Tyrant's Familiar

A 5/5 flier with haste arrives at seven mana with immediate pressure, but the real weapon is what the Lieutenant clause bolts on: while you control your commander, this gets +2/+2 and, on every attack, deals 7 damage to a target creature the defending player controls. Most designs carrying this conditional keyword paid out in modest stat bumps or small combat riders. This one pays out in repeatable, targeted removal that kills nearly anything outright, once per combat, on a body that already flies over blockers and pressures life totals; note the trigger hits any creature the defending player controls, not just a blocker, so it can clear a mana dork or a value engine before combat math even matters. The leash is the whole balancing act. The clause keys specifically off controlling your commander, not merely any legend, so bouncing, killing, or exiling that one creature switches off both the +2/+2 and the 7-damage snipe, leaving a 5/5 with flying and haste and none of the engine that justified the cost. That fragility is the price of stapling evasion, immediate aggression, and recurring removal onto one card at a rate that would otherwise be reckless. It also argues for the keyword better than almost anything in the cycle: Lieutenant only earns its keep where the commander is reliably present to protect, and here protecting that anchor stops feeling like babysitting a buff and starts feeling like guarding a loaded weapon.