Daring Leap

Two keywords and a stat bump bundled onto a single creature, and the package tells you exactly what the spell is built to do: not rescue a blocker, but turn an attacker into a problem the defender cannot solve. Flying clears the ground, first strike means the boosted creature often wins an exchange with a flier brave enough to chump it, and the +1/+1 nudges past the next toughness breakpoint. The price is what narrows it. A two-color instant at three mana asks for an evasion deck already committed to white and blue, and the payoff is one combat step rather than a permanent change, which is why this kind of effect lives in dedicated tempo shells rather than as a flexible answer. It belongs to the long line of Azorius "make my creature connect and connect lethally" instants the color pair keeps revisiting, where the question is always whether the swing is worth holding mana for instead of developing the board. The instant speed is what justifies the rate: held up, it doubles as a combat ambush, baiting a block and then granting first strike to win the trade the defender thought was even. The bet is breadth over efficiency. Most cheap pumps grant one relevant ability; this one stacks two evasion-and-combat keywords plus a body boost, paying a premium to make the damage far more likely to land when it matters most.