A year or so ago Id have dismissed the idea that Swiftfoot Boots and Lightning Greaves were autoincludes, as they dont protect from board wipes
If you want to make sure you get to beat face unimpeded, look at mono-white, mono-blue, Azorius, or Selesnya
Master of Pearls, Thousand Winds, and even Ponyback Brigade left their mark on the format, but the hexproof on Mauler made this a beast of a card, especially when backed up with any number of combat tricks
For those of you who missed the announcement, the Commander Format Panel announced a beta trial of a new system to create a common language to help people find well-paired games consisting of five brackets: Personally, Ive had far too many my deck is a seven or its a lightly upgraded precon Rule Zero conversations at my local game store, so these Commander Brackets offer a breath of fresh air
It's rising in price because it could be a key player in an Izzet deck based around Arclight Phoenix