MTG Salvation

Bloodhunter Bat did it before.

That's definitely one of the scariest artworks I've seen on a magic card in awhile. Yikes

I wouldn't call it power creep. I'd call it more power correction. It's one of many things related to the 3 drop size moving from 2/2 to 2/3 or 3/2. A 3/2 still goes down in combat to a 2 drop with 2 power, but a 2/3 can stonewall just a little and put a speed bump on being behind, but not to an obnoxious level like T:tap target creature or B: regenerate. Gain 2 life just isn't as strong as it used to be, though, with 2 and 3 drops regularly having 3 power. A lot of limited cards have been tweaked over the years around stuff like this. It's also hard to call anything not constructed playable power creep because if it only effectively exists in limited, it only exists with things in limited with it. Highway Robber might actually be just as strong in Mercadian Masques as Vampire Spawn is in Forgotten Realms. I mean it's also a mercenary which means you could have tutored it directly into play. Powerful tribal benefits are a big thing with costing cards as well. I mean back in my day, Craw Wurm was quite good, but it's gone from high pick common to getting buffed to 7/6 and now with lifegain. I actually remember bragging pretty hard on Vastwood Gorger back in Zendikar, but it was also a 2/1 for 2 format. Once upon a time, Thorn Elemental and Ancient Silverback used to be desired rares. Direct damage spells have been scaled to kill bigger creatures and the power and/or toughness of draft chaff has risen enough that they were ok uncommons. They said Shivan Dragon was still too strong, but it was fine as 6/6 for 5RR. Serra Angel was pretty damn strong in M10 at uncommon, but its limited value has fallen as well. Vampire Nighthawk was obnoxious in triple Zendikar draft, but I never heard a peep about its dwarf color shift in Kaladesh. We also had an enchantment land in Modern Horizons and an artifact land in this set but they probably won't make an impact in limited in those sets because synergy is a thing. Creatures are a particularly good place to power correct, though, because if you make them bigger over all, they balance each other out. Who knows, it might even be possible to make 4+ toughness common enough that Lightning Bolt isn't a concern. Of course, in Rise of the Eldrazi, Flame Slash wasn't even that out of place with all the beefy walls and stuff or the glut of tokens. Blightsteel Colossus even got less criticism overall than Darksteel Colossus did back in the day. That's because indestructible just isn't what it used to be. I'm pretty sure that's the kind of thing that's the real result of New World Order. It's just like FIRE that people criticize heavily while bragging over its benefits. I don't think fire is about broken cards. Remember the reject rare cards of the past that were such worthless garbage they had reject rare draft as a joke format? We still have less desirable rares that maybe you don't personally want, but they aren't Mudhole or anything. They're cards you could see some use for if you enjoy playing the kind of decks they might fit in. Now, sure they get derided as "for commander" but would you prefer Mudhole or niche commander? It's impossible to make a set relevant in high level competitive constructed, but I think we've seen since, say Dominaria, that you can certainly make the set's rares and mythics not completely useless garbage.