Training Drone
A 4/4 for three mana sits well above the curve, and the drawback is the entire reason that rate exists: with no Equipment attached, the creature can neither swing nor stand in the way. This is equipment-payoff design at its most literal. Where most "as long as it's equipped" creatures layer a bonus on top of a body that already functions, this one gates the basic ability to attack and block on carrying gear, so a single piece of Equipment is the line between beater and statue. The body is the bait; the dependency is the price. And that dependency cuts in the opponent's favor. Killing or bouncing the lone Sword that turned the Drone live reverts it to inert, so your premium statline collapses into a three-mana artifact that does nothing: the card hands your opponent a removal answer that is twice as good against you, hitting the gear and neutering the body in one motion. The deck that wants it has to keep something strapped on at all times, or it has paid an aggressive rate for a creature that contributes nothing until the equipment plan comes online. Read it not as a standalone threat but as a chassis: a cheap frame built to wear a Bonesplitter, a Sword, anything that makes the printed numbers count.

