Ballista Squad

The defining trick is that the damage only lands during combat: it pings attackers and blockers exclusively, never a creature sitting safely outside a combat step. That clause is doing the balancing. A repeatable, scalable removal engine that could shrink or kill anything at any time would be oppressive; tethering the ability to combat forces the controller to wait for the board to commit, then turn the X-damage faucet into a combat math weapon. On defense, the body sits back and picks off attackers one by one for as much mana as the turn affords. On offense, it clears blockers before damage resolves. The Rebel subtype matters as much as the gun: the Rebel chain (anchored by recruiter creatures that fetch Rebels directly from the library) meant this could be searched onto the battlefield without ever being drawn, turning a four-mana common into a toolbox piece assembled on demand. That tutoring web is what made it more than the sum of its stats: a removal effect with a search engine bolted on by way of its creature type. The combat-only clause keeps the rate fair, the X cost scales it into the late game, and the Rebel tag gives it a consistency most repeatable pingers never had.