The Wasp, Janet Van Dyne
The entry damage is deliberately conditional: four to a target tapped creature an opponent controls, and only a tapped one. That single word is the whole tension of the design. A 1/1 flyer for that also removes a threat would be underpriced, so the effect is chained to a board state you have to engineer yourself. Attacks that leave blockers tapped, tap-down effects, creatures that arrive tapped: the removal is real, but you pay for it by demanding the opponent's creature be caught with its guard down. The trigger rewards a shell that punishes tapped-out boards rather than one wanting unconditional removal on a stick. Her body handles the rest: small enough that it will not close games alone, but evasive enough to keep chipping in and to keep firing the trigger when she is flickered or recast. What makes the shape worth studying is the sequencing pressure it puts on both players. The controller wants to hold her until a creature is tapped and vulnerable; the opponent, knowing the trigger exists, has reason to keep blockers back rather than swing. She turns the ordinary decision of whether to attack into a small trap, and that friction, more than the raw four damage, is where the design does its real work.
