Maybe you misread it as can't attack, but the control aspect of Magnate not being able to attack the opponent's contender doesnt matter since he can still attack the opponent's board. With the Trigger: Victory, you are incentivised to attack the opponent's board anyways with the new magnate contender. Magnate's Gamma Spear from the starter deck works super well with him.
It does matter since Magnate's initial ability incentivizes you to attack their contender directly as much as possible. Since his defense is buffed by 1 whenever he is the target of a non-clash buff, when he attacks the contender, he will deal 2 but not be dealt any to himself. So it's basically a free 2-damage swing at the enemy contender every turn you can do it which is very powerful. That is the very reason they put the second line of text in their to make it to where you still have to manage the opps board state as well. Otherwise he'd would just get basically a free 2 damage at the enemy contender every turn unscathed which is very powerful.
@@TCGTALKYT that's a great point, but with the comeback mechanic of unlocking new abilities on contenders, I don't think going aggro on your opponent's contender is a larger incentive over the Trigger: Victory draw. Conserving health in this game is unnecessary since you can fully obstruct easily unlike FaB, so gaining a life advantage doesn't usually matter imo, otherwise I'd always just play 30 life contenders. Having a life advantage just means your opponent is plussing more and you're not, and maybe you'll survive against red burn better. Also, many contenders don't even have an attack stat, so that benefit of not taking damage back isn't always a benefit. In fact, I trade 1 for 1 all the time when both contenders are 1/0 just to have the second ability unlocked.
