You can also swap them out for glass beads, six-sided dice, or bottle caps whatever you have to hand, really, works just fine
And your options surely don't end there
A strange adventure with some familiar friends
If you are capable of healing your cards, through items, actions, or character abilities, and Beast, Tragic Hero has damage on them at the start of your turn, you can let them attack and then heal them, allowing you to still benefit from the increased strength but keeping them healthy enough to stick around
Maybe we were trying to improve upon the earlier mechanic, maybe we were adapting it for a new flavor, or we found cool new gameplay out of making a tiny change
The card isnt legal in Modern, so demand is largely dependent on EDH sliver players and casuals