Skyserpent Seeker

Flying and deathtouch on a 1/1 is a familiar early trade: an evasive blocker that eats anything it touches, a body that never dies without taking something with it. That would be a fine two-drop and nothing more. What stretches the card across the whole game is the exhaust cost. For four mana, it digs to two lands, drops them tapped, and grows the body a step: ramp, fixing, and a threat upgrade folded into a single button. Because each exhaust ability fires exactly once, this is not an engine to lean on turn after turn; it is a conversion point you spend when the four mana is spare and the two lands actually matter. That constraint is doing real design work. It solves the classic problem of the early creature that becomes a dead draw when the game slows: even a late topdecked copy has a job, because the ability turns it into a chunk of ramp plus a counter on demand. The two halves cover opposite ends of the curve without asking you to build around either. Flying and deathtouch keep the small body relevant on defense; the counter keeps it relevant on offense once the ability resolves. The sequencing follows naturally: cast it early for the evasive deathtouch, hold the exhaust through the midgame, and cash it in when tempo is cheap and the lands are worth more than the four mana.