Master of Arms

First strike is the load-bearing part, and it does what first strike has always done for a 2/2: it makes the soldier a punishing block for anything one-toughness, which dies before it can connect, while leaving Master of Arms untouched. Against bigger attackers it is no miracle worker; first strike deals its two points first, but a 3/3 survives that and kills the soldier back in the normal combat damage step. The activated ability is where this card gets its texture, and it is narrower than a casual reading suggests. The oracle text restricts the target to a creature already blocking Master of Arms, so this is not a Master Decoy in disguise: it cannot tap down an opposing creature on your opponent's turn, cannot clear a path for your other attackers, and cannot even fire until blockers have been declared. Under modern combat rules it does less than it appears even within that window, since tapping a declared blocker neither removes it from combat nor cancels the damage it will assign; the creature stays in the fight tapped and still trades. What the cost actually buys, then, is a marginal repeatable disruption tied to a very specific situation: an opponent who has chosen to block this particular soldier. At for a 2/2, the body is honest and the ability is a slow drip of mana spent for limited effect, leashed tightly by the single word "blocking" in its targeting clause.