Electrolyze

Two damage and a card, both for three mana, and the second clause is the entire point. Removal that breaks even on cards is a structural cheat: most spells trade one-for-one and bleed you toward topdeck mode, but a removal spell that replaces itself never costs you a card to use. That is why Electrolyze became the template for an entire subgenre of Izzet "value removal," the spells that pick off a small creature or split between a creature and a face while quietly refilling the hand. The two-damage cap is the restriction doing the balancing: it answers mana dorks, early aggressors, and toughness-one utility creatures, but it is deliberately too small to be a reliable answer to real threats, so the card never crosses from value into dominance. The divided-damage line adds the second mode: instead of one target, split one and one to clear a pair of x/1s, or send one to a creature and one to the opponent's face, while the more important half of the spell, the draw, happens regardless. Instant speed matters more than the rate suggests, since the card is built to be held: leave it up as a counterspell-shaped bluff, then cash it in on whatever the turn actually demands. The shape it established, "kill something small, replace yourself," has been reprinted and re-skinned across the color pair ever since.