What do you feel is the most underrated evergreen keyword on
creatures?
My choice is first strike.
First strike gets overlooked so often when people evaluate creatures.
Look at the current standard meta.
Goblin Chainwhirler is busted, but I believe the most unnecessary part is giving it first strike. It wins in combat against so many other creatures at around the same cmc.
Knight of Grace is another example. If it hits 3 power it wins combat versus a crap ton of stuff, but even at 2 power it can still cause a lot of issues for an opponent blocking.
The other part that makes first strike so amazing is that it has so many tricks that people overlook:
1) The fact that it applies damage first allows for all kinds of shenanigans. Use a
Knight of Grace to block a
Golgari Findbroker and then
Shock it while the first strike damage is being applied. Your Knight survives and kills the Findbroker.
2) Use the fight mechanic with first strike and see what happens. Super fun.
Lyra Dawnbringer is awesome with this. Watch an opponent mistakenly try to use a
Kraul Harpooner to kill Lyra. Ok, your Harpooner dies, Lyra survives, and I gain life from the
lifelink. Funny.
I feel some people may argue for deathtouch. Well deathtouch can trade up, but it is going to die to every creature that it would die to in combat against anyway. First strike allows your creature to survive where a creature with the same stats would not. And let's not
forget that in combat first strike trumps deathtouch as it deals damage first.
That's my thoughts. Anyone else have a choice they'd like to make a case for?