Eagles of the North

Cycling was invented to solve a flooding problem: a top-heavy spell you can pitch for a card when the game does not want it, and cast when it does. This design pushes the idea one step further by attaching a battle-cry style anthem to the payoff end. Plainscycling for one is the release valve, the line you take when you are short on lands or the six-drop is stranded in your hand; the enters trigger is the reward for the games where you actually get to deploy a flyer. The +1/+0 and first strike apply to your whole team the turn it lands, which means the body is not really the point. A 3/3 flyer that hands your creatures first strike as it arrives is a combat blowout aimed at swinging a stalled ground race or turning a mediocre attack lethal, and the anthem resolves on entry rather than sitting as a static effect, so blinking or reanimating it recycles the pump. The real tension lives in the two halves wanting opposite game states: the cycling clause is best when you are drawing badly, the enters trigger is best when you are ahead on board. One card that covers both ends of the curve is the whole reason cycling exists, and few designs commit to both poles this plainly.