Reflexes

Granting first strike for a single red mana is one of the oldest combat-math tricks in the game, and this is about as bare as that effect gets: no body, no stat boost, no upside if the creature it sits on eats removal. The aura form is the catch. Permanent first strike sounds like a bargain against an instant-speed trick like Giant Growth, but committing a card to the battlefield a turn early invites a two-for-one: kill the creature in response, or after, and the enchantment dies with it. That fragility is exactly why instant-speed first strike grants and creatures that simply come with the keyword have almost entirely crowded this style out. The trade Reflexes asks for is a slot in your opening curve in exchange for repeatable, board-state-altering combat dominance, a deal that only pays when the enchanted creature lives long enough to attack into something it now profitably blocks or kills. The math reads fine in a vacuum and falls apart the moment you account for card economy, which is why first-strike-as-aura never graduated past a footnote in the keyword's history.