Mist Dragon

Phasing was Mirage's attempt to build an evasion-and-protection axis that lived on the permanent rather than the spell, and this Dragon is its most literal expression: a creature that can blink out of existence at will. The phase-out ability is the headline, but it does something subtler than dodging a single removal spell. Because a permanent that has phased out is treated as if it doesn't exist, the Dragon sidesteps board wipes, fogs, and combat math, then returns under your control before your next untap step with no summoning sickness and no window for the opponent to interact. The free flying toggle reads like a novelty, but it lets the body shift its vulnerability profile without committing mana: turn flying on to attack over the ground or evade ground blockers, turn it off to dodge an opposing Plummet or a sweep that keys on fliers, or to keep the body off the air axis where an enemy flier could trade. The design is hands-off in a way later phasing rarely was: not a temporary phase that resets every upkeep, but a permanent you choose to remove from play, returning automatically on a clean step. It reads as a toolbox in the abstract and plays as a mana sink in practice; the heavy activation cost on the phase ability is what keeps a 4/4 from becoming untouchable for free.