Drifting Djinn

A six-mana 5/5 flyer is an unremarkable rate on its own: Mahamoti Djinn offers a sturdier 5/6 at the same cost with no obligations attached. The cycling clause is the first half of the bargain, letting you pitch the Djinn from hand for a card whenever six mana is too far off, so the slot never rots in a slow draw. That flexibility would make this a clean upgrade if keeping the creature were free, so the design moves the entire price to the back end. Once it lands, you rent it one upkeep at a time, and the instant you cannot or will not pay , it sacrifices itself. The two abilities answer opposite questions about the same body: cycling decides, from your hand, whether the card ever becomes a creature at all; the upkeep tax decides, every turn after, how long it stays one. The early decision is a refund for hands that stall short of the casting cost; the recurring decision is a lease on a flyer that will abandon you the moment your mana stumbles. The result is a top-end whose cost structure lives almost entirely in ongoing commitment rather than the splashy entrance, with the bill arriving on each of your upkeeps.