Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel

The chorus counter reframes what an evasive two-drop is asking of you. A flash 2/1 flier that loots on combat damage is already a clean engine: it slips in under sorcery-speed removal, connects for value, and smooths draws while stocking a graveyard. But the payoff is deferred and load-bearing. The free-cast only comes online after four chorus counters, which means the reward is gated behind keeping a one-toughness body alive across four separate combat steps against a defender who now knows exactly why it must die. That gap between the immediate loot and the delayed free-cast is the whole tension of the card: the early hits are pure card selection, and only the patient, protected version graduates into something that turns each connection into a spell you discarded and then get for nothing. It rewards a build that can shield the attacker and a hand deep enough that "discard a card" is never a real cost. The flash matters more than the rate suggests, too, letting Malcolm ambush a smaller attacker or land at the end of a turn to dodge a clean removal window before committing to the race. The body is fair and aggressive; the engine escalates on top of it; and the four-counter threshold hands the pilot a running decision about how much of that escalation they can actually survive to collect.