The Squadron Sinister

A tribal lord for a creature type that almost never gets one, and the deckbuilding constraint that follows is unusual: the payoff keys off villainy rather than a color or race, so the anthem only lands if you have already committed a board of designated bad guys. What it hands them is not just a stat bump but a mobility package. The +2/+2 is the smaller half; flying and haste are the real gift, converting a grounded Villain lineup into an evasive, immediately-attacking swarm the moment this resolves. That combination is why the 5/5 body reads as a finisher rather than a value piece: a stalled ground war becomes a single lethal attack step. Mayhem is the concession to how easily a card this expensive gets stranded in hand or answered before it matters. Pitch it to a rummage effect or a looter and it comes back for two mana less. Crucially, the recast window is narrow and specific: you can only cast it from the graveyard if you discarded it that same turn, and the "Timing rules still apply" clause pins it to your main phase. This is a tempo tool, not an insurance policy: a board wipe that kills it does not hand it back, because dying is not discarding. The whole card is built around a single sequencing question: how do you get the rest of your Villains onto the battlefield first, so this arrives as the closing blow rather than the opening bid?