mtg best sorcery cards Black in MTG: Removal, Reanimation, Recursion MTG Cube: Top 10 Card

Esper Sentinel is a powerhouse both in cEDH and Modern, and it's very likely the best card-draw effect in white

You might give up your entire life total in one turn, or you could pay 3 or 4 life each turn you control it

If you do, create a number of 1/1 white Human Soldier creature tokens equal to its toughness

With a good 5/4 stat line and questing for three lore in a single turn, she's a very good card to have in Steel

Like those, it was banned to avoid the perceived-barrier-to-entry, but was strong enough to be a candidate for banning even without the optics especially in long games where the card draw yields inevitability over time