Old Man of the Sea ($218) Control Magic was first printed in Alpha , so maybe Old Man of the Sea is the first example of spell on a stick? I think its also the first example of you may choose not to untap if my Scryfall skills serve me well
When you play this legendary angelic mana dork early, every other angel in your deck comes out a turn faster and at least one +1/+1 counter stronger
People want cards that feel special, and this exclusivity did that
There are a lot of expensive (8 mana or more) rare and mythic creatures that basically win the game by themselves that you'd really like to cheat out, and this is a good way to do that
Were diving into all of it right here, including Dual-Ink cards, Lore cards, and the debut of characters from The Aristocats
This sounds like a minor problem on the surface, but when you break down the stats it exposes a major imbalance