Control Magic

The original steal-a-creature template, and the one every subsequent design has been priced against. Four mana, no upkeep cost, no return clause, no restriction on what it can take: the rate is so loose that the entire lineage of theft effects since has worked by adding the friction this one lacks. Treachery kept the same color commitment but pushed the cost to five, then handed it back by untapping five lands on resolution: a different bargain, not a cheaper one. Mind Control raised the cost by one and became the durable reprint. Confiscate widened the target to any permanent at six. Take Possession added split second at seven. The pattern is unmistakable: Wizards decided four mana for an unconditional, permanent creature steal was a mistake, and has spent thirty years printing the same effect with the throttle turned down. The card endures as a design landmark because of the structural elegance of the theft: it is a single Aura, it follows Aura rules, it dies to enchantment removal, it falls off if the creature leaves play. Every later wrinkle (sacrifice clauses, tempo loans, cost escalations) is built on the chassis this card established. The fact that the printed rate has never come back is the clearest statement of how the modern color pie reads blue's access to permanent creature theft: yes, but not this cheaply, and never again without a catch.