They had to cram all the tribes into a single set, plus the duality theme of the Lorwyn-Shadowmoor dynamic, and some multiversal guests on top
What would I change moving forward with the list
I think of Vantress as like a second Extravagant Replication for artifacts and enchantments, allowing you to get more Court of Ambition triggers if you can make enough
Combo decks would flourish without these free counterspells, and they're also coincidentally good at protecting combos
We could have easily come out with a dozen wacky digital mechanics, but we felt like the way to make this feel like a card set is to pick a small number and show the breadth that that small number of mechanics can execute on. Lots of people love to play magic in a lot of different ways, and we want to keep providing for all of that, Parker explains
Surge and most notably for Venusaur Erika