Aven Envoy

The all-creature design constraint of its era forced every effect into a body, and that pressure produced a wave of utility one-drops that each did one small thing well. This is the defensive end of that wave: a flier built to sit on the ground and stop other fliers rather than contest the air on its own terms. The zero power is the honest part of the bargain. Offense was never the point; the card exists to be on the table early, holding a position, trading away its own attacks for the right to block whatever takes to the skies first. The 0/2 frame is exactly tuned for that job: two toughness survives a lot of early small-creature pressure, and the flying keyword lets it intercept evasive threats that ground blockers cannot touch. It buys turns. A defensive shell deploys it before its answers are online, then leans on it to neutralize one line of attack for a single blue mana while the rest of the hand develops. Nothing on the card asks the deck to build around it; it asks only to be cast cheaply and to stand in the way.