Mad Dog

The drawback is the design: a 2/2 for two that punishes you for holding it back. Where most aggressive creatures pay for their rate with a fragile body or a high curve, this one pays with compulsion. You either swing every turn or it dies at your end step, which strips away the most basic option a creature gives you: the choice to sit home and block. For a deck whose whole plan is forward pressure, that is no cost at all; for anyone hoping to use it defensively, the dog simply walks off the table on its own. It belongs to the small family of red commons that bake recklessness into the rules text rather than leaving it to the flavor, turning an aggressive temperament into an enforced obligation. The toughness is still real; it just only ever gets to matter on offense, soaking up a blocker's swing in the red zone, never holding a line on the turn you would rather pass. The wrinkle worth noting is the second escape clause, "or come under your control this turn," which keeps it alive the turn it arrives and gives reanimation or flicker effects a clean window to reset the clock. Outside that, the contract is simple and unforgiving: attack, or hand it back.