Overlord of the Boilerbilges

The impending cost is really a scheduling decision: pay full price for a 5/5 that fires four damage the instant it lands, or pay two less and take the same four damage now while the body sleeps under four time counters, one falling per your end step. That second mode is the design's whole point. Cast for impending, this enters as a noncreature enchantment, so the enters trigger still resolves for four damage to any target, but the attacker is deferred, and because it isn't a creature yet, it slips past removal aimed at threats during the turns it lies dormant. When the last counter comes off and it wakes, the attack trigger re-arms four damage on every swing, turning what started as a burn spell into a recurring source of reach. What the card does is split top-end burn into two payments across time: a cheap fireball first, an expensive threat later, on a delay you pick at the moment of casting. The catch is honest. Those four counters of dormancy dodging creature removal are also four turns of not attacking, and half a fireball worth of face damage may not come soon enough when you need pressure now. Reading the board to decide which cost to pay, and whether the burn or the beater matters more this game, is where the card demands its skill.