Deranged Hermit

Five mana for a 1/1 that immediately conjures an army: four Squirrel tokens, each lifted to 2/2 by the lord clause stapled to the same Elf. That is nine power across five bodies the turn it lands (four 2/2 Squirrels plus the Hermit itself, which buffs only Squirrels and stays a 1/1), and echo is where that swing rate gets paid for. Dump it on turn five for the tokens, then decide on the following upkeep whether to pay a second full five mana to keep the Hermit (and its anthem) around, or surrender it and keep a board of 1/1 Squirrels stripped of their lord. That is the whole tension: the enter-the-battlefield burst is unconditional and front-loaded, while echo is a single deferred decision rather than an ongoing tax, a one-time bill that comes due exactly once. It also reads as a complete tribal package in one slot, before "tribal" was a deckbuilding pillar: a token generator and a lord welded together, the rare card that builds and buffs its own board with no supporting pieces. The flavor lands the same joke the mechanics do, a hermit who has spent too long alone with the local rodent population, marshaling them into a war effort he can barely afford to sustain.