A-Hobbling Zombie

Deathtouch on a two-drop is nothing new; the wrinkle is what the death trigger builds instead of what it deters. Most deathtouch bodies are a one-time toll: block, drag something bigger down, go to the graveyard. This one refuses to leave empty-handed. Whenever it dies, by any means, combat, removal, or a sacrifice outlet, it leaves behind a fresh 2/2 in its place. But the replacement is decayed, and that is the design lever that keeps a self-replacing deathtoucher from being oppressive. The token cannot block, and it dies the turn it swings. So the second body is not a second toll: the deathtouch that made the original a favorable trade does not carry over, and the token cannot stand on defense at all. It is a strictly forward-facing threat, useful for one attack or as pure fodder, nothing more. That asymmetry is the entire exchange. You get card-body persistence out of a creature that would otherwise represent a single interaction, and you pay for it with a diminished, expiring successor. It reads best in shells that want the death trigger rather than the body: aristocrats decks that squeeze two death triggers out of one investment, sacrifice loops where the decayed token is feedstock instead of a liability. The front end almost always eats something on the way down, so the value chain opens with a good trade and closes with a disposable attacker. Modest on rate, precise as decayed vocabulary: persistence with an expiration date baked in.