Feign Death

The cleanest packaging yet of the granted-death-trigger effect: an instant that hangs a one-shot "return when this dies" clause onto any creature. The value engine writes itself, turning removal and combat into two-for-ones and making any enters-the-battlefield creature worth exchanging on purpose. What makes this version the reference point is how it can be held in hand as pure reactivity, answering a kill spell the instant an opponent points one at your best creature, sitting as combat insurance while blocks are declared, or setting up a proactive sacrifice-and-recur just before a value creature is about to trade. The idea has a direct predecessor in Undying Evil, another one-mana black instant that grants a return trigger; this refines the pattern by dropping the undying wording in favor of a plain death clause and a straight +1/+1 counter, and by attaching to any creature rather than only your own. The counter that comes back is not incidental sweetener: because the creature returns as a fresh object, it always arrives with exactly one, so the trick refreshes the body rather than stacking upward, while still triggering counter-matters synergies on the way in. The duration does the balancing work; the granted ability lapses at cleanup, so the protection has to be spent in a window where the creature is genuinely going to die. Cast it too early, before the threat materializes, and the ability wears off before it ever fires.