Slate Street Ruffian
The discard punishment here is conditional in a way that rarely pays off: the defender only loses a card when they choose to block, which is precisely the moment they have the least incentive to. A 2/2 for trades down against most creatures it would meet, so the rational response is to take the two damage and keep a full hand. The ability inverts the usual menace-style threat model: instead of forcing damage through, it taxes the act of stopping it, but the defending player controls whether that tax ever applies. Where it comes alive is alongside effects that compel blocking (lure-style forced-block abilities) or in board states where the defender must trade to survive, at which point the discard becomes a free strip on top of an otherwise even combat. As a standalone body it is filler-grade aggro fodder, a common-rarity Human Warrior whose printed gimmick reads scarier than it plays. The design knows its own ceiling and prices accordingly: a small evasive-adjacent beater whose upside is gated entirely behind an opponent making a mistake they are usually free not to make.
