Thing in the Ice
is a sweet card, and might just have the makings of an Esper aggro-control deck in it. The card seems to be extremely flexible. It comes down as a 0/4 defender on turn 2, and after you've cast 4 instants and/or sorceries, it flips into a 7/8 that also quasi-boardwipes by bouncing all non-Horror creatures to their owners' hands. This transform trigger immediately had me looking at Horror tribal in Modern to take advantage of Cavern of Souls for an aggro-control deck shell. Interestingly, there are several playable Horrors in Modern. The ones I'm using are:
Spellskite. A maindeck 4 of for the disruption it provides and the wall. Protects your Things, Horrors, and disables decks like Bogles or midrangey targeted removal heavy decks like Jund. Also super great tech against burn since you're in blue.
Hunted Horror. Yes, you heard me right. Hunted Horror.......But wait! you might say, giving your opponent two free bodies with protection is a terrible thing to do! And you'd be right, if this deck didn't have a need for a certain kind of card pool to best support Thing in the Ice that also solved Hunted Horror's worst problems.
Problem 1: Hunted Horror gives your opponents free bodies that ALSO have protection from black. Which means most of your removal spells are worthless. Well, not really. There are two four-ofs in this deck and a third four-of that significnatly mitigate the downside of this trigger. The first two are your other threats! Spellskites and unflipped Things can block the Centaur tokens just fine, and even having one blocker to deal with the tokens can generate substantial value if the opponent attacks.
The extremely versatile Emerge Unscathed is a card that allows your 7/7 to swing in on turn 3 and turn 4 without worrying about any measly tokens, that also protects any of your bodies from any removal, including Abrupt Decay (which, if targeting one of your large aggro bodies, also sets up an unblockable attack the following turn). Oh, and it also makes two counters for Things, setting up a protected turn 3 into a protected turn 4 and flipped Thing!
Problem 2: Setting up Hunted Horror is difficult.
In the above scenario, yes. Fortunately, the deck also has access to Engineered Explosives which you can play on turn 1 (or 2, or 3, since it's most relevant for X=0) followed by playing your horror and then blowing up tokens. Play on turn 4 for best results.
The deck also has access to Distortion Strike. CMC 1 cards that a) have rebound and b) are relevant to the deck are very highly prized in this design, since they net you multiple cast triggers for minimal investment while also continuing to further your board position.
This creature base seems to legitimately provide a flexible, aggro-control shell supported best by Esper. I chose Esper as a third color (both over any others and also over staying UB) for access to Emerge Unscathed, Path to Exile, ad an extremely versatile sideboard.
--I'll be starting my testing with this archetype with the above list, barring any further spoilers of Excellent Horrors. Note--Dismember is a placeholder for Anguished Unmaking.
