Grasping Scoundrel

Black's answer to a recurring design question: how do you make a one-drop that hits hard on the attack but does not also brick attacks coming back the other way? The bargain here is about as clean as the effect gets. It swings as a 2/1, the aggressive body black wants on turn one, but it parks back home as a 1/1, so it never doubles as a meaningful blocker. That is the entire logic of the card: it pushes you forward and rewards you nothing for sitting still. The lineage runs back through every conditional pumper that traded defensive utility for offensive rate, from the white "+1/+0 while attacking" commons onward, and black's take leans into the color's preference for cheap, disposable beaters built to die in the red zone rather than survive the turn. There is nothing to build around and no late-game scaling; this is deliberately flat curve-filler whose only job is to land an extra point of damage before it gets chump-blocked or traded away. Honest about what it is, which is more than most one-drops at this rarity manage.