Arnjlot's Ascent

Granting flying to a single attacker for one generic mana sounds like a fine repeatable trick, the kind of effect later sets would hand out at a fixed price on a creature or a cheap aura. The catch is what wraps it: cumulative upkeep, the Ice Age mechanic that charges you more every turn you keep the enchantment alive. The first upkeep costs one blue, the second two, the third three, while the activation itself never moves off one generic. That arithmetic inverts how a value engine is supposed to feel. Ordinarily an enchantment that sticks around grows more profitable the longer it survives; here survival is a steepening tax you pay just to retain the option of granting evasion, and the tax compounds whether or not you ever use the ability. The honest read is a card whose useful window is brief: it opens when you need to push one creature over a stalled defense and closes the instant the blue you are paying to keep it around exceeds what a single flying grant is worth. Cumulative upkeep was Ice Age's self-correcting clock for repeatable abilities, a way to guarantee no permanent ran free forever, and cards built around it show exactly why the mechanic mostly disappeared afterward: the balancing constraint can quietly throttle the effect it was meant to license.