Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait
Two build-around effects that decks used to assemble from separate parts arrive here welded into one Serpent. The extra-land clause is one half; the draw-on-landfall is the other. Run them together and every land you resolve refills your hand: play the second land you'd normally hold, and both drops turn into cards. For years these were distinct pieces you had to collect and glue together yourself: an enchantment that granted a bonus land drop, a permanent that drew on landfall, each occupying its own slot. This is the payoff pre-stapled, paid for with a green-blue creature slot. The engine stays measured because a land has to enter under your control to net a card, and each is optional, so it scales with your actual land velocity rather than looping out of control: a card for each land drop you make, no more. Ramp spells, fetch effects, and anything that bounces a land back for a re-drop all convert into extra cards, which is why it thrives in permanent-heavy strategies already built to keep lands flowing. The 5/5 exists mostly to give the engine a body to live in: it blocks, it eventually swings, but nobody sleeves Aesi for combat. The draw is the reason, an advantage machine that scales with exactly the decks that wanted a ramp payoff in the first place.
