Macetail Hystrodon

Nobody pays for a 4/4, and the design knows it: the cycling cost is where the value lives. This is a card built to be drawn into rather than cast, its haste-and-first-strike combat package sitting as an occasional upside the aggressive red deck cashes in only when it floods on lands and needs a body that swings the turn it arrives. The split is deliberate. Early, pitch it for three to dig toward your curve; late, in a stalled topdeck war, a 4/4 that attacks immediately and wins the first damage step is a genuine threat to draw. Cycling has always been red's hedge against the dead late-game fattie, the keyword that lets a set print a top-heavy creature without asking the deckbuilder to gamble on the slot, and few cards split that bargain so cleanly: a beater you never feel bad about, because the floor is a fresh card for three mana. The first strike earns its keep in the right spot too, letting the haste body eat smaller blockers without taking a scratch the turn it lands, so a forced attack into a wall of chump-sized creatures comes out ahead rather than trading down. Modest in isolation, but it smooths the variance of an aggressive red deck without ever costing you a wasted slot.