Obviously not fair at that cost; at what cost does it become fair? Comments on Draw Strength reminded me that poison pretty much works this way in dedicated decks.

This is one of those funny cards where the p/t vs. casting cost doesn't matter.

Let's say the casting cost tipping point is 5. You could probably make the creature a 3/3 or a 4/2 for 5, say. You could also make the creature a 1/1... for 5. The game won't allow you to have this effect at too cheap a cost, so you probably shouldn't think of it as being a small creature.

Indeed; the only points about it being small are: It's easier for an opponent to kill that way And it lures the opponent into ignoring it. (Oh, one poison won't matter much...)

­Phage the Untouchable is the canonical version; there's also the ultimate on Vraska the Unseen.

And an infect deck often can proliferate you the other 9 counters once you've got the one, but they take a few turns to do it.

Hee... which suggests a more interesting version:

> Whenever ~ deals combat damage to a player, after that player has had three more turns, they lose the game.

I was thinking more "Ok; Giant Growth (or whatever) and that's game, Hendrix."

That is an interesting idea; especially as it has to hang around to deliver the knockout too.

And using Time Warp to kill someone early in multi-player has a certain elegant insanity to it, too.