Slumbering Tora

The fantasy here is an artifact that hides in plain sight: an inert object that pays no toll until you want a body, then converts the Spirit and Arcane cards clogging your hand into a Cat sized to the largest thing you can afford to throw away. That conversion is the whole pitch. The discarded card's mana value sets the power and toughness, so the Tora scales with the weight of what you sacrifice rather than the mana you sink into it, and it does so at instant speed, which means the threat doubles as a combat trick and a surprise blocker. The cost it pays for that flexibility is the discard itself: every animation is a card gone from hand, and the body lasts only until end of turn, so it is a recurring tax rather than a permanent investment. It speaks the design language of an era built around an abundance of Spirit and Arcane cards, turning what would otherwise be dead late-game draws into fuel. Outside that ecosystem the engine starves, since the activation has nothing to feed it. As a manland-adjacent piece it dodges sorcery-speed sweepers while dormant and only commits a creature on your terms, but the repeated card disadvantage keeps it from ever being a free inclusion. The activation is a switch you flip when your hand is full of fuel, not a default plan to lean on.