Glarecaster

Damage redirection as a defensive engine, with a price that tells you it was never meant to be cheap. Six mana lands a 3/3 flier; the activated ability then asks for on top, each activation buying a single reroute. What that buys is a reversal of damage's direction: a burn spell aimed at your face, a swung-in attacker, a board sweep that catches the Glarecaster, any of it can be pointed at any target instead, including the opponent or one of their creatures. The clause covers both the creature and you, so a single activation answers two threat vectors at once. The "next time" wording is the brake, but not the way it first reads: each activation creates one replacement effect that applies to the next damage event, and nothing stops you from activating it several times in a turn to queue up multiple reroutes for sequential damage (first-strike damage and then regular combat damage, or two separate spells). The limit is mana, not the rules text, so chaining redirects in a single turn is a real but expensive option, not a forbidden one. As damage-prevention design it sits in an unusual seat, neither true prevention nor lifegain but a redirect, turning an opponent's removal or alpha strike into your removal or reach. It rewards a controlling posture with mana to spare on a stalled board, where soaking a hit and bouncing it back closes the gap a 3/3 body alone never would.