As someone that often likes to teach others to play Magic for their first time, it is always a joy for me when those new players start to realize just how deep the catalogue of Magic cards truly is
In-game, Black Lotus had a broken ability to generate three mana of any color "of your choice," giving players a massive early-game advantage
Its also an Aura Curse, which is a fun subtype, and one that you dont often see in your average Commander deck
Rafiq has hands-down the best exalted trigger in Magic, doubling your super-buffed solo attacker into huge damage before your opponent knows what hit them
They look rough, often just photocopied text, handwritten notes, or stickers on a card, because the goal was simply to see if the ideas worked during gameplay
That made good answers hard to come by while the Sliver deck was functioning as intended, as winning combats was hard, winning them quickly without trample was even harder, and removal was temporary