Pointed Discussion

Its not a bad card, its just that even shock takes out your four drop and throwing a bunch of enchantments on it cause card disadvantage.

Compared to ***atrice or Tangle Asp it seems a tad expensive.

hmmm... this? or Hawkeater Moth?
This trades with Storm Crow while the other walls it all day.

Lure for a 7 cmc one sided green Wrath.

i dont understand why it has such a low rating. maybe cause it's only a 1/1.
let's put this into perspective...
this is only a Common card--the very lowest rating. if it was a 2/2 it'd move up to uncommon i'd bet, and 3/3 possibly rare.
this ability is so much better than deathtouch because the creature doesn't actually need to inflict damage. throw this in with a fog and you've killed a creature and saved your own. even give this regeneration and you're set for infintite blocks. regeneration and multiple rancor-- a force to be reckoned with.
the fact that it's flying is fantastic for multiple instances of blocking. play against it in casual and you'll find out what i'm talking about. if it wasn't flying i could sure hit this with lure though
best of all, Blaze of Glory, Valor Made Real, entangler

This card man. This little guy is awesome in my Insect deck. With Swarmyard he can be all sorts of brutal, not too mention I'm usually no longer being picked on with him out. Though, I think I'm going to need to make room for Hornet Queen from the upcoming EDH decks.

Adding First Strike as an ability would have really helped this creature.

4 of these make great tokens for Hornet Queen.

A 1/1 flying deathtouch? This should've costed 1G at most.

@MechaKraken, first strike wouldn't do much here, since it destroys the other creature at end of combat, not when it does the damage. It's not actually deathtouch, similar though it might be.

It's not deathtouch as this destroys all that blocks or is blocked by, not just the one it can damage.

But IMHO evasion and this ability don't go hand in hand. I've always kept Thicket Basilisk better than ***atrice.

Flyer + "deathtouch" in green, it has its uses. I think I would rather go for Deadly Recluse though.

@MechaKraken: not really. This effect is not Deathtouch, notice how it says "at the end of combat". It would deal one damage, get killed by anything with over 1 life, and THEN kill it.

Still 4 for a 1/1 any way you slice it.

@tavaritz: dont think of flying as evasion in this sense, but rather the ability to block (and thus kill) another subset of attackers. He is able to block the vast majority of creatures in the game, save shadow and flat out unblockables.

edit: also, basilisk vs ***atrice? really? I dont often use the term "strictly better", but in this case it really is. Same CMC exactly, same p/t, and ability templating, but one flys and the other doesnt. I would like to know your reasoning for your preference to the land-locked version.... if you would ever even see this, that is.....

@ PhyrexianLobbiest: one sided wrath if the other side is entirely capable of blocking a flyer, that is....

The preference to the basilisk vs ***atrice is namely the thicket basilisk and lure combo. Both cards were printed in the beginning and was a popular green win con back in those days.