Stand Together

Four +1/+1 counters at instant speed, split two and two across separate creatures: the rate is steep, and that steepness is doing the structural work. Most counter-handout effects of this design era piled everything onto one body, where a single removal spell wiped out the whole investment. Forcing two targets diffuses the payload, rewarding a board you have already assembled rather than one you are still trying to grow. The timing window is what earns back the cost: held through combat to the declare-blockers step, it converts two even trades into two survivors that bank permanent growth, or solves a mid-combat damage equation no sorcery could reach. The catch lives in that two-target requirement. Because the counters stay put, the value compounds in a way temporary pump never does, but the floor collapses if you can only field one creature when you want to cast it. This is a go-wide payoff wearing the costume of a combat trick, and it insists the board be there before it does anything at all.