"-20 damage from attacks" might not sound impressive until you realize it turns two-hit knockouts into three-hit slogs
Competitive players want it for its tournament legacy
[111] Jumpstart was designed to make it much easier to get into Magic by eliminating the deck-building but still providing some customization and randomness that comes with card acquisition and deck building
We make infinite mana using our option of choice, then we play Archaeomancer to return Cruel Ultimatum to our hand
In the absence of cards like [casthaven]Stifle[/casthaven], [casthaven]Wasteland[/casthaven], [casthaven]Force of Will[/casthaven], and dedicated hosers, I have no idea how Modern decks can fight them, other than by playing a version of Eldrazi designed to break the mirror (or perhaps [casthaven]Painters Servant[/casthaven] is a stronger hoser than it appears)
Merieke Ri Berit Merieke Ri Berit taps to take creatures, but unlike Rubinia Soulsinger, you dont have the choice to untap it each turn