Archery Training

The arrow counters accumulate on the Aura, not the creature, and that placement is the entire design idea. Most Auras hand over a static buff; this one builds a ramping artillery battery, adding an optional counter each upkeep while the enchanted creature taps to fire damage equal to the accumulated total. The catch is the one every Aura inherits: kill the body and the state-based rule strips the unattached Aura from the battlefield, taking every banked counter with the corpse. So the stockpile you spend turns assembling is hostage to the creature carrying it, which sharpens the patience tax rather than softening it. The targeting is the other constraint that keeps the card honest: the activated ability only hits attacking or blocking creatures, so it cannot snipe a planeswalker, a player, or an untapped blocker holding back on defense. This is a combat referee, not open-ended removal, and the "you may" on the upkeep trigger lets a defensive pilot bank counters across stalled turns until the battery is large enough to one-shot whatever crosses the red zone. Built for the slow, grinding board states of an early era, it asks for a full turn cycle of investment before it pays and a durable creature to shield that investment, which is why it has always read as a control-deck patience tool rather than a tempo play. The reusable, tap-activated damage made it a quiet build-around for anyone willing to outlast a long game.