Chandra's Spitfire

A 1/3 flyer is a perfectly defensible body, but that defense is a decoy: the whole point of this Elemental is to convert any incidental ping into a sudden four-power evasive clock. The trigger keys off noncombat damage to an opponent, a deliberately wide condition. It does not care who deals the damage or how, only that it lands outside of combat, so a burn spell to the face, a shock spell aimed at the player, or a pinger's tap all flip the same switch. Worth noting the distinction the trigger draws: it answers only to damage, so an effect that simply drains life or makes an opponent lose life (no damage event) does nothing here. Each instance stacks the +3/+0 separately within a turn, which is where the card stops being a cute synergy piece and starts ending games: two pings make it a 7/3 in the air, three make it a 10/3. The design lives entirely in that triggered ability. Wizards priced the printed body at a value where it is nearly irrelevant on its own, then handed the upside to a deck willing to commit to a steady drip of reach damage. The friction is real: with no noncombat damage going to an opponent it attacks for one, and the buff washes out once the turn closes, so it rewards a build that can guarantee a trigger every turn rather than hope for one. It is a payoff card pretending to be a creature.