Sawback Manticore

Mid-1990s creature design in miniature: a 2/4 with two activated abilities that both ask for mana you would rather spend elsewhere, from the era when a creature's defining feature was a toolbox of expensive activations rather than an aggressive stat line. The four-mana flying activation is a deliberate sink, a means of breaking through or surprising a blocker on a stalled board, but at five total mana for a 2/4 the rate never rewarded that as a primary plan. The repeatable burn is the smarter piece of construction. It deals a flat 2, fires only while the manticore is itself attacking or blocking, and only once per turn, which turns combat into a small puzzle rather than free reach. That gating holds the effect in check. This is conditional direct damage, not a fight, so the 2 is the same regardless of the target's power, but the creature has to commit to the swing or the block to deliver it. Locked behind combat participation, it cannot snipe from the back rank: it can only reach a creature that is itself attacking or blocking. The result is a defensive midrange bruiser that earns its keep by surviving combat and taxing the opponent's attacks, a green-red ground-stall fixture tuned for the slow, grindy games the two-color decks of its time were built to play.