Blinding Mage

The tapper is one of white's oldest support archetypes, and this is the unadorned core-set version of it: a fragile two-drop that buys repeatable tempo by holding down a blocker, tapping an attacker before it can be declared, or pinning an opposing mana creature each turn. The activation is not free; it competes with the rest of your white mana, which is exactly what stops a 1/2 body that can lock one creature out of combat every turn from being oppressive. What separates a tapper from removal is that it never resolves the problem: the target stays on the battlefield, untaps on its controller's turn, and the effect becomes a recurring tax rather than an answer. That repeatability is why tappers reward boards full of attackers (every swing forces the opponent to leave a blocker back, or eat a permanent tap on their best creature) and why they pair so naturally with deathtouch or a single hard-hitter that only needs the path cleared once. The lineage runs from Icatian Infantry through Master Decoy and beyond; this entry trims the design to its barest functional shape and prices it for the early curve.