Not every card has to be better than another one, but if the strictly better one came out only nine months before, maybe the new, bad one shouldnt be printed
The effects are also somewhat at odds as you rarely have many relevant guys out when tryign to abuse the mana and vice versa should you have lots of guys to benefit from the pump you wont have much use for a personal Mana Flare
If Beast has taken a hit, he transforms into a powerful offensive force instead with a +4 to Strength
You see, black and white midrange decks have historically had the best matchups against Mono-Red
White is helped some by the white-aligned artifact creatures like Scrapwork Cohort, and Combat Thresher, but even only one of those is common
Amazon listings via the Magic: The Gathering store account are already selling for $200, with aftermarket slots already reaching higher