Just for the record, none of the newer Blizzaks uses an all-season compound for any part of the tread.
When the first generation of Blizzaks came out, Bridgestone did in fact use an all-season compound for the last 5 or 6/32nds of tread. This had always struck me as a smart idea, since (as others have mentioned) winter tires with less than 5 or 6/32nds of tread are not very useful for their intended purpose.
Made sense to me, but all you ever hear from people is the same old line: "Blizzaks are great when they're new, but before they're even half worn out, they turn into a plain old all-season tire."
I'm sure Bridgestone got tired of hearing that same line over and over as well, because a few years ago they quit using the all-season compound as the base for their winter tires, and instead switched over to a regular winter compound for the base layer.
Oh, yeah... back to the original question....
![Grin ;D](https://www.autos.ca/forum/Smileys/CarTalk/grin.gif)
I put a set of Yokohama IG10s on my Civic last fall. Only drove 10,000 kms on them last winter, but haven't really noticed any wear so far. Ice & snow performance are excellent, so I'd be thrilled except for the fact that they are an absolute abomination on bare highways (like every other Q-rated winter tire I've had the misfortune of driving on).
I'd listen to Morty & focus your search on H-rated winter tires. You might lose 10% in pure ice and snow traction, but you'll gain at least 100% in handling and stability at highway speeds. Seems like a good trade-off to me.