mtg shards of alara cards and white onto the battlefield. MtG Shards of Alara Rare

Not only can you hold up countermagic to freeze the boardstate, but you can sink excess mana into scry effects, immediately increasing the power of your board rather than needing to first spend a turn drawing cards, then casting them and then eventually being able to attack

In the main set, all but one of the Role Tokens provide +1/+1 and an added benefit to the attached creature

If you do, draw two cards and each opponent loses life equal to the mana value of the sacrificed permanent

In Magic , it lets any other creature that attacks Lightnings target, whether its another creature or a player, take double damage for the rest of the turn

I don't think you need me to elaborate more as to why this is considered a staple even today