You do need to deal combat damage for their trigger, but with menace that shouldnt be an issue, and as we all know, cheating on mana costs is one of the most broken things you can do in the game
A 1-mana creature that ramps you and fixes your mana is excellent, but one that also gains a bit of life or drains your opponent
Distant Memories is Diabolic Tutor for a card nobody cares about
So, despite the obvious error, Neo Slowking dominated competitive play from 2000-2002, when it was finally banned
How Transmute Works Transmute is an Activated Ability that allows a player to pay the card's Transmute cost, discard that card, then search their library for a card with the same converted mana cost as the discarded Transmute card ( not the cost of the Transmute ability)
If you just want cards that pack raw power, you might be more interested in the strongest Magic cards of 2021.