Woodcutter's Grit

Green's instant-speed protection has usually forced a choice: keep a creature alive, or pump it for a single decisive swing. Folding both into one instant means the same three mana answers two different threats in either order. An unfavorable block turns lopsided when the +3/+3 arrives, and the spot removal an opponent lines up to finish the survivor loses its footing once hexproof sticks. Timing carries the card. Held for a kill spell already on the stack, the hexproof resolves first and strands the removal with no legal target, so it fizzles: the trick effectively counters the answer while leaving behind a creature three power and three toughness larger than the one the opponent meant to kill. Cast proactively, the buff wins a combat the opponent thought they had read correctly. Either way the effect fades at end of turn, so this is a one-turn shield bought with a tempo bet, not a permanent ward. Flexibility comes at a price: the spell needs a creature you control and a board to matter, which keeps it firmly reactive and dead in your hand on an empty field. It rewards holding mana up for the bluff. A green player tapped out is harmless, but three untapped lands force an opponent to attack and block as though any creature might suddenly grow, survive the trade, and shrug off their answer, with no way to know which until it hits the stack.