Ertai Resurrected
The design tension here is symmetry as a tax. A flash body that can either counter a spell or destroy a creature at instant speed is the kind of interaction density that midrange decks pay premiums for, so the drawback of handing the opponent a card is what buys the flexibility down to a fair rate. That single card of compensation is not a throwaway clause: it turns every use into a real decision, because you are always asking whether the tempo you gain outpaces the resource you hand back. Counter their haymaker and they refill; kill their threat and they replace it. The card wants you to use it when the board or the stack matters more than the long game, which is precisely when tempo-oriented control decks are willing to trade attrition for control of the current turn. Note the "up to one" wording: you can flash it in as a naked 3/2 body when neither mode is worth the gift, which quietly makes it a fine blocker or clock in the late game when the opponent has nothing you need to answer. The choice to counter activated and triggered abilities as well as spells widens the counter mode past the usual creature-plus-Counterspell package, letting one card police combo triggers and problem permanents alike. It is a flexible interactive threat whose entire balance rests on the reciprocal draw, an honest exchange dressed up as a bomb.
