Serra Advocate

The interesting tension here is that the tap ability only works mid-combat: the +2/+2 has to find a creature that is already attacking or blocking, so the pump cannot be banked the turn before, cannot save a creature outside combat, and cannot push through an attacker unless that attacker is already swinging. That restriction is what keeps a repeatable combat boost on a four-mana body in check. What the design rewards is sequencing inside the combat step itself: the tap can stiffen an ambushing blocker after blockers are declared or beef up a defender after attackers commit, so every combat becomes an arithmetic problem the opponent has to solve before they trade. The catch is the body doing the work. At a 2/2 with no haste and the summoning-sickness restriction on the tap, the Advocate asks for a board already in place to multiply, and it has to tap to do it, so it cannot both attack and pump on the same turn. That is the friction that priced it as a build-around rather than a staple: the effect is real and repeatable, the delivery vehicle is fragile and slow. It reads as a creature from an era of white midrange where Angels were expected to earn their keep over several turns rather than close games on the swing they arrived.