For two mana, Drannith Magistrate can halt entire strategies and force the table to play a much slower game
There are actually consequences to making mistakes, and a few times I misunderstood something, but when I saw things not matching up I eventually corrected my misunderstanding
The built in evasion is very nice, with an almost guaranteed hit against just about any player unless they are playing Shorikai Genesis Engine, Greasefang Okiba Boss or on the rare occasion King Macar the Gold-Crused
Apparently this does have some Commander use, because it was reprinted in Commander 2016, where various ramp cards that can be used to fix mana were crucial in the four color environment
With Phyrexian Altar or Ashnod's Altar, this can generate infinite mana
A lot of the competitive scene could be described as Spikes while also pillars of the community and as having good player conduct