Rite of the Serpent

Black has answered creatures for two mana since the beginning, and Murder-class spells settled the floor for unconditional removal long ago, so paying this much for the same job is a deliberate markup. The rider explains it: this reads as a targeted counter to counter-based aggression, the outlast and bolster strategies that pile +1/+1 counters onto a single body until it dwarfs the board. Kill a creature that grew that way and you replace it with a 1/1 Snake, a modest consolation that flips the math against a deck that invested everything into one buffed threat. The token's color is the tell about intent: green is where the counter-piling game plan lives, so the reward is built to punish that plan and hand you a chump blocker in its place. The Snake is conditional and small, which keeps the effect honest; this is slow, color-pure removal with a thematic bonus stapled on, not a value engine. The sorcery speed and the price mean it never trades up on tempo. It exists to clean up a midrange board on a turn you have to spare, not to answer a threat the moment it lands.