Azorius Control is a very powerful deck in nearly every format
Its cheap to cast, gives you a huge mana advantage, and its impact on the early game is greater than almost any other card in the game
I don't believe it saw much, if any, Constructed play at the time (I may be wrong on this, but can't seem to find anything from researching online), but the card was considered quite powerful stat-wise and featured some keywords not commonly found on Green cards
You can pay X mana into the otherwise two-mana ability to give a creature +X/+0 for the turn, with X equal to how much you pump into the activation cost
This 12-land deck not only has 17 cyclers, but it also has the BO1 algorithm working for it behind the scenes to help its player have more fun by subtly rigging their opening hand/subsequent draws
Unless the opponent has a specific action spell to clear him from the field, he will reliably generate points every single turn until victory is achieved