Shrike Harpy

The forced dilemma at the heart of Tribute never framed its two outcomes as evenly as this Harpy does: either your opponent hands you a 4/4 flyer for five mana, or one of their creatures dies. Both halves are genuinely live. The buffed body is a real clock, evasive and fat enough to close on its own; refusing the counters triggers an edict that strips a creature without targeting (the opponent chooses what dies, but choose they must) and punishes the board where it is most committed. Because the opponent picks, the sacrifice clause dodges hexproof and shroud entirely, slipping past protection that hard removal cannot touch. That non-targeted edict is the sharper edge against a developed board, while the 4/4 in the sky matters more against an empty one. The card avoids being a free roll on two counts: the five-mana price buys only a 2/2 when tribute is declined, and the deciding player always gets to pick the lesser pain. Tribute as a whole leaned into this read-your-opponent psychology, asking you to weigh your own pressure against your opponent's board state and bet on which they fear more. Few of its cards split the decision down the middle this cleanly: the two outcomes sit close enough in value that the chooser rarely walks away feeling outplayed.