Pointed Discussion

Love the art, that is the only reason this guy gets 1/5 from me. 3 mana for first strike? Yikes.

For ONE turn, even. Couldn't they have at least made it an Equip, like all the other weapon artifacts in the world?

No, they couldn't have made it an equip. It predates equipment cards by nearly 10 years.

There are numerous "equipment-like" artifacts like Tawnos's Weaponry, which allow you to reap the benefits so long as it remains tapped, and choose not to untap it during your untap step. Since that didn't happen here, they may have been afraid to give anyone the ability to pay , make a first-striker that lasts indefinitely, then pay another to move it around when it's advantageous.

Definitely over-costed, but at least you don't have to do it as a sorcery like you would with the modern equip rules. That may save a blocker under the right conditions.

The trick to using this is that it forces your opponent to assume ALL your creatures have first strike until you activate it (so in terms of blocking an attacker, they have to do it as though the attacker had first strike in case you decide to give it first strike once they block). Most of the time just the visible threat of using it should suffice, allowing you to use open mana for instant speed stuff instead.

LordRandomness is right. First Strike isn't a Green power, and this on the board with some Green fatties was a threat, a deterrent even. This deserves a higher score.

The old philosophy behind card design was: "We can't make this too cheap -- it will swing games." As if swinging games was a bad thing. Why play a card if it won't gain you an advantage and help swing the game in your favor? That erroneous philosophy made many cards of this era -- like this one -- totally unplayable.

Combo with Power Artifact and Voltaic Key.