Deem Worthy

The bargain here is between certainty and tempo. Pay the full five mana and you remove almost anything: 7 damage clears the biggest creatures most decks ever field, and the instant-speed window lets you blow out an attack or a combat trick. Hold the card in a dead matchup and it isn't a brick: pitch it, draw a replacement, and tag down a small threat on the way out. That second mode carries the card into decks that never want to spend five mana on a single removal spell. Removal that doubles as a cantrip is a familiar safety valve, but most of those cards trade the floor for the ceiling; they cycle into a worse spot, or the discount only nets you a fresh card. Stapling a 2-damage shock to the cycling trigger turns the flood-insurance mode into a real play, killing a mana creature or a one-drop while it replaces itself. The design is honest about its cost: 7 damage is not cheap, and the cycling mode is deliberately weak (2 damage, not the full 7), so the card never feels like it does both jobs at once. You pick the lane the board hands you, and the floor sits high enough that the dead-card scenario expensive removal usually fears simply doesn't exist.