Speaking of pretty card text-box art and card art in general, there was something special about the cards at the time. No, I don’t mean the white borders, but my controversial opinion is that I actually loved the white borders. Heresy, right?

Blue cards had this gorgeous watery effect on them, perfectly on them while also the artists/illustrators during this period had this sort of fae, wispy sort of feel that really lent that strong theme of mysticism and arcana with blue mana. Diminishing Returns was the equivalent of a blindsided to everyone…at a steep cost of four mana and ten cards. Perhaps, you saw your buddy cracking a smirk running his mono-red. Or you had enough of your other friend pulling shit out of his graveyard. There’s always a solution…not necessarily a happy one, either.

More powerful then rather than now, this card still has use say, for a card like Nadir Kraken or an enchantment that makes opponents lose life or etc per card drawn. Or, for some players, you just end up feeding them more goods. Might stick around in Sixth for a few more cards before moving onto Seventh; one I particularly love. I know Odyssey is a favorite of many…

No flavor text here folks, so I’ll leave you the text from “Merfolk of the Pearl Trident” from the same set/edition.

“Are Merfolk humans with fins, or are humans Merfolk with feet?”

Illustrator - L.A. Williams