Heightened Reflexes
Most one-mana combat tricks are transactions that clear at end of turn: you buy a burst of stats for a single attack step and the card is gone. This one splits its effect across two clocks. The +1/+0 fades like any pump spell, but the first strike counter is a permanent, so the creature carries it into the next combat, the one after, and every fight for as long as it lives. That inversion changes what you are buying. Against a pure one-shot like Titan's Strength or Infuriate, you are not paying for one big swing; you are paying to make a body structurally better in combat forever. First strike is the keyword that punishes cheap chump blockers hardest, so the counter does the heavy lifting: the point of power on top is there to steal a fight the trick would otherwise trade in. Instant speed keeps the threat live in both directions, since holding it up promises a surprise blowout this turn and a lasting upgrade regardless of when it lands. The natural home is a deck built around one evasive threat you intend to keep swinging with, rather than one that dumps everything into a single alpha strike; you are compounding an advantage on a creature you will attack with repeatedly, not spending a card to win one exchange.
