I think they are pretty awesome, definitely as awesome as they could get.
Yea, the 3 life when they are fetched is sizable, but indeed, fetching EOT takes care of that and well, they really couldnt make them better, without just reprinting duals, or have some sort of seperate fetch life cost.

Good job Wizards!

I absolutely applaud this idea, because it has something good for both sides of the party.
On one hand, the people who dont have the most expensive cards can "rent the cards" to play with in a smaller environment and when they feel comfortable enough, they can shell out some more money and buy the real thing, to finally go down the big slopes.
It makes perfect sense and in theory should be able to satisfy both parties, because while it enables people to proxy, it stops them from going all out all the time.

Because thats not what the card was for, it was designed to be brutal, only if u were willing to "up the ante".
They would never have made the card otherwise, without the ante thing.

I haveastrong feeling however, that your post wasnt serious!

I hope this will not be completely idiotic as a first post, however, i thought id also chip in a reply.

I would want to look at this also from a collectible point of view.

I have not read the article like many others due to the premuim thing, so i cant really respond to any of the things stated in there.
My personal belief on this matter is that completely banning a card, would be almost on the same level as reprinting power cards from the reserved list.
In the end, that list boils down to trust. We have based our value of our most expensive cards on their power, but also on their rarity due to the limited printrun.

Why do i say this? If wizards suddenly decides to reprint a chronicles of a few power cards (not that im particularly saying power 9, but any of the older expensive cards) people will lose their trust in wizards from a collectible point of view, not just in game perspectives. Of course, if one card is suddenly reprinted, why not the next? Or all for that matter?

Back to banning, if they decide to ban a card from play, therefore deeming it too powerful for a powerfilled environment, wont people lose trust in them as well?
Wouldnt it bring a feeling of paranoia to the players? I wouldnt want to wake up in a world where they suddenly decided to ban cards like ancestral recall, or a lotus. Again, im also saying this from a collectors point of view, because banning a card will also diminish its value inevitably, since then they would be reduced to mere piles of expensive cardboard.
Even though they would of course never be completely worthless, they would be declining in value for sure.

Ive always considered banning to be a bit of a "taboo" in magic, i saw it as the final border that we simply could not cross anymore. Thecards that are banned now are  banned for a very good reason, be it the physical or the gamble aspect, but not of their power.
Banning a card is not simply removing it from a few decks that people play in tournaments, its removing it from the game entirely, especially since most of thecasual players follow the banned restricted list.

As a final thing, i would also like to say that to me, it sounds selfish to call for a banning. Especially because you, Steve, said that it isnt even because you lost against it so much, but because you won with it.
I would have understood much more if you had run against an unbreakable wall of wills, instead of uktilizing it yourself.
Now it sounds more to me like a power trip, where you are someone who says, i got drunk with power using it, so please save me and the people ive beaten by banning it.
What about the crapload of people that dont have that big of a problem with it? The people who are not beating everyone senseless with it?
Not everyone is using it with the stated deadliness and i think they should count too.

I know everyone sees this as the environment of only the strongest, but i believe it to be unfair that because one of them wins so much with a card, the rest of the people who are just "normal good" with it and just like the card alot (and there are plenty), should suffer its banning.

Ok i hope this made a bit sense, and please note that everything is from my point of view and should be seen as my opinion.

Be gentle!