Clone cannot target. The rules don't support it currently and any work-around for it would be pretty convoluted.
It would have to either target a creature while it's on the stack, or have an enter the battlefield trigger that targets. The rules currently don't support creature spells that target, which is why we haven't seen any of those (bestow creatures are close, but a whole different ball game). Clone can't have an enters the battlefield trigger because it would die with the trigger on the stack due to being a 0/0 before it could ever copy anything.
Most clones do target though, like Artisan of Forms and Cryptoplasm.
After weighing a foil and a non-foil from Return to Ravnica I can conclude that foil cards weigh more. The non-foil weighed ~1.75g and the foil weighed ~1.93g.
Being able to target an infinite amount of creatures for 0 damage is incredibly unintuitive when reading the card. Why add functionality to a card that'll rarely be relevant and more often than not cause confusion?
It shows that you are not fully versed in the actual order of events in casting a spell. Let's refer to the Comprehensive rules:
OK, sounds reasonable. It is then broken down into steps.
According to 601.2a, you announce the spell and take the card representing that spell from wherever it is (usually the hand) and placing it on the stack.
It is not until several steps later that you calculate the total cost of the spell and pay it. Step b is to announce mode (if a spell has multiple options, such as "choose one", you would make that choice), and step c is to choose and announce targets for any effects of the spell (such as "I choose to target myself with Tome Scour to cause myself to mill two cards). Step d is to determine if the spell will be divided how it will be done, such as in the case of Fireball.
Then, you calculate the total cost of the spell, according to all of the rules associated with that card, and the effects on the field (such as Chancellor of the Annex). Then, if that spell involves paying mana, you can activate mana sources, such as lands, or Lion's Eye Diamond.
So, by the time you would be tapping and sacrificing Lion's Eye Diamond to generate the three mana to, along with the Island, pay the cost for Shape Anew, the card representing Shape Anew is no longer in your hand, but on the stack. You discard your hand which would not include the Island you played, the Lion's Eye Diamond you played, the Ornithopter you played, or the Shape Anew that is on the stack waiting to resolve.
LED can only be activated at instant speed. LED is not a mana source. Also, I don't see how you're able to Shape Anew into Blightsteel Colossus with any kind of consistency when you have so many artifacts in the deck (ornithoptor, LED).
The whole point is that lots of people make broad generalizations about archetypes. You were doing that about decks. Which is really the same thing. Storm isn't hard or easy to play. Once you understand the basics of counting to ten, it's pretty easy. But playing that against a FoW or Countertop deck, etc... makes it very difficult. The same with everything else you listed.
I understand where you're coming from but that isn't really the case. Some decks are objectively more difficult to pilot than others. Storm is a difficult deck to play regardless of the match up. You have to consider things like "what are the odds that I'll draw another ritual/burning wish/whatever, if I have X draw spells. is going off this turn worth the risk?". Compare that to Living End which has a single-minded game plan against good match ups and you only have to consider your game plan when you're playing against a bad match-up.
Do you think Legacy Doomsday is an easy deck to pilot? A lot of people can't even understand that deck let alone play it.
Is Turbo Fog easy to play against Burn? Is Gifts Control hard to play against Infect? Is RDW easy to play against Miracles/CounterTop? Is Dredge hard to play against no-hate? Is Living End easy to play against UW Control? Is Storm hard to play against Zoo?
What does that have to do with whether a deck is difficult to pilot or not? I listed the decks like I did because I was comparing them to other decks in their Archetypes. Unless a deck has a lot of bad match ups in a particular metagame it doesn't have an effect on the average amount of skill required to pilot it.
I don't see how anyone can argue that an archetype is inherently more skill intensive than another when each archetype includes so many different styles of decks with incredibly diverse strategies.
Turbofog is easy to play. Gifts-control isn't. RDW is easy to play. Dredge isn't. Living End is easy to play. Storm isn't. It's disingenuous to say that one archetype is more skill intensive than another when only a fraction of the decks that fit in the archetype actually require a significant amount of thought. The only thing that can be argued is that an archetype is more skill intensive on average, but the only way anyone is going to prove that is by quantifying, categorizing, and determining the skill level required of every deck that has ever been created.
That's a pretty major change for Clone. It allows it to live if you decide not to copy a creature or if it's the only creature in play when cast.
It would have to either target a creature while it's on the stack, or have an enter the battlefield trigger that targets. The rules currently don't support creature spells that target, which is why we haven't seen any of those (bestow creatures are close, but a whole different ball game). Clone can't have an enters the battlefield trigger because it would die with the trigger on the stack due to being a 0/0 before it could ever copy anything.
Most clones do target though, like Artisan of Forms and Cryptoplasm.
Imagine this scenario.
Turn 1.
I play Scorched Ruins, Tap it for 4 and cast Lodestone Golem, or Smokestack, or any number of 3+ mana scary artifacts.
I don't know about you, but I don't want to be put in that situation.
Probably, yeah.
It's not even close to anti-Semitic.
Or you could just play Primeval Light for a one sided board wipe.
LED can only be activated at instant speed. LED is not a mana source. Also, I don't see how you're able to Shape Anew into Blightsteel Colossus with any kind of consistency when you have so many artifacts in the deck (ornithoptor, LED).
I understand where you're coming from but that isn't really the case. Some decks are objectively more difficult to pilot than others. Storm is a difficult deck to play regardless of the match up. You have to consider things like "what are the odds that I'll draw another ritual/burning wish/whatever, if I have X draw spells. is going off this turn worth the risk?". Compare that to Living End which has a single-minded game plan against good match ups and you only have to consider your game plan when you're playing against a bad match-up.
Do you think Legacy Doomsday is an easy deck to pilot? A lot of people can't even understand that deck let alone play it.
What does that have to do with whether a deck is difficult to pilot or not? I listed the decks like I did because I was comparing them to other decks in their Archetypes. Unless a deck has a lot of bad match ups in a particular metagame it doesn't have an effect on the average amount of skill required to pilot it.
Turbofog is easy to play. Gifts-control isn't. RDW is easy to play. Dredge isn't. Living End is easy to play. Storm isn't. It's disingenuous to say that one archetype is more skill intensive than another when only a fraction of the decks that fit in the archetype actually require a significant amount of thought. The only thing that can be argued is that an archetype is more skill intensive on average, but the only way anyone is going to prove that is by quantifying, categorizing, and determining the skill level required of every deck that has ever been created.