Spark Mage

The pinger problem, solved with a catch. Prodigal Sorcerer and its descendants tap to ping at will: a controlled, repeatable source of one damage that picks off X/1 utility creatures from a safe distance. This version is cheaper and represents more of a clock, but it inverts the safety. The damage only fires after combat connects, which means this Dwarf has to actually get through, into a player who may have an untapped X/1 of their own waiting to trade. The ping is a reward for damage already dealt, not a tool for clearing a path to deal it. That ordering is the whole point: with an open lane it functions as a slow, reliable executioner, shooting down a mana dork or a Wizard each turn the connection lands, but it offers nothing on defense and nothing the turn it arrives. The clause also restricts targeting to a creature the damaged player controls, so it cannot reach across the table to clean up a third party's board. It is an evasion-dependent value engine wearing the costume of a pinger, and the gap between those two reads (does it ping freely, or only after it bleeds someone?) is the design.