Aeolipile

A colorless burn spell stapled to an artifact, which in the early years of the game meant any color could buy two damage to the face or a creature without bending a single mana symbol. The structure is the point: it asks for the artifact mana up front (you pay to deploy it), then a second activation cost and the sacrifice when you finally pull the trigger. That deferral is the design discipline holding the rate in check. The damage waits on the board as a known quantity, telegraphed to the opponent, and the total investment across two turns adds up to more than a single efficient burn spell would charge. What you buy with the delay is flexibility of timing and color: a two-damage shock that lives in any deck, ready when you have the floating mana to spare. It belongs to a lineage of one-shot artifact zappers that gave colors without direct damage a way to interact with the board, the same niche later filled by cards like Cursed Scroll and the various Pyrite Spellbomb-style designs that traded the sacrifice for a cantrip. As a piece of period design it shows Wizards working out how to price repeatable-looking removal that is in fact single-use, with the sacrifice clause doing the work that exile-on-resolve does for spells.