All the Swamps from Beta were done by Dan Frazier, who hasn't done a ton of work in Magic's later years but did provide art for various Signets, Talisman, and Moxen for Secret Lair and Mystery Booster 2
Decks that were already strong could now beat you in a whole range of new ways without ever having to tap out for more than a three mana-creature, and once that creature was on the table it felt like it both dramatically slowed your ability to attack and made the situation worse on a continual basis as every turn that went by meant another card (or often cards) available to the opponent to make Dr
The best payoffs are ones that put counters on themselves (like Tellah, Great Sage and The Emperor of Palamecia) for casting expensive noncreature spells to make them bigger combat threats
By the point in the game where blue decks are able to activate a manland, theyd much rather have a beefy creature with ward than a smaller creature with flying, unblockable, or hexproof
A birthday cake displayed on top of a card with the name 'magic' written on it