Elspeth's Smite

The condition that pays for the rate is written into the timing: this only fires at creatures already committed to combat, either swinging or holding the line, never at rest on an empty board. That restriction buys three damage and an exile clause at a single mana. White's cheap removal has always been fenced this way, from Swords to Plowshares onward, because unconditional one-mana kill spells are red and black territory; giving white a Lightning Bolt-adjacent rate requires a hoop, and combat is the hoop here. The exile rider does quieter structural work than the raw numbers suggest, though its reach is bounded. Because the card kills by dealing damage, indestructible creatures never enter the "if it would die" window at all: they survive outright, leaving nothing to banish. What the clause does catch is the aftermath of a lethal hit, banishing a slain creature so recursion engines and dies-triggers are denied their payoff on anything three damage actually finishes. That turns a modest combat trick into a way to police the exact graveyard-based threats white struggles to answer at instant speed, provided the opponent is willing to step into the red zone. It also speaks to white's long-running problem of punishing combat without simply fielding a bigger blocker: it lets a controlling deck tax an attack decision after declaration, once the swing has already been locked in.