy with Frozen targets.

Name / Desc	Rarity	Type	Subtype	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Coldwraith	Common	Minion	General	Mage	3	3	4	Battlecry: If an enemy is Frozen, draw a card. He's freezing his bones off!
Snap Freeze	Common	Spell		Mage	2			Freeze a minion. If it's already Frozen, destroy it. Lick the ice block. I triple-double-dog-dare-you.
Ice Breaker	Rare	Weapon		Shaman	3	1	3	Destroy any Frozen minion damaged by this. A great way to end a conversation.
Ice Cream Peddler	Epic	Minion	General	Any	4	3	5	Battlecry: If you control a Frozen minion, gain 8 Armor. I scream, you scream, we all scream when we see a Freeze Mage.
Icicle	Epic	Spell		Mage	2			Deal 2 damage to a minion. If it's Frozen, draw a card. This may appear weak at frost glance, but it's actually a very ice spell.
Moorabi	Legendary	Minion	General	Shaman	6	4	4	Whenever another minion is Frozen, add a copy of it to your hand. Most disturbing is how Moorabi covers all those frozen minions with flavored syrup.
Showing all 6 cards

Wild format

 This section contains information exclusive to Wild format.

Name / Desc	Rarity	Type	Subtype	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Cryomancer	Common	Minion	General	Mage	5	5	5	Battlecry: If an enemy is Frozen, gain +2/+2. She loves Frozen. I mean who doesn't?
Ice Lance	Common	Spell		Mage	1			Freeze a character. If it was already Frozen, deal 4 damage instead. The trick is not to break the lance. Otherwise, you have "Ice Pieces." Ice Pieces aren't as effective.
Shatter	Common	Spell		Mage	2			Destroy a Frozen minion. What's cooler than being cool?
Showing all 3 cards

References

	Cards
By type	Hero card Minion Spell Weapon
By class	Druid Hunter Mage Paladin Priest Rogue Shaman Warlock Warrior
By minion type	All Beast Demon Dragon Elemental Mech Murloc Pirate Totem General
By ability	Adapt Auto-Attack Auto-cast Battlecry Can't attack Cast spell Casts When Drawn Charge Choose One Choose Twice Combo Copy Deal damage Deathrattle Destroy Discard Discover Divine Shield Draw cards Echo Elusive Enrage Equip Forgetful Freeze Gain Armor Generate Immune Inspire Joust Lifesteal Magnetic Mega-Windfury Modify cost Overkill Overload Permanent Poisonous Put into battlefield Put into hand Quest Recruit Refresh Mana Remove from deck Replace Rush Restore Health Return to hand Secret Shuffle into deck Silence Spell Damage Spend mana Start of Game Stealth Summon Taunt Take control Transform Unlimited attacks Upgradable Windfury
By effect type	Area of effect In-deck effect In-hand effect On-discard effect On-draw effect Ongoing effect Positional effect Random effect Resurrection effect Triggered effect
By card set	Basic Classic Journey to Un'Goro Knights of the Frozen Throne Kobolds & Catacombs The Witchwood The Boomsday Project Rastakhan's Rumble
	Hall of Fame Naxxramas Goblins vs Gnomes Blackrock Mountain Grand Tournament The League of Explorers Whispers of the Old Gods One Night in Karazhan Mean Streets of Gadgetzan
By rarity	Free Common Rare Epic Legendary