Frost Raptor

A 2/2 flier for three mana asks the deckbuilder to commit it first and protect it second. The pitch here is protection: feed it two snow mana and it slips out from under removal and combat tricks for the turn. That shroud is defensive, not evasive. It does nothing to help the creature connect; it keeps a beater you've already committed to from being picked off, which means the cost structure rewards patience over tempo. You're rarely holding up the snow on turn three. The protection becomes worth it later, once enough snow sources have piled up that you can spare two for the hold. That gating is the bargain snow mana always struck: not a sixth color, but a tax the deckbuilder volunteers for in exchange for a small premium ability, with the snow-permanent count behind it deciding how often that premium is actually available. The friction lands on the manabase, not the card, which makes this a clean little study in how a generic flier gets bent into a snow payoff without changing what it costs to cast.