Andúril, Narsil Reforged

A static anthem like Glorious Anthem updates itself: every token that enters inherits the buff for free. This Equipment works the opposite way, and the difference is the whole design. It stamps a permanent +1/+1 counter onto each creature you control at the moment the wearer swings, then walks away from the transaction. Anything that arrives after the trigger resolves gets nothing until the next attack, which means the payoff rewards a board that is already assembled rather than one still filling out. What you gain for that inflexibility is permanence: the counters are physically on the creatures, so they survive the sword being removed, bounced, or destroyed, where an anthem's bonus evaporates the instant the source leaves. Ascend is the escalator built into the frame. Ten permanents flips the trigger from one counter to two, and a go-wide deck is already trying to cross that threshold, so the doubling lands right when the board is deep enough to make it lethal. The equip cost is disciplined by timing rather than mana: the trigger keys off the attack, not the equip, so strapping it on accomplishes nothing until the bearer can actually swing, and a fresh cast plus equip plus attack is a three-step ask before the first counter drops. It reads as a build-around because it is one, a stat engine that asks for an established army before it starts paying out, then buries the opponent under counters that do not wash off.