Nirkana Assassin

Deathtouch that switches on and off, tied to a life total that ticks up: the keyword here does not live on the card permanently, it flickers into existence the moment you gain life and expires at end of turn. That couples a combat keyword to a lifegain trigger, which makes the 2/3's blocking value entirely a function of what else is happening on your side of the board. Pair it with a steady incidental lifegain source and you have a body that profitably trades into anything, including the fatties it would otherwise just chump. Without that engine, it sits there as a 2/3 that only bares its fangs on turns something actually gains you life. The design belongs to the lineage of cards trying to give black's lifegain themes a combat payoff rather than a pure value loop, asking you to build the trigger rather than handing you a static threat. The Ally tag layers a second build-around on top, rewarding the wide tribal shells where new arrivals can nudge your life total. But the lifegain trigger is what actually reshapes how the creature plays: it converts every point of incidental lifegain into combat math, turning a modest body into a problem attackers have to respect on the turns it counts.