H.E.R.B.I.E., Lovable Robot

Two mana buys a flying mana rock, and the two activated abilities carry most of the weight: tap for colorless, or pay one and tap to filter into any color, so a single slot delivers reliable ramp and reliable fixing while the 1/1 body chips in the air or trades with an evasive threat instead of sitting inert. The surveil sits on top of that, and its timing rewards close reading. It does not fire when you cast a spell; it checks, once combat opens on your turn, whether you cast a noncreature spell earlier that turn, and it looks at the casting, not the resolution. That distinction cuts a favorable way: a spell that gets countered or fizzles has already satisfied the condition, because the trigger cares only that you cast one, not that it stuck. Built for a spell-dense shell, it turns the ordinary rhythm of a deck full of removal, cantrips, and noncreature permanents into a passive scry-and-bin engine, smoothing draws on exactly the turns the deck was already active. The result is a fixer quietly holding down two jobs, ramp and card selection, in a slot that normally pays for one, with a condition loose enough to reward the deck for doing nothing out of the ordinary.