Provoke the Trolls
Read this as removal and you have misread it: the three damage is the delivery system, and the +5/+0 rider is what the mana is actually paying for. Point the spell at one of your own attackers and the damage flips a switch, converting a modest creature into a haymaker five power larger, big enough to punch through blocks or close out a race, at the cost of putting three damage on your own board. Aim it at a small opposing creature and it kills, but the rider curdles into a liability the moment the target survives, since the buff attaches to the thing you were trying to remove. That tension is the entire design. You are paying a premium over a clean burn spell to buy optionality at instant speed: overpriced reach to the face, a kill on a one- or two-toughness body, or a self-directed pump that turns your own attacker into a threat worth respecting. The single-target restriction is the puzzle that keeps all three modes honest, because you cannot spread the damage and the buff across two creatures to sidestep the downside. The payoff only lands when you are willing to spend those three points on something you own, which is exactly why filing it under removal first leaves the best line on the table.
