Afflict

Pinpricking a creature for -1/-1 looks like a feeble removal spell, and in isolation it is: most threats shrug it off entirely. The cantrip is what justifies the slot. By stapling a card draw to a minor combat-relevant shrink, the design turns what would be a dead removal spell into a guaranteed replacement: even when the -1/-1 accomplishes nothing, the card replaces itself, so it never costs you a card in hand. That replacement clause changes the math on when you cast it. You can fire it to kill an X/1, to shrink a blocker out of lethal range, to deny a morph or token's combat math, or simply to dig when nothing else demands an answer. The effect rewards patience: held at instant speed, it punishes the opponent's tempo plays without committing you to a poor exchange. It belongs to the lineage of low-impact-but-card-neutral effects black has long used to smooth its draws, kin to the disposable cantrip-removal that keeps a deck's gas flowing. The ceiling is low and the floor is fixed; what makes the card worth running is precisely that the floor never sinks below the card you spent to cast it.