Mist-Syndicate Naga

A copy trigger that snowballs itself: connect once and this 3/1 makes a second Naga, connect twice and you have four, and the assault compounds from there. That runaway math explains why the frame is priced so aggressively and why a single point of toughness is the tax on it. Everything from a spare blocker to the cheapest burn removes a copy, so the exponential upside is fenced in by a body that trades down constantly. The ninjutsu cost gives it a second entry onto the battlefield, tapped and already attacking, sidestepping summoning sickness and firing the copy trigger a full combat step ahead of a hardcast. The trigger keys off combat damage dealt to a player, not off going unblocked, so a way through blockers matters more than raw evasion: a trample enabler still lands the trigger even into a chump, while a naked swing that gets eaten produces nothing. Ninja design has long leaned on the return-to-hand loop to reuse enters-the-battlefield triggers; here the emphasis shifts onto the connection itself, with the payoff living in repetition rather than a single bounce. One unanswered attack becomes two Nagas, then four, then a lethal swarm inside a couple of turns, provided the damage keeps landing. Stall the assault for even a turn and the whole plan collapses into a fragile 3/1 waiting to be traded away.