Parting Gust

Gift is bribery formalized: hand your opponent something so you can keep the stronger half of a spell, and this instant makes the transaction unusually stark because both halves are worth wanting. Promise the Fish and you get clean, permanent exile of a nontoken creature, a card that never comes back, in exchange for one tapped 1/1 blue Fish token that appears when the spell resolves (if it gets countered, no token, no exile). Decline the promise and the spell inverts into a protection tool: the exiled card returns at the next end step with a +1/+1 counter, which is exactly what you want when the target is your own creature. Aimed at something you control, the non-gift mode is a flicker that dodges an incoming removal spell, rerolls whatever the creature did on the way in, and leaves it bigger for the trouble. That two-cards-in-one range is the point: the same instant is hard removal against their board and a save-plus-buff for yours, and the Fish is the toll you pay only when you want the exile to stick. White has historically bought unconditional exile by leaving a permanent liability behind (Journey to Nowhere and Banishing Light both hang an enchantment that can be answered). Here the concession is a body on the opponent's side of the table, and because you choose the gift as you cast at instant speed on their turn, you can watch what they commit before deciding which of the two spells you are actually casting.