Thing in the Ice

Creature — Horror

Defender

Thing in the Ice enters the battlefield with four ice counters on it.

Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, remove an ice counter from Thing in the Ice. Then if it has no ice counters on it, transform it.

Discussion (51)

Joker4242 on Kraken Open a Cold One

1 day ago

Happy to help. Although I agree you may need more instant/sorceries. Thing in the Ice  ^Flip relies on instants and sorceries to transform. you have a lot of enchantments, no doubt to increase Devotion. I would consider taking out Ichthyomorphosis. If creatures are bounced to the hand due to Whelming Wave or Thing in the Ice, then you will lose your enchantment. I really like Omen of the Sea. I think it is a great card that also helps with Devotion. Personally, I like Into the Roil. Good for early control, and mid game you can also draw a card. Vapor Snag is always good too.

RobbyTweedle on Kraken Open a Cold One

2 days ago

Joker4242, thanks man they're some great ideas! I have a reasonable budget so may put in like 2 Thing in the Ice  ^Flip and use 2 or 3 Stubborn Denial over Cancel! I'll think about adding more bounce spells too :)

Joker4242 on Kraken Open a Cold One

4 days ago

Nice idea. I’ve always wanted to make a Sea-creature deck. I foresee some issues with protecting your krakens as well as protect yourself during the early game though. You don’t have a lot of cheap bounce/counter, and not a lot of cheap creatures. I don’t know what you’re budget is, you may want to consider Thing in the Ice  ^Flip. Early drop. Transforms into a powerful kraken while also sweeping the board. Cancel is a little too expensive for a counter. I would suggest Stubborn Denial. Cheaper way to deal with your opponent's killspells. Hard counter if you got a kraken down. You may want to consider Whelming Wave or Engulf the Shore as a way with dealing with large armies. AEtherize relies on your opponent Attacking you. Good start to a deck. Good luck with it.

fluffyeel on Dimir Mill

1 week ago

Mill is fun! I have some thoughts, though:

• A nice finisher might be Mind Grind, since that can be nice and damaging. You also have Consuming Aberration that can get quite large and quite lethal. (Quite quickly.)
• For the milling strategy, another option could be to go the route with Sphinx's Tutelage, which can add up quickly. I've toyed around with using Tutelage and Folio of Fancies to draw all the cards and empty all the opponents' libraries in record time. This could also be nice in combination with Into the Story; this might be a better route to consider instead of Memory Adept (and especially four copies).
• If you want the milling strategy, better planeswalkers than that Jace are Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver and Ashiok, Dream Render. The former helps you steal opponents' threats, while the latter is straight-up value milling plus exile (which is useful if dredge-like shenanigans are a thing).
• Other useful milling creatures are Minister of Inquiries, Overwhelmed Apprentice, and Manic Scribe, each with a bit of a different niche. (I like the Apprentice, since the bonus scry also sets up your draws.) You can also add Thing in the Ice  ^Flip as a bonus finisher: if you cast four qualifying spells, the Thing flips and lets you re-use your Secretkeepers, Ministers, et al.

Joker4242 on Island Secrets

2 weeks ago

My sideboard continues to change frequently. I have a 4th Archmage's Charm, Cyclonic Rift, and Day's Undoing at the ready. Surgical Extraction seems likely to stay in. But the rest are merely placeholders. I’m not exactly sure what I should replace them with. Pongify is still a valid option. Having early removal may prove highly beneficial. Mystical Dispute and Stubborn Denial are also useful counters against other blue/counter decks.

Now Relic of Progenitus is a very useful card, although is does have its drawbacks.

It can consistently remove cards from your opponents graveyard. But it’s second ability works against you because it will exile your graveyard as well. It does not work well with Day's Undoing. It is also not blue, nor is it an instant or sorcery, therefore you cannot combo it with Thing in the Ice  ^Flip or exile it with Force of Negation.

Surgical Extraction Is nice, it can be cast for free, it can be cast at any time, it can also be recycled with Mystic Sanctuary. The downside is that you must always pay 2 life to cast it (this deck has no lifegain whatsoever). Both cards have their downsides and neither one fits exactly, although Surgical Extraction works slightly better for this kind of deck.

Vendilion Clique is a useful card on its own, yet it doesn’t fit exactly into the deck. I don’t have enough bounce in the deck to consistently utilize Clique’s ability several times over. Now the 3/1 flying is nice, but I already have that with Brazen Borrower. The upside to the Clique is that you get to look at your opponents Hand and get rid of a problematic card. However, Borrower can act as an Instant spell (Which can trigger Thing in the Ice  ^Flip. Borrower can also remain in exile, this way it won’t be Bounced by Thing in the Ice nor will it be shuffled back into the deck by a Day's Undoing.

Venser, Shaper Savant is certainly a placeholder, it does pretty much what Cryptic Command will be doing (but with less options).

Kefnet the Mindful used to be in the deck. It was paired with Day’s Undoing to immediately become a 5/5 flyer. The problem is that he takes to long to setup. His 4 mana draw/land bounce ability won’t be useful until the late game. In the end, he ends up taking space in the hand or field, but doesn’t actually do anything (with a hand of 7 cards Kefnet is formidable, as soon as you start to play spells, Kefnet is useless again, essentially, Kefnet discourages spellcasting).

Aether Spellbomb was a card I enjoyed playing in the main deck. However, I found that it couldn’t combat every situation. Eventually it made its way into the sideboard as I needed to make space for Brazen Borrower (a mich more useful and potent card). Even though it has saved me in the past, I am thinking that it just can’t keep up with the rest of the deck. For one, it cannot be exiled with Force of Negation, for another, it is not an instant or sorcery, therefore it cannot trigger Thing in the Ice  ^Flip. I think it has served it’s purpose in the past, but I don’t see it coming back into the deck.

This is what I would end up with when considering what I want to keep in my sideboard:

1x Archmage’s Charm 1x Cyclonic Rift 1x Day’s Undoing 3x Surgical Extraction 4x Mystical Dispute

I still have 5 slots left to fill.

I’m thinking about perhaps adding some sort of protection against burn decks, maybe some more countermeasures against other counter/control decks, and I also feel like my defenses against Aggro may need to be tightened up.

PhyrexianAgent on iz phoenix pioneer

2 weeks ago

Have you tried Thing in the Ice  ^Flip? It's sort of a nonbo with Young Pyromancer, but I still think that it is disruptive enough to cut a couple of pyromancers for. Also, how had Ox of Agonas worked for you? To me, it seems that the cost of exiling 8 cards is a bit too much.

snishi on Blue Moon

3 weeks ago

1/31/2020 FNM

First time playing Modern since War of the Spark. Wasn't too sure of the meta at my LGS so I packed a little too much gy hate.

Round 1 vs. Dredge

Opponent was playing Dredge with Ox of Agonas.

Game 1:

Blood Moon on t3 limited his options which I Remand-ed back to his hand. No green meant no Life from the Loam to get his 5th land to hard cast the ox. Bounced 4 Prized Amalgam via Thing in the Ice  ^Flip Flip and attacked for lethal after some burn to the face.

Sideboard for Game 2:

Out: 4 Opt, 1 Force of Negation, 1 Serum Visions

In: 2 Grafdigger's Cage, 2 Anger of the Gods, 2 Ashiok, Dream Render

Game 2:

Started with an Anger of the Gods, Remand, Thing in the Ice, 3 lands, and a Lightning Bolt. T3 opponent casts Cathartic Reunion discarding 2 Stinkweed Imp and a Golgari Thug to dredge for 14. My T3 I remove Narcomoeba, 3 Prized Amalgams and a Bloodghast with Anger of the Gods. Drew the second Anger to keep his board clear. Tried to block Awoken Horror but when I showed Cryptic Command + Mystic Sanctuary he scooped with ~7 card left in library.

Round 2 vs. Eldrazi Tron

Game 1:

Opponent couldn't get t3 tron but managed a Chalice of the Void on 1, no can-trips or bolts for me. Played a Karn, Scion of Urza and decided to take an Expedition Map to try to get tron instead of a Mind Stone (He forgot that he couldn't cast it with Chalice). Remand-ed a Thought-Knot Seer twice and Cryptic-ed his Reality Smasher which flipped a Thing. Tried to stabilize with a Walking Ballista but before attacks I Archmage's Charm-ed to gain control of his only blocker. Game 2.

Sideboard:

Out: 3 Opt

In: Damping Sphere, Summary Dismissal, Ceremonious Rejection

Game 2:

I had my only Snow-Covered Mountain in my opening hand which threw off my t3 Archmage's Charm and t4 Cryptic. I got lucky when my opponent still couldn't get tron until t5. Couldn't counter a Thought-Knot Seer and he took a titi but I also had a Magmatic Sinkhole to remove it. Kept countering his threats until I managed to get Ral, Izzet Viceroy out, -3 his Ballista on 1, he pings Ral and I keep using his +1 and countering his spells until I managed to ult Ral. He scoops.

Round 3 vs. Rakdos Vampires

Game 1:

Opponent was playing a vampire-themed midrange deck with Vampire Nocturnus, Gifted Aetherborn, Stromkirk Captain, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord along with the standard black cards like Liliana of the Veil, Fatal Push, Dark Confidant, and Thoughtseize. T1 Cavern of Souls was a pain but I could still draw a card with remand to dig for removal which I found in a bolt + snapcaster. I won with another snapcaster + bolt.

Sideboard:

Out: 2 Opt

In: 2 Anger of the Gods

Game 2:

Removed Kalitas with sinkhole and Force of Negation-ed his lotv when he tried to remove a titi which he did push later. Stabilized at 7 life by slamming a blood moon to get rid of Stensia Bloodhall and Lavaclaw Reaches but next turn he played Chandra, Awakened Inferno which I removed via bolt + sinkhole. Had to race him and beat him to death with a snapcaster and a Brazen Borrower. Won at 2 life.

Round 4 vs. Boros Burn

Game 1:

Had to remand a Boros Charm twice until t4 blood moon. Stabilized at 2 life but almost died to Searing Blood on my titi. Beat him to death with an awoken horror.

Sideboard:

Out: 2 Opt

In: 2 Anger of the Gods. At this point I didn't have any Dragon's Claw in my sideboard so I knew this was my worst match.

Game 2:

Had to mull to 6 which opponent was happy about. Fought through two Eidolon of the Great Revel and stabilized at 6 life. Slammed Ral, -3 on Monastery Swiftspear, and +1 until he ulted, countering every burn spell without using a snapcaster. Opponent scooped after I used bolt + mystic sanctuary + ral emblem. Showed me a hand of 3 Searing Blood + 1 Path to Exile (from sb to get rid of titi).

Overall:

I did not lose a single game this FNM but I knew I got very lucky vs Eldrazi Tron Game 2 and burn both games.

Changes to mainboard:

Out: 1 Snow-Covered Mountain In: 1 Steam Vents

Note: Even though most lists run 1 Mountain it still felt really bad having it in my opening hand. This time I wasn't punished but I can't rely on that every time. An additional steam vents keeps me at 5 red sources without blood moon and it acts as an additional Island for Mystic Sanctuary

Changes to sideboard:

Out: Relic of Progenitus In: Shenanigans

Note: Tonight I wasn't against a Stoneforge Mystic deck that my friend uses so I was pretty vulnerable to any artifact deck. Since I already have 6 cards in the sideboard that hate on graveyard decks and only ceremonious rejection for artifacts, I decided to put a recurrable hate card that can help deal with a variety of decks.

ScionsStillLive on

3 weeks ago

Have you considered Thing in the Ice  ^Flip? It fits in the tribal and is a temporary boardwipe.