Any help on the flavor text? This is an actual historical reference, as many people in Europe believed the word Bear could summon a bear.

­Runeclaw Bear has been one-upped plenty of times, so I guess this is okay. However, I would be tempted to cost it .

I'm bad at flavor text, but my suggestion is "In towns bordering the forest, the word "bear" is taboo. Villagers believe they come when called."

this is a reprint from Time Spiral, L2i0n0k7

Once, it caught a Merfolk Looter of mine when I whimsically attacked. I never forgave that Ashcoat Bear...

Well, don't I feel smart.

Gah. How the heck are we supposed to design fair balanced cards if Wizards keep breaking their own curve?

And... I thought I was pretty good on medieval myth. This certainly rings true as a belief though. I much prefer the "Lick into shape" myth, personally.

­Runeclaw Bear is way below the curve, as is Glory Seeker. They keep getting reprinted because sets need vanilla cards, but they're usually obsoleted by something else in the same set (e.g. Knight of Cliffhaven or Fauna Shaman). Ashcoat Bear is a nice common - personally I'd love to see it reprinted in lots of sets.