Snow Bricks and Frost-Walking Cubes Arrive in 26.4 Snapshot 6

Minecraft 26.4 Snapshot 6, released on 27 October 2026, continues filling out the winter update with two major additions: Snow Bricks as a new building block family, and a Cold archetype for the Sulfur Cube that behaves like the Frost Walker enchantment. These features complement the Ice Caves biome, Frostbites, Icicles and Brittle Ice already introduced in earlier snapshots.

Snow Bricks are crafted by placing four Snow Blocks in a 2×2 pattern and come with Slab, Stairs and Wall variants, according to Sportskeeda. Unlike Packed Ice Bricks from Snapshot 5, Snow Bricks cannot be shaped in a Stonecutter. They require a Shovel to drop when mined and belong to the Fast Sliding archetype, making them suitable for frozen bases alongside their Packed Ice counterparts.

The Cold Sulfur Cube Changes Travel Across Water

The standout feature is the new Cold Sulfur Cube archetype. When a regular Sulfur Cube absorbs a Blue Ice block, it transforms into this variant, which maintains fast-sliding behaviour but gains the ability to float. More notably, minecraft-guides.com reports that it freezes the Water beneath it into Frosted Ice whenever it moves while on the ground—essentially replicating the Frost Walker enchantment. Air blocks above the water are required for the ice to form, and the frozen surface is temporary, reverting to water over time.

This mechanic opens creative possibilities for players. The community has already speculated about boat racing without pre-built tracks, ice tray construction without flying machines, and rapid ocean traversal. Slicedlime, a Technical Director at Mojang, highlighted that the feature essentially formalises a previous glitch involving Frost Walker boots, turning an unintended exploit into an intentional game mechanic.

Smaller Changes Round Out the Snapshot

• Ice Crystals now emit ambient sounds to enhance immersion in Ice Caves, praised by players for making the biome feel more atmospheric
• Snowballs now knock players back when they hit, adding a new tactical element to snowball combat
• Ice, Packed Ice, Blue Ice and Frosted Ice all received their own sound effects
• Jukeboxes can now play Music Discs sequentially from a single Chest, Trapped Chest or Copper Chest placed on top, creating automatic playlists
• The Freezing effect now counts toward the 'A Furious Cocktail' and 'How Did We Get Here?' advancements, requiring a Potion of Freezing to complete both

Wattles noted that Brittle Ice, the thin ice covering crevasses in Ice Cave floors, remains unchanged—it still breaks after a few seconds of standing on it and requires Silk Touch to collect.

Community Reception: Excitement With Caveats

Content creators and players are largely enthusiastic about the additions. The ambient sounds for Ice Crystals drew particular praise for their atmospheric quality. However, some players expressed frustration that Snow Bricks and regular Snow blocks still lack Stairs, Slabs and Walls variants, fearing these may never arrive if they are not included before the full release. One commenter worried that missing variants now could mean permanent exclusion, citing the example of Deepslate blocks which launched without complete sets.

There is also lingering hope in the community for the Iceologer mob, which was voted against in a previous mob vote. Some players suggested that a Calcite block set would be equally valuable for building in frozen biomes. Overall, the snapshot demonstrates Mojang's continued commitment to the Sulfur Cube family after earlier concerns that the feature might be abandoned.

Snapshot 6 is available now for Java Edition players through the Launcher's Installations tab. As always, Mojang recommends testing snapshots in separate worlds or backups, as they can corrupt existing saves. The full 26.4 release is planned for the fourth quarter of 2026.