Deeproot Warrior

The classic combat lesson dressed up as a creature: blocking is supposed to be the defender's choice, and this Merfolk quietly taxes that choice. A 2/2 that opponents would happily double-block or trade with becomes a 3/3 the moment they commit, often surviving the block it provoked or eating the lone blocker meant to stop it. The effect is reactive rather than a pump you control, which is what keeps it honest: the bonus only shows up when the opponent decides to interact in combat, and never when you would most want to force damage through unblocked. That makes it a soft deterrent more than a threat, the kind of body that nudges an opponent toward taking two and holding their creatures for a turn that suits them better. It belongs to the long lineage of green commons built to make attacking feel safe: low cost, a tribe-relevant body, and a rule that punishes the predictable block. It fills exactly that slot, a sticky early attacker for a go-wide green tribal deck that asks nothing from the board around it and rewards an aggressive curve. Plain in isolation, useful as connective tissue, and a tidy demonstration of how a single conditional clause can shift the math of who blocks whom.