Consuming Fervor

A single red mana buys the biggest one-drop pump in the game, and the entire balance lives in the upkeep clause. +3/+3 for one mana is rate aggressive red has never been allowed to print without a leash, so the design hands you the swing on turn one and then makes the creature pay it back a point at a time. The first upkeep stings the least; the math turns later, and it always ends the same way: a 2/2 that became a 5/5 shrinks to a 4/4, then a 3/3, then a 2/2, then a 1/1, then 0/0 and gone. That decay is what makes the aura honest, but it also dictates how you use it. This is a card built for the turn you can end the game, not the turn you want a bigger blocker. The strategic axis it rewards is tempo over board presence: enchant the threat, swing, and trust the creature to outlive its own usefulness before the counters catch up. It folds into sacrifice plans cleanly, since a creature already counting down to death is one you would rather cash in than mourn, but the core design idea is older than any synergy: a burst of power with a meter running, where the only correct play is to spend the body before the bill comes due.