Double mana changes everything
@kromaticlanturn I remember Flat Stanley as well
With the threat Temur Battle Rage looming, opponents are forced to take a big risk if they tap out to advance their own game plan
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas has a +1 that looks a lot like Ancient Stirrings, a minus that gives us a big threat, and of course his ult can often just win games outright
But beyond that there are SO MANY sweet removal options to choose from: wipe the board of non-Army creatures with Widespread Brutality, steal creatures with Peer Pressure and Sliver Overlord, counter stuff with Spellstutter Sprite, blow up artifacts and enchantments with Qasali Slingers and on and on
The pull rates for Gold Star cards were punishing even by the standards of modern ultra-rare chase cards: roughly one Gold Star per every two booster boxes, a rate that means the vast majority of collectors who opened product from these sets never pulled a single Gold Star card across their entire collecting career