Stab Wound

Removal that doesn't kill, and then charges rent. The -2/-2 does ordinary aura work: it shrinks a creature, sometimes finishing off a small one outright. But the second clause is the part that matters, turning a piece of soft removal into a slow clock the enchanted creature's controller cannot easily stop. The two life every upkeep bleeds the opponent out: leave the weakened creature on the battlefield and you keep paying. That asymmetry is the whole point, a single card that simultaneously trims a board threat and adds a recurring drain, doing the work of a removal spell and a burn engine across the same three mana. The catch is that the bleed and the body are bound together. Because an Aura goes to the graveyard the instant its host leaves, the opponent's clean out is to remove the creature itself: a sacrifice outlet, a bounce spell, or any way to send the body away takes the life loss with it. So the card sets up a small extortion: keep the shrunken creature and bleed, or spend a resource to be rid of both at once. This is attrition-minded black design that prizes inevitability over immediate impact, content to win the long game by making every turn cost the opponent two life they would rather not pay.