Sabertooth Alley Cat

The bargain runs the opposite direction from what its forced-attack clause suggests. Stapling "attacks each combat if able" to a red creature is the era-standard tax, and the natural read is that you have bought aggression with recklessness. But the activated ability inverts the math: pay one and a red, and creatures without defender simply can't block the Cat. That covers nearly every creature on the battlefield. A 4/4 with no keyword stands aside; the only thing left that can stop the attack is something with the Defender keyword, the Wall-class blocker that exists to gate the ground in the first place. So the drawback and the payoff are wired together: an opponent stacking blockers cannot trade with it, only a dedicated wall can, and the forced attack is the price you pay for that near-universal evasion rather than a tax on the modest 2/1. The mana is the throttle. At three mana for the body, with another two demanded each turn to clear the lane, the evasion is real but rented; you are spending your whole turn's mana to push two power through. It belongs to a moment when red sold its evasion piecemeal, one repeatable activation at a time, rather than as a clean flying or trample line. The honesty is in the price: the ability beats almost everything, but only for as long as you keep feeding it.