draw seven cards mtg Pojo's Magic The Gathering Card of the Day the Gathering (MTG) trading and collectible card game (TCG/CCG) o:draw o:seven o:cards · Scryfall

Bonus: Izzet Pheonix Long having existed in Pioneer, Izzet Pheonix is one of the best decks in the entire format

For far greater detail, you can read the two-part article about planeswalker design that I linked to above

Decks that want to play counters are almost always control decks, and control decks would much prefer to gain life rather than cause opponents to lose life, so all things being equal they would have preferred to play with Absorb but there were other considerations that forced most of them down the black road instead

It was invented by judges who wanted to play something low-key and social after tournaments were over