Absolute Grace, uncommon (first printed in Urza's Saga, 1998)

Of these two "Absolute" enchantments, Grace is the weaker. Protection from black notably fails to defend against forced sacrifice - Barter in Blood - or black's vision of global destruction - Damnation, Mutilate. Given that Absolute Grace grants its protection to every creature in play rather than just those ones under your control, it's frustrating to find cards that combine with it - cards like Pestilence suggest themselves as happy partners, at least until one reads the card a second time. So what's the card for? Well, for facing down aggressive black decks, of course, all the while wishing it were Light of Day instead. Can be acquired for less than twenty pence a copy.

Abandon Hope, uncommon (first printed in Tempest, 1997)

If you feel that you have reached a stage in the game where the cards you have in play demand more than one card's worth of solution from your opponent, perhaps you can seal their fate by casting Abandon Hope at a sufficient X value to empty their hand. Unlike Odyssey's similar sorcery "Last Rites", Abandon Hope is really too expensive to be used as a combination or catalyst card in reanimation, madness, or more rogue strategies, and Urza's Saga's "Duress" is a far more efficient preventative tool than this. Use Abandon Hope chiefly as a method of converting a threat in play into victory. For more modern analogs of this card, look to Odyssey's "Mind Slicer." Can be acquired for less than ten pence a copy.