Chase Inspiration

The toughness pump is the tell. Most one-mana protection tricks in blue lean on the hexproof clause alone (dodge the removal, keep the creature), but here the +0/+3 is doing quiet combat work: it lets the protected creature survive damage-based sweepers and win trades it would otherwise lose while sitting immune to targeted interaction. That combination answers two different threats with one card at instant speed. Point removal aimed at your creature fizzles because the target vanishes in response; a damage race or a burn-based board wipe gets absorbed by the extra toughness. The design constraint that keeps it fair is the zero to the left of the slash: this never turns a creature into a threat on its own, only a survivor. It protects investment rather than creating pressure, which is why it reads as a defensive and tempo-neutral trick rather than a proactive one. Blue rarely gets to say "no" to targeted removal without a counterspell on the stack, so a one-mana instant that hangs hexproof on a creature you have already committed to fills a gap the color has historically covered awkwardly. The narrow "creature you control" clause matters too: this is purely a protection spell, with no reach to blank an opponent's blocker or tap down a threat.