Aven Flock

Pump the toughness, never the power. That is the entire wager of this Bird Soldier, and it is a defensive bet dressed as an evasive threat. Five mana buys a 2/3 flier, an unremarkable rate for its era, but the white-mana sink turns it into a creature that survives combat math rather than wins it: stack a few activations and it eats opposing fliers, blocks attackers it has no business surviving, and grinds out the air slowly. The design lives at the intersection of two things white was doing in its home block, where mana sinks and incremental defense were the color's quieter tools alongside the splashier weenie aggression. What makes the toughness-only pump interesting is the discipline of the restriction: a creature that could pump power would be a finisher, but a creature that can only get harder to kill stays a wall with wings, useful for trading up and protecting a board position without ever threatening to close on its own. It is a study in how a single missing plus-one keeps a card honest.