The first set of these collectible cards were released in August 1993, according to the Wizards of the Coast website
Its obviously a much less powerful card overall, and you cant just throw it into a deck with no concern for what else is in there, but its possible there is a deck built with The Cauldron of Eternity in mind and then this deck could want Gray Merchant, but it really has to be a dedicated self-mill deck for it to work, because if you cast Gray Merchant and it dies naturally (which is the most common play pattern), it doesnt work with the Cauldron unless the Cauldron isnt on the battlefield yet
The bounce effect is nice, but you need a deck full of Maleficents to really take advantage of this ability
Eye of Ugin may be the biggest groan-inducer in this list, and thats saying something
Your deck only has a few mana sinks, none of which are particularly amazing
While this sounds like a downside, we can make it an upside