Passageway Seer

Every other initiative-granter treats the initiative as a separate resource, something your board has to protect while the creature that fetched it goes about its business. Here the granter and the reward are the same object, and that fusion is the whole design. Holding the initiative means eating combat damage, because any opponent who connects with you seizes the initiative; lifelink drains its own combat damage back into life total, buying the turns you need to keep the Undercity run going. The end-step counter then converts the same defensive posture into a clock: keep the initiative, grow the body, and a fatter body makes the initiative harder for anyone to pry loose. A 2/2 for four mana is a modest starting line, but the starting line is beside the point. This is a bet that you can weather the crossfire the initiative invites, stacking the odds by making one creature both the lifegain shield and the snowballing threat. Losing the initiative is not a reset either: the counters already earned stay welded to the body, so even a contested run leaves you holding something larger than you cast. The defense funds the offense, the offense protects the defense, and the entire engine rides on a single body.