What makes him stand out in comparison to other competitive mono-blue generals, such as Arcum Dagsson or Azami, Lady of Scrolls (other than being significantly less expensive to build!), is that Talrand, Sky Summoner can devote many more card slots to stopping his opponents from winning than the former two
So, in Commander, Karn functions less as a finisher and more as a control lever that warps the table around him
Much of the required evolution is around battle, and in a sense I am not surprised
By printing your own personalised playing cards, you can save money while having access to the fun, homemade cards you need for casual card games with friends (think DIY poker cards)
I think flavor text thats simply good writing regardless of if its related to Magic or not is always great, and this text encapsulates that in a very concise and neat way