Stigma Lasher

The second line is the reason this body exists, and it ranks among the most absolute punishments red has ever fixed onto a creature: connect with a player once, and that player is locked out of life gain permanently. Not the turn, not until cleanup, but the entire game. Lightning Helix stops stabilizing the board, soul-sister triggers keep firing into a life total that refuses to climb, and any plan built on outracing aggression by simply living longer collapses the moment combat damage lands. Wither is the supporting act, converting the 2/2's hits into -1/-1 counters that stick rather than damage that wipes clean at end of turn, which makes it a clean answer to small tokens and utility creatures and a real attrition tool when the lock target stays out of reach. The design tension is entirely about delivery: a 2/2 with no evasion has to actually connect to flip the switch, and it is trivial to chump, wall, or trade off before it ever does. That fragility is the price of an effect with no expiry, no fizzle clause, no way to undo it once it sticks. The card is less a creature you evaluate by what it kills than by what it forbids, a clock whose threat is not its two power but the sentence it hands the defending player the first time it gets through.