Athreos, Shroud-Veiled
The coin counter is a euphemism, and once you see what it does the flavor snaps into focus: Athreos marks a creature for the ferryman, and whether that creature dies or is exiled, the marked card crosses the river to your side of the battlefield instead of its owner's. That last clause is the whole engine. Most reanimation and steal effects care only about the graveyard; this one triggers on exile too, which turns removal into theft. Drop the end-step counter on an opponent's creature, then let their own kill spell or exile answer hand it to you when it leaves. The card must exist as an object to return, so the trick works on real creatures, not tokens, which cease to exist the moment they leave the battlefield. Because the placement happens at your end step, the God is patient by design: it accrues threats one turn at a time, and six mana buys a 4/7 that is awkward to attack into profitably and impossible to kill outright through indestructibility. The devotion requirement is what stops it from being a free noncreature threat: below seven pips of white and black, Athreos sits as an enchantment that still ticks a coin every end step, immune to creature removal while the marks pile up. Of the Theros pantheon, this is the God whose ability most punishes a table full of removal, since any answer aimed at a counted creature simply routes that creature into your control.
