Coalition Flag

The Flagbearer mechanic is one of the most literal pieces of redirection in the game: it forces opponents to point at the creature carrying the flag whenever they choose targets for their own spells and abilities, draining their removal and disruption away from whatever you actually want protected. Where most taunt effects in Magic redirect attacks (Lure and its kin pull creatures into combat), this one redirects the targeting step itself, which makes it a wholly different kind of bodyguard. It does not stop a spell from happening; it dictates where the spell must go, so a Path to Exile aimed at your combo piece gets walled into the Flag instead. The wrinkle is that it grants the keyword rather than carrying it: an Aura on a creature you control means the protection lives or dies with the host, and a single removal spell that the opponent is now compelled to aim at the Flagbearer cleanly removes both at once. That self-correcting loop is the price of a one-mana effect this swingy. Flagbearer as a mechanic appeared only briefly and never became a staple, which leaves this Aura as a curiosity more than a workhorse: a targeting-tax effect cheap enough to be a real disruption layer in the right shell, but fragile enough that it rewards stacking multiple flags so the opponent cannot clear the redirection with a single answer.