Ring of Xathrid

Two abilities live on this Equipment, and they pull in different directions on purpose. The activated regeneration shield is color-blind: pay , and whatever you have equipped survives the next destruction, gets pulled from combat, and heals. That half works on any creature you slap it on. The upkeep growth, by contrast, is gated hard to black: only a black creature accrues the +1/+1 counter each turn, so the engine that turns a passable body into a recurring threat is locked behind a single color. The split is the whole design. Anyone can rent the protection; only a black deck gets the value loop, and the regeneration shield is what keeps the slowly-growing creature alive long enough for the counters to matter. The cheap equip cost rewards moving the Ring around as creatures die, but the counter clause quietly punishes that, since each new bearer starts from zero. It is a piece built for the kind of grindy black midrange deck that wants one creature to outlast removal and combat over many turns, with the regenerate cost as the toll you pay to keep that creature on the board. Outside black, it is a regeneration cloak with a dead upkeep trigger; inside it, it is a patient win condition that asks you to commit to a single body and protect it.