This card has strangely shot-up in price to over $300.00 since release and there is a reason why: there is a text-error on the card's front
For starters, the deck would have to lower its curve to play enough threats to not lose tempo for sorcery speed answers
Liesa, Forgotten Archangel is another controlling piece, one that could easily make this list, were it written a little later down the line
While Magic has been changing the way they release Standard sets several times over the past couple of years, I believe that under the current format players of the original five colors would have 5 or 6 sets worth of cards to choose from, while Purple players would only have 1, at least at first
Ricardo Silva There is not much to be said about Shock Lands having the right mana to cast your spells is crucial in Magic ( there is nothing more frustrating than being mana screwed ), and having the choice to either play them tapped if the mana is not needed, or untapped to cast spells, has made them long-time format staples