A-Shessra, Death's Whisper
The two triggers pull against each other in a way that makes this cheap Golgari body more coherent than it first reads. The enters-the-battlefield forced-block isn't a stat check so much as a death-enabler: pick the creature you want traded away, make it stand in front of your attackers, and turn combat into the fodder that switches on the end-step draw. Whispers of the Grave keys off any creature dying, yours or theirs, so the block-effect stops being a minor tempo nudge and becomes the opening move that kicks off the end-step engine. A recurring life-for-cards clause in black is old ground, from Phyrexian Arena down through countless drain-and-draw designs, but attaching it to a warlock that manufactures the death it needs is the tidy part. The 1/4 frame matters here more than its numbers suggest: it weathers the combat it's provoking and holds the ground long enough to keep the end-step trigger live turn after turn. What it wants around it is a board that treats creatures as ammunition, sacrifice outlets and expendable tokens that guarantee something dies each turn even when combat doesn't cooperate. Built that way, the two whispers stop being separate abilities and become a plan: force the trade on entry, then pay the two life and refill each end step.
