Alesha's Legacy

Deathtouch and indestructible on the same creature for two mana is a bet that the trade should be lopsided rather than merely good: the creature kills whatever it fights and survives whatever fights back. Point it at a lone attacker or blocker and it wins that combat outright and trades up into anything larger, since deathtouch makes every point of damage lethal while indestructible ignores the return fire. The indestructible half also reaches well beyond combat: it blanks damage-based removal, single-target destroy spells, and board wipes that route through the word "destroy," turning a would-be two-for-one into a whiff for the opponent. What keeps this from reading as a two-mana insurance policy is the precision of that protection. It only stops effects that destroy or deal damage, which leaves exile, bounce, sacrifice, and minus-toughness effects as clean answers; a well-timed edict or an Unsummon walks right past it. The design also demands you already hold a creature worth spending the trick on, so the tempo cost is fronted rather than hidden. It sits comfortably in black's long tradition of combat instants that reward committing to the board, but the pairing of deathtouch with a real removal-shield is the wrinkle: most tricks buy you a favorable exchange, while this one buys you a favorable exchange and a partial answer to the removal an opponent would normally use to punish it.