mtg cards like hardened scales Similar to If one or more +1/+1 counters would be put on a creature you control Hardened Scales | Wilds of

An even better creature in commander and what you can use to pick off your weakest opponent

But the steeper mana commitment, plus the fact Phenax technically does nothing on its own, locks it more into the role of build-around/win condition

Forsythe explains that Magic's R&D team has decades of rejected ideas to pull from, designs that were fun but werent suited for paper because they were too tough to track or couldnt easily be adjudicated, for instance

This card can quickly spiral the game out of control for your opponent

For each card type, you may put a card of that type from among the revealed cards into your hand

Its much more consistent than Call Forth the Tempest because it doesnt matter what you cascade into, plus the cheaper mana cost makes it easier to sequence this with multiple spells to get the effect you want