Lash Out
Three damage to a creature is the part you can bank on, priced fairly for an instant and contingent on nothing; the reach to that creature's controller is where the card gambles. Clash decides it: compare the revealed card off your deck against an opponent's, and the rider lands if yours has the greater mana value. A curve weighted toward expensive spells tilts the odds, but the bonus stays a genuine wager rather than a promise, and the design deliberately walls the baseline damage off from the bet so the removal always delivers its 3 whether the comparison favors you or not. That asymmetry is the whole conceit: a deterministic 3 damage paid in full, plus a library-dependent kicker you can nudge but never lock in. There is a quieter dividend too, one that pays out no matter who wins, since each clashing player chooses whether their revealed card returns to the top or sinks to the bottom: a free look at your next draw, with the option to refuse it. As a use of clash, this is the mechanic at its cleanest, bolting swingy upside onto a fair removal spell without inflating the price of the removal itself, so the card never sits dead in hand even when the comparison breaks against you.
