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Moxonomy

Mardu Shadowspear

Creature — Human WarriorBlack mana

The words worth reading twice are "each opponent": the attack trigger doesn't pick a single target, it drains every opponent independently, so the same fragile body that nips one foe for a point quietly taxes a full table for a point apiece. Everything else is built around keeping that trigger firing. The ability resolves on the declaration of an attack, not on combat damage, so a chump-block or a removal spell thrown in the way still costs the defender a life; the point is banked the moment the creature is turned sideways. That is what makes the lack of evasion beside the point. This is not a body that needs to connect, only one that needs to attack, and dash is the mechanism that guarantees a fresh attack whenever you want it. Left on the battlefield it swings again for free next turn; the dash cost is the option you buy when you would rather bounce it to hand at end of turn than leave a 1/1 exposed to a sweeper or a sorcery-speed answer overnight, then replay it clean and hasty. The rate is deliberately tiny, one point off a creature that dies to almost anything, and the design isn't reaching for efficiency: it's reaching for repeatability, an attrition drip that accrues a point at a time so long as its controller keeps declaring it as an attacker.

Mardu Shadowspear (frf)
FRF · #74uncommon
Pricing
Normal: $0.19
Foil: $0.49
Oracle Text

Rules text

Whenever this creature attacks, each opponent loses 1 life. Dash 1 generic manaBlack mana (You may cast this spell for its dash cost. If you do, it gains haste, and it's returned from the battlefield to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next end step.)
Legalities

Format Status

Standard
N/A
Pioneer
Legal
Modern
Legal
Legacy
Legal
Vintage
Legal
Commander
Legal
Pauper
N/A
Brawl
N/A
Historic
N/A
Alchemy
N/A
Timeless
N/A
Standard Brawl
N/A
More formats
Old School
N/A
Premodern
N/A
PreDH
N/A
Pauper Commander
N/A
Oathbreaker
Legal
Gladiator
N/A
Penny Dreadful
N/A
Duel Commander
Legal
Future Standard
N/A
COMPETITIVEBRAWL
N/A
TLR
Legal
Printings elsewhere

Other printings

2 sets
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