Heroic Return

Reanimation has always been a black idea; white's version of returning creatures usually asks for restrictions instead, on cheapness or on the size of what comes back. This one keeps the effect open (any creature card, no toughness cap, no exile clause) and instead ties its discount to a defensive posture: the two-mana rebate only applies while a creature is attacking you. That inverts the usual reanimator tempo. Where black reanimation wants to be proactive, dumping a threat early and cheating it back ahead of curve, this rewards you for being on the back foot, turning an opponent's alpha strike into the window where a blocker (or a bigger body to swing back with next turn) becomes affordable at instant speed. The Hero rider is the payoff structure: return one of your own Heroes and it comes back meaningfully larger, so the card doubles as a defensive answer and a way to rebuild a board that has been raced. Left at full cost it is a slow, expensive reanimation; discounted, on the turn you most need it, it is a genuine combat swing. The design is asking you to hold it, absorb a hit, and cash the attack against your life total for a tempo-positive reanimation the color does not usually get to make.