Unlikely Aid

In Commander, Unlikely Aid earns its slot in any black deck built around a single creature that has to survive — generals like Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon or Volrath, the Shapestealer that need to connect once to win the game. Pauper is where it quietly overperforms: one mana at instant speed is a real rate, and protecting a threat through a removal-heavy format at common rarity makes it a legitimate sideboard and mainboard consideration. In Modern and Legacy, the competition from Veil of Summer, Tyvar's Stand, and similar effects is steep enough that Unlikely Aid rarely makes the cut — the pump is nice, but those formats demand more versatility from a one-mana protective spell. Pioneer sits in the middle; it can show up in creature-centric black aggro shells where the pump occasionally wins combat races, but it's fringe.